Helipath

Helipath™ Stand
Range Table
Spiral Adapter

Helipath™ Stand

The Brookfield Helipath™ Stand, when used with a suitable Brookfield Viscometer/Rheometer fitted with a special T-bar type spindle, will permit viscosity/consistency measurements in relative centipoise values for materials having characteristics similar to paste, putty, cream, gelatin, or wax.

Many substances, because of the nature of their yield values, have previously been considered unsuited for viscosity or consistency measurements with rotational viscometers. Any rotating member, be it cylinder, disc, or paddle, will create a channel in such substances and after a very short time exert a negligible and meaningless torque on any sensing device. This effect also occurs with materials that have a gel structure.

Paint dyes, lithographic inks, and many other substances are thixotropic in that their structure is broken down and their viscosity is decreased when subjected to internal shearing. While no rotating member will ever spin freely in such materials, the torque required to produce this motion will become less as the period of internal shearing lengthens. The study of such data will lead to difficulties and necessarily rigid testing procedures in product control work.

Other materials, notably pastes and creams, show a combination of the two effects listed above. They will show a yield value as well as a change in relative viscosity/consistency with time.

The Brookfield Helipath™ Stand is designed to slowly lower or raise a Brookfield Viscometer/Rheometer so that its rotating shearing element will describe a helical path through the test sample. By always cutting into fresh material, the problem of channeling or separating is eliminated and meaningful viscosity/consistency measurements can be made. The reversing feature of the Helipath™ Stand allows measurements to be made over a variable period of time.
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LV Series
LVF
LVT & LVDV-E & LVDV-I+
LVDV-II+**
LVDV-III

Viscosity Range
156-156 M
156-3,120 M
156-9,360 M
156-9,360 M

RV Series
RVF
RVT & RVDV-E & RVDV-I+
RVFV-II+**
RVDV-III

Viscosity Range
2 M - 5 M
2 M - 20 M
2 M - 100M
2 M - 100M

HA Series
HAT & HADV-E & HADV-I+
HADV-II+
HADVIII

Viscosity Range
4 M - 40 MM
4 M -200 MM
4 M -200 MM

HB Series

HBT & HBDV-E & HBDV-I+
HBDV-II+
HBDVIII

Viscosity Range
16 M - 160 MM
16 M -800 MM
16 M -800 MM

M = 1,000
MM = 1,000,000
*Ranges are in Centipoise (mPa·s).
**Maximum range shown is at 0.1 rpm.

Spiral Adapter
A Pump-type Sensor That Directly Measures Viscosity Of Pastes

Applications include foods, solder paste, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other paste-like materials
Performs measurements compatible with industry specifications
Provides viscosity data that show pseudoplastic and thixotropic properties of test samples
Delivers repeatable measurements within ?2%
Works with any standard Brookfield Viscometer/Rheometer
Simple and fast to operate; easy to clean
Optional software computes shear sensitivity factor

The Spiral Adapter has an inner, threaded spindle surrounded by a concentric outer cylinder. This combination causes the sample to be continually pumped up through the Spiral Adapter. The material reaches a steady state of flow during which viscosity is measured. The steady-state measurement is less sensitive to sample handling and minor material variations than other viscosity measuring methods.

At its various rotating speeds, the Brookfield Viscometer/Rheometer provides viscosity data at different shear rates. The resulting rheogram from an up/down speed ramp supplies important information on the psuedoplastic and thixotropic behavior of the test material.