Viscosity of Two Component Mixtures

Water-Alcohol mixtures are widely used in chemical engineering applications such as solvents for gums, resins, lacquers, varnishes and dyes. Modeling and quality control of industrial manufacturing processes require proper characterization of viscosity. However, these compounds behave like non-ideal mixtures (i.e. a small change in concentration can result in a dramatic and non-linear change in properties such as viscosity) making accurate measurements essential.

In this application note we present a study of the effect of concentration on viscosity for volume fractions ranging between both pure components. microVISC™ results show excellent agreement with reference values obtained using alternative techniques. Additionally, these measurements demonstrate the need to characterize each specific formulation viscosity as opposed to interpolating viscosity values based on pure component's properties. microVISC™ simplicity and fast operation capabilities make it the ideal candidate for QC viscosity measurements.