Automated Temperature Sweeps

VROC® initium redefines automated viscosity testing. By using the data collected during priming, VROC® initium can establish the optimal shear rate for testing a sample of unknown viscosity, minimizing and streamlining the setup process. One significant advantage of this feature is that it allows users to perform temperature sweeps automatically, without any input regarding the viscosity of a sample at different temperatures. Note that VROC® initium can perform automated temperature sweeps between 4 ºC – 70 ºC. In this application note, we present measurements of a certified viscosity standard (MSGV100, Paragon Scientific Ltd.) to demonstrate the accuracy of the initium when testing samples across a broad temperature range. Additionally, a temperature sweep on a 300 mg/mL BSA/H2O solution was performed in the same manner. 

Figure 1. Viscosity as a function of temperature for MSGV100 water-based standard and BSA/H2O 300 mg/mL. 

Results and Summary

The viscosity of the standard decreased from ~18 mPa-s to ~2.5 mPa-s as temperature was increased from 15 ºC to 70ºC. Viscosity values are in good agreement with available reference data. BSA measurements (7.5 ºC to 60 ºC) show a similar behavior up to 55 ºC. Beyond this point, the viscosity of the sample increases, indicating that temperature-induced protein denaturation has occurred. Note that in order to obtain these 20+ measurements datasets, only 95 µL of each sample were used thanks to the VROC® initium sample retrieval feature.