What Is Rheology?

Rheology is the branch of science that deals with the flow of matter mainly liquids and in some cases solids and soft solids as well. This branch generally takes into account the conditions under which these elements of matter flow freely without any kind of hindrance or obstruction. Rheology is a widely accepted and recognized branch of study which is applicable even to substances such as polymers, suspension liquids among others which have a complicated structure.

Origin of Rheology

Since Isaac Newton developed the theory of viscosity, scientists all over the world tried to discover fluids which have variable and different levels of viscosity under different set of conditions. This search led to the discovery of the branch of science known as rheology. Eugene Bingham of the Lafayette College coined the term rheology in the year 1920 after his colleague Markus Reiner had suggested him with this term.

Applications of Rheology

Over the years rheology has been used in various fields such as Engineering, Physiology and Geology.
In the field of engineering the technique of rheology has been used for the production and usage of various polymeric materials such as Bakelite and Nylon among others.

Physiology makes use of rheology in order to study the composition and flow of body fluids including blood as most of the body fluids are of complex structures and thus have a complex flowing pattern. Lastly rheology is of great importance in the branch of geology as rheology helps in the determination of the flow of the lava from the volcanoes thus helping the geologists in predicting any possibilities of volcanic eruptions.

Main Branch of Rheology- Microrheology

Microrheology is one of the most used and common branch and type of rheology. It is a technique that is generally employed to study the rheological properties of a medium by measuring the size of the particles of the medium. There are two main types of microrheology namely Active microrheolgy and Passive microrheology. Active form is generally used for the study of mediums such as magnetic fields and optical fields. On the other hand the passive form of microrheology is generally employed to study mediums such as thermal moving particles.

Benefits of Rheology

Rheology is a branch that helps in expanding the classical and traditional theories such as elasticity and Newtonian viscosity theories as it helps in studying various other substances that earlier could not have been studied due to lack of complete knowledge about them.

One of the best impacts rheology has had is that it has helped in uniting two completely varied fields such as Plasticity and Viscosity. This path breaking step has solved many problems of the physicists who for years were trying to find a relation between these two terms.

Rheometers and Rheologists

Rheometers are certain instruments that are generally used in the rheological process to determine the properties of the materials. On the other hand a rheologist is a scientist who studies the viscosity and flow of of various complex liquids and other soft solids. Even though no necessary qualification is required to become a rheologist, however in most cases rheologists generally are people from the mathematics and scientific field such as medicine and engineering.