Dynisco brings simplified rheology to the masses with new ViscoIndicator online rheometer

Dynisco continues to expand their online rheometry offering with the release of their new ViscoIndicator Online Rheometer. Specifically designed for the thermoplastics resin industry, the ViscoIndicator provides continuous measurements of the melt flow rate, apparent viscosity, or intrinsic viscosity directly on an extruder.

Dynisco's new ViscoIndicator brings a new level of ease of use and lower entry price point to the market online rheological instrumentation.  “We have seen a shift in today’s markets where each and every processor needs to understand the material being specified and what happens to the rheological properties of the material during their process,” says John Biagioni, President of Dynisco. “Until now the high costs of full featured online rheometers, the need to modify existing extruders, and the expensive installation and rigging charges kept the benefits of an online rheometer out of reach.”

The ViscoIndicator consists of three main parts:

•     A Rheological Sensing Unit (RSU) that connects directly to the process and samples, conditions, and measures the properties of the resin.  It can be mounted on extruders, reactors, or molten polymer transfer lines in various orientations.
•     A Rheological Control Unit (RCU) that controls the measurement parameters (temperature, pressure, flow rate), and provides communications to Human Machine Interface (HMI).
•     The HMI remotely manages test parameters and provides measured and computed material properties.  Rheological data is displayed in a simple intuitive display that shows melt low rate, intrinsic viscosity, or apparent viscosity with a simple numeric value or a trending graph with high/low limits.  For historical purposes the data can be exported for further historical analysis or for quality control purposes. Additionally the data can be viewed on the machine or by remote connection with any windows 10 device.

The ViscoIndicator duplicates the test conditions of a laboratory Melt Flow Index tester or capillary rheometer.  Melt viscosity measurements such as melt flow index or MFI are primary specifications of thermoplastic resins.  MFI and melt viscosity are related to polymer molecular properties so these numbers give some measure of the physical properties of their product as well as polymer processability.  The ViscoIndicator has a look and feel that will be familiar to most shop personnel.  This is important as it lowers the training time to become effective in measuring the rheological properties of your polymer process.  This along with the ease of connection gets you up in running in the minimal amount of time.

“The ViscoIndicator’s single plug in power connection and ability to screw into an existing ½-20 process connection will allow a customer to be up and running in no time without modifications to an extrusion line,” says Bill Desrosiers, Vice President of Business Development. “Combine this with its simple to use Windows 10 IOT HMI minimizes the learning curve for an operator truly providing simplified online polymer rheology for the masses.”

What differentiates the ViscoIndicator from other online rheometers is that it is designed for easy installation and use for all extrusion processors. Its ability to connect to existing process connections and a simple plug in intuitive control system allows every processor access to this critical rheological data at an affordable price point.