A system and method for measuring one or more viscoelastic properties of a material under measurement is disclosed. The system includes an emitter-observer transducer pair separated by the material. A signal processing assembly is operable to (i) apply a plurality of excitation signals to the emitter transducer, wherein each of the excitation signals comprises a continuous-wave sinusoidal waveform, (ii) record a plurality of output signals at the observer transducer, wherein each of the output signals corresponds to one of the excitation signals, (iii) analyze the output signals to measure the sound speed of the material, and (iv) determine the viscoelastic properties of the material under measurement by optimizing the parameters of an infinite echo model. The system provides a non-destructive approach for in-situ measurement of viscoelastic material properties.

A loss tangent tan is the ratio between a storage modulus and a loss modulus calculated from a stress when vibrations of a predetermined frequency are applied to a rubber member. When evaluating a shock resistance performance of the rubber member using an elongation at break Eb, a tensile strength at break TSb, and a loss tangent tan of the rubber member, a speed of an impact applied under use conditions of the rubber member is matched with a maximum speed of vibrations. As a result, the shock resistance performance can be evaluated using a value of the loss tangent tan corresponding to an impact actually applied to the rubber member, and it is possible to improve the accuracy of the shock resistance performance evaluation.

A measurement apparatus for carrying out an indentation creep test on a specimen, including a measurement control apparatus that includes a load measurement device, a constant-load compression device configured to compress a tip of a transparent indenter to a surface of the specimen, and an image capturing device configured to optically capture an image including a contact area portion which is a part of the specimen to which the load is applied by the constant-load compression device. The apparatus also includes an information processing apparatus that includes an image analysis unit configured to analyze a contact area, and a physical property value calculation unit. The physical property value calculation unit conducts linear regression with respect to a plot of a logarithmic value of the contact stress and a logarithmic value of the contact strain rate so as to determine a creep index n and creep constant k.

Disclosed is a system and method for determination of the viscoelastic properties of a viscoelastic substance based on the type of non-mechanical forces which drive the viscoelastic substance inside a channel. These forces may comprise capillary, gravitational, electric, magnetic, or any other type where neither a pump nor any relative velocity between solid surfaces is needed to induce the transport of fluid medium. As a result, the design of the system remains simple, and the system is capable of yielding results devoid of noise produced by mechanical forcing. The present disclosure a general analysis describing extraction of viscoelastic properties by observing flow-systems driven by any non-mechanical means, including capillary force and electro-osmotic force. Such time-dependent penetration depth may be recorded by optical, electrical or mechanical means and may further include the use of a computing device.

A method for quantifying viscoelasticity of a medium includes: obtaining a position-time graph of vibration propagation after the medium is subjected to a vibration excitation, determining an angle with maximum signal energy in the position-time graph by using angle projection, where the angle with the maximum signal energy corresponds to a slope of the position-time graph and the slope of the position-time graph is the propagation velocity of the vibration in the medium. Since the propagation velocity of the vibration in the medium is related to the viscoelasticity of the medium, a viscoelasticity parameter of the medium can be quantitatively calculated after the slope of the position-time graph is obtained. The method does not need to select a feature point from the position-time graph to calculate the slope of the position-time graph, and can efficiently and accurately quantifies viscoelasticity of the medium.

The use of recycled materials can have significant economic value. With the increasing quantity of recycled material used in viscoelastic materials, especially asphalt mixture, understanding how they interact with original materials to produce a mixture that performs successfully, becomes critical. Currently, the technology to determine the effect of additives on the performance of asphalt mixture is lacking. The present invention relates to a new unified methodology for mechanical testing of asphalt mixture and other viscoelastic materials that improves the current practice in speed, convenience, and accuracy. A new improved specimen mounting method on Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), a new recovery method for fine portion of asphalt mixture, and three new tests for the performance of recovered material using DSR is disclosed. The new methods provide performance grading of asphalt mixtures that is new to the industry and provide necessary tools for determining the effect of recycled materials on performance.

Some embodiments relate to a system and method of estimating the viscoelasticity of a material. The system and method includes receiving a plurality of time-amplitude curves measured at a plurality of space points. The time-amplitude curves reflect time evolutions of a propagating mechanical wave. The system and method also include estimating the viscoelasticity of a material between any set of space points using the time-amplitude curves measured at those space points.

A method for predicting the likelihood of coagulation of active material particles contained in a slurry for electrode preparation includes measuring rheological properties before and after the slurry is subjected to a shear. The estimation method enables a prediction of filter clogging with a slurry, and thus makes it possible to estimate the likelihood of filter clogging with a slurry without passing the slurry directly through the filter, thereby improving the efficiency of a battery manufacturing process.

Viscosity assemblies may be used to determine the viscosity of a sample fluid at a surface location under one or more downhole conditions prior to pumping or flowing of the sample fluid downhole. A viscosity assembly may include a bob assembly disposed in a container that includes a bob disposed about a magnet rotor that rotates when a shear force is applied by the flow of the sample fluid in the container. A stator coil may receive a control signal that induces a force or a voltage that causes the magnet rotor to rotate the bob by a predetermined distance to position the bob from the rotated position back to the initial position.

An atomic-force-microscope-based apparatus and method including hardware and software, configured to collect, in a dynamic fashion, and analyze data representing mechanical properties of soft materials on a nanoscale, to map viscoelastic properties of a soft-material sample. The use of the apparatus as an addition to the existing atomic-force microscope device.