NASA NTRS1976
A tubeless siphon apparatus has been set up to measure extensional flow. In this apparatus, the liquid is continuously drawn into a capillary and, after steady flow has been established, the tube is raised above the liquid surface. With viscoelastic liquids, the flow continues and a column can be lifted from the reservoir. At the capillary entrance, an oscillating bead of excess liquid collects which interferes with both the flow and the measurements. This can be minimized by careful control of the liquid-column height. For homogeneous solutions, the column is symmetrical and tapers steadily from the liquid surface to the capillary entrance, with no bulging. Preliminary results show tensile viscosities 1000 times that of the Trouton coefficient and having a very strong dependence on deformation rate. A concentration-stretch rate-reduced variable scheme is proposed.