HAAKE PolyLab Torque Rheometers

The flexible Thermo Scientific HAAKE PolyLab Torque Rheometer enables a range of material development tasks with just one instrument, saving time and investment costs. Interchangeable processing units can be attached in seconds to the proven drive and measuring unit. Additionally, the entire instrument is controlled by intuitive software. 

• Choose between benchtop or movable floor-standing drive and measuring units to serve your specific application needs, from material development to QC of polymers, ceramics, and innovative materials.
• Modular plug-and-play concept switches between different processing devices, such as batch mixers, single screw extruders, or conical/parallel twin-screw compounders.
• Lab-scale measuring devices can work with small sample volumes, saving material cost and time in order to produce and characterize more samples in less time.
• Perform rheological testing solutions under process-relevant conditions. The same system can be used to compound new materials and, with just a few set-up changes, test those same materials for relevant properties.
• A unified software platform across all applications ensures failure-free operation.
• Simulate different production processes with a broad range of downstream equipment.

Thermo Scientific HAAKE PolyLab RheoDrive Systems are the basic drive unit for the instrument, available as tabletop and mobile stand-alone versions. They contain all the elements of a torque rheometer that are required to drive the instrument’s measuring systems and to monitor torque during material processing and testing.

All measuring systems of the HAAKE PolyLab System can be quickly connected to the RheoDrive System with “plug and measure” functionality, and are equipped with specialized measuring, control, and evaluation technology.

Thermo Scientific HAAKE PolyLab Rheomix Laboratory Measuring Mixers can help characterize a material’s response to shear energy and temperature in order to describe its melting, degradation, plastification, flow, and curing behavior. They can also be used to produce small batches of new materials.

Different single-screw extruders are available to serve a broad range of applications from polyolefins to thermoplastics and rubbers. A range of up- and down-stream accessories serve applications such as cast films, blown films, strandlines, or capillary rheology measurements.

The unique modular design of the Thermo Scientific HAAKE PolyLab Twin-screw Compounder delivers comparable results to its production-scale sibling while offering lab-scale size and requiring only a fraction of the time and material to get results. It has a split-barrel design, where the top half can lift upwards, to easily study new formulations. With a wide range of up- and down-stream accessories, as well as a modular screw design for parallel twin-screws, this torque rheometer set-up is useful for a variety of R&D processes from compounding, to processing, to characterization of new formulations.

HAAKE PolyLab Systems allow for rheological testing under process-relevant conditions. Different capillary dies are available depending on the material to be tested and the desired shear rate range; these enable reliable determination of rheological behavior. This is of prime importance for machine and tool design, as well as the optimization of final products.

Polymer materials and other fluids such as ceramic masses are not generally processed into end products in their purest forms. More often, processing additives, pigments, fillers, and modifiers are added to the original material to give the end-product its desired characteristics. Apart from these additives, the molecular weight and distribution also significantly influence the flow characteristics of the polymer.

Typical tests determine:

• The flow characteristics at differing processing parameters, temperatures, and shear rates
• The influence of functional and processing additives on viscosity