Ametek BROOKFIELD RSO User manual

M19-230-REV.B
RSO™
RHEOMETER
Operating
Instructions

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M19-230-REV.B © 2020 AMETEK Brookfield Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. 1 Obligation to Instruct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. 2 Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. 3 Safety and Hazard Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. 4 General Handling and Operational Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. 5 Dangers in Handling the Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1. 6 Ergonomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1. 7 Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. 7. 1. Unpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. 7. 2. Damages in Transit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. 7. 3. Scope of Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. 8 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
1. 8. 1. Touchscreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1. 8. 2. Utilities and Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1. 9 Rheometer Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. 9. 1. Space Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. 9. 2. Ambient Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1. 9. 3. AC Power Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. 9. 4. Remove Foam Shipping Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. 9. 5. Level the Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1. 9. 6. Air Supply & Filter System Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1. 9. 7. Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1. 9. 8. Drive System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1. 9. 9. Quick Coupling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1. 10 Spindles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1. 11 Key Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1. 12 Rheo3000™ Software (Optional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2. Installation and Test Set-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. 1 Air & AC Power Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. 1. 1. Power Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. 1. 2. Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. 2 Select Device Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2. 3 Power Down. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
TABLE OF CONTENTS

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3. Spindles and Sample Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3. 1 Preparing Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. 1. 1. Using CPS Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. 1. 2. Using CC Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. 2 FTKY3 and Temperature Control Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4. Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. 1 User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. 1. 1. Main Menu: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. 1. 2. Status Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4. 2 Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4. 2. 1. Menu structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4. 3 Log In, Log Out, Lock Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 3. 1. Log In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 3. 2. Log Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 3. 3. Lock Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 4 CC and CPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 4. 1. Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. 4. 2. RSOConfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. 4. 3. Temperature control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. 5 Rotational Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. 5. 1. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. 5. 2. Viscosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4. 5. 3. Yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4. 5. 4. Creep Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4. 5. 5. Thixotropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4. 5. 6. Math Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4. 6 Oscillation Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4. 6. 1. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4. 6. 2. Amplitude Sweep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4. 6. 3. Frequency Sweep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4. 6. 4. Time-Dependent Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4. 6. 5. Temperature-Dependent Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4. 7 File Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4. 7. 1. Internal Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4. 7. 2. External Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4. 7. 3. Search Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

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4. 8 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4. 8. 1. General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4. 8. 2. Device Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4. 8. 3. Administrator Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4. 9 External Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5. Transport and Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5. 1 Lifting and Carrying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5. 2 Ambient Conditions for Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6. Maintenance and Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6. 1 Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6. 2 Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6. 3 Software Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7. Trouble Shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7. 1 Error Cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7. 2 Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
8. Technical Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
8. 1 Power Cord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8. 2 Power Cord Color Code:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8. 3 International Protection Marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8. 4 RSORheometer Technical Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9. Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Appendix A: Gap Settings Procedure for the RSORheometer 94
Appendix B: Calibration Check 95
Appendix C: Symbols for Test Parameters and Units of Measurement 96
Appendix D: Online Help and Additional Resources 97
Appendix E: Warranty and Repair 98
O I

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RSO™ Operator Instructions
1. INTRODUCTION
The Brookfield RSO Rheometer is a rotational and oscillatory controlled-stress rheometer used
in quality control, product development, and research. The measuring drive developed for this
instrument utilizes a high precision dynamic drive system with an optical encoder for absolute position
measurement of spindle deflection.
There are four basic methods of measurement available with the RSO Rheometer:
• Rotational measurement under controlled shear rate (CSR)
• Rotational measurement under controlled shear stress (CSS)
• Oscillatory measurement under controlled shear stress (CSS)
• Oscillatory measurement under controlled deformation/strain (CD)
The RSO Rheometer has all the functionality of a standard Brookfield rotational viscometer,
performing rotational tests with pre-set speed or shear rate. The RSO Rheometer is even more
versatile because it can also perform tests with a pre-set torque or shear stress and measure the
resulting shear deformation of the test substance via angular deflection of the measuring element.
The RSO controlled stress capabilities can be used for experiments such as:
(1) Measurement of the “static” yield stress – eliminating the multi-shear rate test that requires
math model extrapolation; and
(2) Creep and Recovery of numerous materials.
Additionally, the RSORheometer is equipped with a powerful motor with a usable torque range of
0.005 to 100 milliNewton-meters, mN-m or mNm. As a result, the RSORheometer is appropriate for
rheological measurements over a wide range of sample viscosities. Furthermore, the oscillatory mode
measures viscoelastic material responses that cannot be measured in rotational tests. One advantage
of small-amplitude oscillatory rheometry or “SAOS” is that the small strains or deformations can
probe weak structures without destroying them (e.g., testing weak gels, etc.)
The Brookfield RSORheometer incorporates the following features:
• Air-bearing, drag cup motor, capable of both rotational and oscillatory measurements.
• Digital control of rotational speed, shear rate, torque, or shear stress.
• Pre-designed rotational measurement programs for analysis of viscosity flow curves, creep
and recovery behavior, yield stress, and thixotropic properties.
• Pre-designed oscillatory test methods: amplitude sweep, frequency sweep, time-dependent
or temperature-dependent behavior.

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• Automatic adjustment of control parameters during measurement.
• Direct indication of measured and calculated values of speed, shear rate, torque, shear
stress, shear strain, viscosity, temperature, and time.
• Graphical display of measured results in real-time.
• The internal storage of data, including test parameters, measured values, and calculated
values.
• User interface via a touchscreen display.
• Quick-connect coupling system for easy spindle attachment.
• Barcode reader for automatic spindle recognition.
• USB port for connection to a computer or a USB flash drive.
• Operation in standalone mode via touchscreen display or with a computer system running
Rheo3000 application software.
• Dual Configuration Modes to allow for Cone, Plate, and Coaxial Cylinder Spindles and
Accessories. *
*Measuring Systems (hereinafter referred to as “Spindles”) and Accessories are not part of the standard
delivery of the RSORheometer and must be ordered according to the user’s measuring requirements.
The following additional services are available to support the use of the RSORheometer:
• Start-up Assistance
• Instrument Training
• Rheo3000 Software Training
• IQ/OQ/PQ (Installation, Operation, and Performance Qualification)
1. 1 Obligation to Instruct
The RSORheometer should only be operated by qualified personnel.
Please read the operating instructions before using the instrument.
1. 2 Safety Information
Read the operating manual carefully, follow all instructions provided, and observe all safety
notes to ensure the proper and safe use of this measuring instrument. If you have any questions,
please contact AMETEK Brookfield Technical Support or an authorized dealer.

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This instruction manual uses the following safety notes and symbol categories:
Warning ... a situation which may result in injuries to people or damage to property, environment,
software, data, or test results if ignored. The warning must be strictly observed.
Mandatory ... an important precaution.
Info ... important or useful comments and information.
1. 3 Safety and Hazard Information
This instrument is not intended for use in an explosive or otherwise potentially hazardous
environment.
If RSO Rheometer is used in a manner not specied by the manufacturer, the protection measures
integrated into the instrument may be impaired.
In case of emergency, turn o󰀨 the instrument and then disconnect the electrical cord from the wall
outlet.
1. 4 General Handling and Operational Safety
When moving the RSO short distances (i.e., during Setup), first protect the instrument by
inserting the black foam rubber stopper between the rheometer head and base. Ensure that
the sample plate is at a safe temperature. During transportation, hold the instrument only
by its base. Never hold the instrument by the head to carry it. Never lift the instrument by
the spindle or its coupling. Protect the instrument against heavy bumps, vibrations, or shocks
that might impair the rotation of the coupling. Use a rolling cart for transportation whenever
possible.
The RSO Rheometer weighs approximately 70lbs.(32kg) and requires two people to
safely lift.
Make sure that the instrument is in a clean, dry working environment (dust-free, moderate
temperature, low humidity, etc.), see section IV.2.2 Ambient Conditions.

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1. 5 Dangers in Handling the Machine
Be aware of substances placed under test that may release poisonous, toxic, or ammable
gases at the temperatures which they are subjected to during the testing.
If dangerous vapors can be released by heating the material, appropriate ventilation is
required.
If ammable substances are tested, the temperature must be 25 °K below the ashpoint
of the material. In general, the ashpoint of the test sample material must not be below
+205°C (+401°F).
DO NOT touch rotating spindles. Damage to the spindle and/or RSO may occur.
Safeguard any loose-tting clothing (sleeves). Remove any jewelry, rings, watches, etc.
Protect long hair. Tie hair back or work with a cap or hairnet.
Cone and Plate Spindles can eject bits of the sample from the plate during high-speed
tests.
The user should wear eye protection and protective clothing during testing.
Wear gloves to protect against skin contact with potentially irritating or harmful substances.
High Magnetic Fields. Pacemakers or other similar implanted devices may be a󰀨ected.
Burn Hazard. Allow Sample Plate, Water Jacket, and Hoses to cool before touching or
removing them.
Electrical Hazard. Unplug damaged power from the wall outlet cord before removing from
RSO.
Laser Bar Code scanner in use. Avoid Direct Eye Exposure.
Compressed Air in use.
Class A instrument
Repair service should only be performed by AMETEK Brookfield’s trained service team, see
Appendix F: Warranty and Repair.
1. 6 Ergonomics
Ensure your planned work area is at a comfortable height with a proper stool or seat.
Allocate enough space to allow for a PC and external temperature control device to be within
easy reach.

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1. 7 Unpacking
The RSO Rheometer weighs approximately 70lbs.(32kg) and requires two people to
safely lift.
When transporting the device to the place of use, regulations must be observed. See section
VIITransport and Storage.
1. 7. 1. Unpacking
– Cut thestraps from around the box and pallet.
– Remove the top cover.
– Openthe internalbox top and remove thefilter system andaccessories.
– Remove thetopof the boxand theoutside sleeve.
– Remove the top foam piecefrom the head of the instrument.
– With two people, carefully remove the RSO from the bottom foam tray. Lift
bythe base of the instrumentandplace it onasturdybench.
– Remove shipping strap, plastic bag, and protective foam discfrom the instrument.
SAVE ALL PACKING MATERIALS, INCLUDING FOAM INSERTS.
1. 7. 2. Damages in Transit
Check the instrument for transport damage after unpacking. If any transport damage is
detected when unpacking the instrument, please inform the carrier and contact AMETEK
Brookfield or your local authorized dealer. The cause for shipping damage should be resolved
before any use of the instrument.
Do not attempt to operate the instrument or any accessories that show any evidence of damage.
1. 7. 3. Scope of Delivery
Please check to be sure that you have received all components, and that there is no damage.
If you are missing any parts, please notify AMETEK Brookfield or your local agent immediately.
Any shipping damage must be reported to the carrier.
When unpacking the RSORheometer, the shipment container will include: