[Kirk Keyes]

Hi ,
Seriously though, I don't have a Brookfield viscometer. But I am absolutely certain that all of these emulsions, gelatin or PVA based, are thixatropic. That is, viscosity ,and therefor rate of flow, are influinced by shear. The faster the draw-down,or the faster the squirt from a syringe, the lower the visositry, and that means more emulsion flowing faster.

Many years ago, I used to use a Brookfield viscometer at work. I don't think it will work well with thixatropic materials. It uses different diameter and shape rods, wheels, and drums to measure the viscosity.



I once had to test blueberry jam with it - it needed a rod that was about 5 mm in diameter for material that viscous. But you would get a much higher reading just after you turn the Brookfield on and a much lower one after a minute or so, as the viscometer wheel would be dragged by the blueberry chunks in the jam at the beginning and then it would pull the thinner jam around it as it spun. I think you would have the same sort of issue with your "emulsion".

(I also had a high viscosity Standard that I used for verifying it's function. It was a silicone "liquid" - you could take the jar and lay it on it's side with the lid off, come back in 30 minutes, and the liquid would just be "pouring" out the bottle. The fun part of this trick was to catch it before it touched the countertop!

But that's a really cool test shot, Bill! I'm looking forward to more photos!