Proposed here is the continued development of an innovative rheometer configuration design at NIST. It describes the determination of suitable detection, drive, control, software and assembly designs for a commercially viable, fully integrated device. The initial efforts will concentrate on examining the sub-systems of the design. An important feature of the proposed strategy is early commercial input to allow suitable performance specifications to be fixed early on. By examining competing instruments, and asking early questions of potential users, the design can be refined more accurately. In parallel to the development of the hardware and software modules, a detailed commercialization plan for the instrument will also be generated. This will examine target industries, required through-puts and potential market sizes, as well as likely instrument cost. Phase I will provide a robust, reliable and desirable design for the Multi-sample Multi-Slit Rheometer (MMR) that provides the critical subsystems in modular form, and a solid justification for the design choices as well as a roadmap for the commercialization of the instrument. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The primary application of the MMR is in polymer processing where it will provide a faster method for testing fluids in a rheologically rigorous instrument than is currently available. Because of its small sample volume, it is likely to also be useful in environments where small volumes of fluids are the norm. This may be in the biological arena, for diagnostic purposes, but may also be in applications where a large number of small amounts of sample need to be screened for further testing, such as in combinatorial chemistry applications. The MMRs small footprint and rapid test turnaround may also be useful in quality assurance environments where robust, simple, and fast results are a necessity
