OUR LADY OF FATIMA UNIVERSITY

Antipolo City Camp

Rheology
 Learning Objective
At the end of this unit, the students are expected
to:
• Define rheology and viscosity
 Determine the different types of flow
 Determine the different apparatus used to measure
viscosity and their principles.
 Determine the pharmaceutical application of
rheology
 Unit Outline
•Rheology
•Types of Flow
•Thixotrophy
•Rheopexy
•Determination of Rheologic Properties
 Rheology
• Greek word – rheo “flow” logos “science”
• Heraclitus (actually coming from the writings of
Simplicius), panta rei, "everything flows.“

• Viscosity – resistance to flow

• ↑ the viscosity the greater the resistance

• Use: study of paints, inks, doughs, road builidng

materials, cosmetics, dairy products and other
materials.
 Rheology in pharmacy
• Application in the formulation
• Analysis of pharmaceutical product
• Emulsion
• Pastes
• Suppositories
• Tablet coating
• Medicinal and cosmetic creams
• Lotion
 Types of flow
• Newtonian system
• Poise- unit of viscosity
• Cgs unit = for poise is dynesec/cm² or
gcm-1sec-1 or g/cmsec
• Centipoise (cp) plural (cps) 1 cp = 0.01 poise
• Fluidity - ᶲ - reciprocal to viscosity
 Kinematic viscosity
• The USP kinematic viscosity – absolute viscosity

• Kinematic viscosity = ᶯ/ᵖ

• Unit:
• Stoke (s)
• Centistoke (cs)
• Measure : arbitrary scale, Saybolt, Redwood,
Engler
 Viscosity enhancing agent
• Acacia • Povidone
• Agar • Pectin
• Bentonite • Colloidal silicon dioxide
• Carbomer • Starch
• SCMC and CCMC • Tragacanth
• Carrageenan • Xanthan gum
• Dextrin
• Gelatin
 Temperature and viscosity
• Gas = ↑viscosity ↑ temperature
• Liquid = inversely proportional
• ↑Viscosity ↓ temperature
• Activation energy – energy required to initiate
flow between molecules
 Non newtonian system
• Liquid and solid heterogeneous dispersions
such as colloidal solution
• Emulsions
• Liquid suspension
• Oitment
• And other products

• Analyzed in a rotational viscometer

 Three classes of flow
• Plastic flow
• Pseudoplastic
• Dilatant
 Plastic flow
• Bingham bodies – modern rheology and the first
investigator to study the plastic substances in a
systematic manner

• Those substances that exhibit a yield value as

solids  substances that begins to flow at the
smallest shearing stress and show no yield value
are defined ad liquids
Mobility – slope of rheogram – same to fluidity of
Newtonian system and is reciprocal is called
plastic viscosity (U)
 Plastic flow
• presence of flocculated particles in
concentrated suspensions.
• Yield value indicate the force of flocculation
• The more flocculated = the ↑ yield value
 Pseudoplastic flow
• Apparent viscosity decreases with increased
stress
• Paper pulp in water, latex paint, ice, blood,
syrup, molasses
 Dilatant flow
• Suspension with high percentage of dispersed solid
exhibit an ↑ in resistance to flow with ↑ rate of shear
• Dilatant – system that ↑ in volume when sheared
• Apparent viscosity increases with increased stress
• Suspensions of corn starch or sand in water
• Inverse with pseudoplastic system
• Shear thickening system – when stress is removed, a
dilatant system return to its original state of fluidity
• Invariably suspension containing ↑ concentration
(about 50% or↑) of small defloculated particles
 Dilatant
• Shear stress ↑ the bulk of system expands or
dilates  dilatant
• Dispersion  Solid particles  high speed
mixers, blenders or mils
• Advantageous compare to plastic and
pseudoplastic
• May solidify under these condition of high
shear  overloading and damaging the
processing equipment
Thixotrophy
 thixotrophy
• Apparent viscosity decreases with duration of stress[
• Some Clays, Some Drilling Mud, many paints, synovial
fluid, Honey under certain conditions
• An isothermal and comparatively slow recovery, on
standing of material, of consistency lost thru shearing
• Shear thinning system
• Gel to sol transformation and exhibit shear thinning 
remove of stress  reform
• Note: not instantaneous  progressive restoration of
consistency
 thixotrophy
• Negative thixotrophy or antithixotrophy
• Magnesia magma alternately increase and
decrease rate of shear  magma thickens
• Not same with dilantancy or rheopexy
• Dilatant system – are deffloculated and
ordinarily contain greater than 50% by vol of
solid dispersed phase
• Antithixotrophic system – low solid content 1-
10% and are flocculated
 Rheopexy
• Phenomenon in which a solid forms a gel more
readily when gently shaken or otherwise sheared
that when allowed to form the gel while material
is kept at rest

• Rheopectic - Apparent viscosity increases with

duration of stress (lubricant and whipped cream)
• Note: rheopectic system gel – equilibrium state
• Antithixotropy sol – equilibrium state
 Thixotrophy in formulation
• Is a desirable property in liquid pharmaceutical
system  high consistency in the container 
pour and spread easily
• Well formulated thixotrophic susp will not settle
out readily in container  fluid on shaking 
will remain long enough fora dose to be dispensed
 regain consistency rapidly enough (maintain
particles in suspended state)
• Emulsion, lotions, creams and ointnment and
parenteral suspensions (IM)
 Suspension stability
• Degree of thixotrophy and rate of sedimenatation
• Greater thixotrophy, lower the rate of settling
• Concentrated parenteral suspension containing
40-70% w/v of procaine pen G  high inherent
thixotrophy and shear thinning  caused to pass
thru hypodermic needle
• Formation of depot of drug at the site of injection
in the muscle from which drug was slowly
removed and made available to the body
• Thixotrophy – pen – specific surface
Determination of rheologic
properties
 Choice viscometer
• Newtonian system – shearing stress  single
rate of shear called as “one point” instrument
• Non Newtononian system – variety of rates of
shear called as “multipoint” instrument

• Note : all viscometer – Newtonian

• Only those with variable shear stress control
can be used for Non Newtonian
 Choice of viscometer
• Tackiness, stickiness, “body”, “slip” and
spreadability  difficult to measure using
conventional apparatus  no precise meaning

• Pseudoplastic materials – instrument caplable

of a wide range shearing rates
 Capillary viscometer
• Ostwald viscometer
• Ubbelohde viscosimeters
• Newtonian liquid – measuring time required
for a liquid to pass between two marks as
flows by gravity thru a vertical tube
• USP suggest capillary apparatus for
determining the viscosity of high viscosity
types of methyl cellulose solution
 Falling sphere viscometer
• A glass or steel ball rolls down an almost
vertical glass tube containing the test liquid at
a known constant temp.
• Hoeppler viscometer

• Variety of glass and steel ball of different

diameter – can be used over range 0.5 to
200,000 poise
• Best result ball used NLT 30 sec
 Cup and bob viscometer
• The sampled is sheared in the space between the outer wall
of a bob and the inner wall of a cup into which the bob fits
• Couette – cup is rotated
• Searle – stationary cup and rotating bob
• 20-50 ml sample
• Disadvantage: variable shear stress across the sample
between the bob and the cup
• Brookfield viscometer is a rotational viscometer of a Searle
type – QC
– Newtonian and Non- Newtonian liquid and empirical viscosity
measurement on paste and other semisolid materials
 Plug Flow
• Gap between the cup and the bob
• Largest bob with a cup of a definite
circumference so to reduce the gap and
minimize the chance of plug flow
• Important in paste and concentrated
suspension thru an orifices
• Extrusion of toothpaste in tube
 Cone and plate viscometer
• The sample is placed at the center of the plate
which is then raised into position under the cone
• The cone angle generally ranges from 0.3⁰ to 4⁰
smaller angle is being preferred.
• Advantage :
– time save in cleaning and filling
– Temperature stabilization of the sample during a run
– 0.1 to 0.2 ml sample
– Semisolids
 Viscoelasticity
• Kelvin material - "Parallel" linear combination
of elastic and viscous effects
• Anelastic - Material returns to a well-defined
"rest shape”
 Viscoelasticity
• Based on the mechanical properties of materials that
exhibit both viscous properties of liquid and elastic
properties of solid
• Creams
• Lotion
• Ointments
• Suppositories
• Suspension
• Colloidal dispersing
• Emulsifying and suspending agent
• Biologic material : blood, sputum and cervical fluid
 Psychorheology
• Organoleptc evaluation
• Feel, spreadability, color, odor and other
psychologic and sensory characteristics

• Dermatologist three classes

• Class I – soft and are for ophthalmic use
• Class II – commonly medicated ointmentof
intermediate consistency
• Class III – involved stiff protective products use
for moist ulcerative condition
 psychorheology
• USP bacitracin ointment decreased when
temperature was raised from 20⁰ to 35⁰C

• Three attributes:
• Smoothness – coefficient of friction
• Thinness – Non Newtonian
• Warmth
Applications to pharmacy
 Pharmaceutical areas in which
rheology is significant
• Fluids
– Mixing
– Particle size reduction or disperse system with
shear
– Passage thru orifices, including pouring,
packaging in bottles and passage thru hypodermic
needle
– Fluid transfer, including pumping and flow thru
pipes
– Physical stability of disperse system
 Pharmaceutical areas in which
rheology is significant
• Quasisolids
– Spreading and adherence on the skin
– Removal from jars or extrusion from tubes
– Capacity of solids to mix with miscible liquids
– Release of drug from the base
 Pharmaceutical areas in which
rheology is significant
• Solids
– Flow of powders from hoppers and into die
cavities in tabletting or into capsules during
encapsulation
– Packagability of powdered or granular solids
• Processing
– Production capacity of the equipment
– Processing efficiency
• Poloxamers (Pluronics) – dermatologic bases or
topical ophthalmic preparation because of its low
toxicity and ability to form clear water based gel
• Polymer solution – ophthalmic preparation as
wetting solution for contact lensand as tear
replacement solution “dry eye syndrome”
• dextran (natural) and polyvinyl alcohol
(synthetic) + preservatives
• High MW preparation of Na hyaluronate at 0.1 to
0.2% - dry eye syndrome
• Torque – is the force acting to produce rotation of
a body
• 1Nm= 1 joule

• Pendular state – lenses of liquid at contact point

of the particles
• Funicular state – mixture of air and liquid
between particles
• Capillary state – pores filled with liquid
• Liquid droplet state – envelop particles
• The approximate viscosity in centistokes at
room temperature of ether is 0.2; of water, 1; of
kerosene, 2.5; of mineral oil, 20 to 70; and of
honey, 10,000.
 References
• Sinko, P.J., Martin’s Physical Pharmacy and
Pharmaceutical Sciences. Philadelphia, PA : Wolters
Kluwer. 2017
Smith, B. Remington Education: Physical Pharmacy.
London :Pharmaceutical Press. 2016
• Kumar, D. S. ) Applied thermodynamics. S. K. Kataria &
Sons. 2017
• Helmer, Erica Drug design and medicinal chemistry
Callisto Reference. 2015
• Atkins Elements of Physical Chemistry. 2017
 Video Links
• Rheology Introduction =
[Link]
• What is Rheology? =
[Link]
Thank you