See manual page 85

Transducer Calibration
**transducer 1 has max torque 200 g-cm, transducer 2 has max torque 2000 g-cm (same transducer)

1. Mount 2 calibration fixtures – make sure that disk (mounted on the side) rotates freely. Make a loop at the end of the thread and loop around the post in the grove and around the disk. Make a second loop at the other end of the thread.
2. Zero blue screen by pressing blue button.
3. On computer, click on utilities, calibration, xducer cal and “zero” to zero out weight of the arm.
4. Choose transducer 2.
5. Torque should be close to zero, “rezero” if not.
6. Place 200 g on end of thread (200 g * 2.5 cm = 500 g-cm)
7. Torque calibration should be 500, click on “calibrate now”.
8. Current torque calibration number will change – should be around 2100 +/- 5%.
9. Hang 500 g on metal loop to check normal force.
10. Click on “normal cal”, choose 500 g.
11. Click on “calibrate now”.
12. The value should also be 2100 +/- 5%.
13. Repeat this procedure for transducer 1. Use 20 g weight for the torque calibration, torque should be 50 g-cm. Use 500 g for the normal force. Value should be 2100 +/- 5%.

Motor Calibration

1. Place indicator in correct spot on bottom.
2. Go to control, motor mode dynamics (is in static mode for transducer calibration),
3. Zero the calibration tool with the cw and ccw buttons on blue screen.
4. Hit “start”. Choose parallel plate geometry, diameter 2 mm, gap 1 mm, test set-up dynamic time sweep, frequency 0.5 rad/sec, strain 25%, time 600 sec.
5. After starting, should reach 0.25 on each end. Look at scale on base and reading on monitor.

Confidence Test

1. Put two 25 mm parallel plates in place with the thermocouple.
2. Zero gap width on computer at 30 oC.
3. Place silicon putty calibration standard on plates – use spatula to smooth it out (“dome shape”), should be about 4 mm gap when plates loosely touching sample.
4. Commanded gap position = 2.1 mm, max force = 500 g, hit “set gap”.
5. Use fishing line to shave off sample on edges. Place used polymer in used sample bottle.
6. Set T=30 oC and make final adjustment to 2.0 mm by hand. Should see a little polymer bulging at edges.
7. Instrument control panel – T=30oC, environment controller on.
8. Close oven.
9. Choose parallel plates, 25 mm diameter, gap = 2 mm, dynamic frequency sweep test (strain control), strain 15%, T=30oC, initial frequency = 100, final frequency = 0.1, points per decade = 5.
10. Hit “begin test”
11. Look for G’ and G’’ crossover. Analysis field – frequency = 5.25 +/- 5%, Gc = 2.55 +/- 8%. If not right, try running again if T was not stabilized.

Phase Angle Calibration (Transducer 2 only)

1. Use torsion rectangular geometry (use smallest enclosures). Remove thermocouple. Set-up everything without tightening screws. Slowly tighten the screws, while adjusting until shear and normal force are 0. The motor may need to be turned back on if it is overloaded. Tighten screws so that everything is snug.
2. Dynamic time sweep: stored steel sample geometry, strain 0.02, w=100 rad/sec, T = 25oC, time = 120 sec, time per measurement = 10 sec.
3. Begin test
4. Phase angle should be –0.1 to 0.2. Adjust phase angle constant until phase angle is in correct range (p. 97 to calculate phase angle constant). Change this in utilities, calibrate instrument (trial and error process, change constant until phase angle is correct).
5. When phase angle is in correct range, run a confidence test. Dynamic frequency sweep. Use strain = 0.02, T = 25 oC, initial frequency 100, final frequency 0.1, points per decade 5. Phase angle should be in correct range for all frequencies.

Viscosity of 1000 cp Sample

1. Use 50 mm parallel plates.
2. Zero gap width at 25 oC
3. Use disposable pipet to place sample (1 mm) between plates. Slowly lower plates until touching center of sample.
4. Shut motor off and turn bottom plate around. Look to see if there are any bubbles. If bubbles appear, raise plate up and try again. If there are no bubbles, lower top plate manually while turning bottom plate.
5. Turn motor back on.
6. Manually lower plate until gap is 1 mm.
7. T = 25 oC, parallel plate geometry, frequency 0.1-100, 40% strain, dynamic frequency sweep test, diameter 50 mm, gap 1.0 mm.
8. Phase angle should be 90 +/-1. Viscosity should be 9.75 p +/- 5%.