Experimental estimate of viscosity of non-Newtonian fluid with various content of short carbon fibers

The article describes an investigational study of viscosity of non-Newtonian fluid made from an epoxy binder and carbon fibers. A study was made for various contents of a mass fraction of fibers: 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%. Brookfield DV3T viscometer with spindle SC-29 was used to measure the relations a viscosity on a shear rate. Thermostatting of the samples was carried out by the Brookfield Thermosel thermocouple in the range from 30 ° C to 70 ° C. The results were processed by the MATLAB system. A modification of the Andrade temperature relation for thermosets was considered, which makes it possible to obtain a stable approximation of the power-law viscosity model with respect to the standard temperature. The coefficients of the viscosity models were calculated on the basis of the regression analysis of the relation the viscosity logarithm on the shear rate logarithm. The influence of content of short carbon fibers for the viscosity parameters was estimated.