VISCOSITY MEASUREMENTS WITH THE SLIDING PLATE MICROVISCOMETER (WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE)

This paper was prepared in order to present certain information relative to the use of the sliding plate microviscometer (SPM). The aims of the paper included: 1) to present certain fundamental principles that apply to the measurement of viscosity in absolute units; 2) to demonstrate how these principles are utilized in the SPM; 3) to report actual measurements on several different types of asphaltic materials utilized for paving and other purposes; and 4) to show how their flow properties vary with stress and thickness of the sample. A final objective of this work was to present data on a few selected asphalts over a temperature range to provide data in absolute units for fundamental design studies or other practical applications.