Depending on the consistency of the material measured with a rheometer, different measuring systems are used. A liquid can show low viscosity, can be viscoelastic, or even paste-like and can be measured with cone-plate, parallel-plate, concentric-cylinder, or double-gap measuring systems or with different stirrers. The measuring system you use depends on the material. The different types of measuring systems have different benefits (e.g. with a specially designed cone-plate system shear rates of up to 60000 s-1 can be reached). Combined with a rheometer, all measuring systems follow the same principle: measurement of the materials’ torque.
Watch this 10-minute course to find out more about measuring systems for liquid samples.