Conception and realization of a new viscometer using a magnetic fluid for measuring biological fluids.

The viscometer described in this paper comprises a vertical cylinder containing the fluid to be tested and an inner, hollow cylinder floating in the fluid and filled with magnetic liquid. The magnetic liquid and inner cylinder are set in motion by applying a rotating magnetic field. Torque is balanced by the stresses in the fluid and the inertia of the rotating cylinder. The main characteristics of this new apparatus are: - possibility of applying various torques to the rotor. Measurements of angular velocity are made on the inner cylinder (in general, conventional viscometers are built on the opposite principle), - study in transient flow. Various measurements on Newtonian fluids (water, plasma, oils, etc.) and on blood suspensions have made it possible to improve the accuracy of the method.