Seymour II

The open source extensional rheometer

Projects and development timeline

 

The Seymour project has involved over 20 people to date, has included research projects as far afield as Brunei and (we hope!) has only just started. It's also a project that has not received any formal grant funding and has had much of the key development work carried out by experienced workshop technicians, skilled technical officers, final year research projects for undergraduate students, summer placement students and a significant amount of voluntary contributions from PhD students and post-doctoral workers as an 'aside' to their main projects. Even this website is hosted on a domestic server owned by one of the contributing researchers! Hopefully this will inspire other researchers to realise that quality research (we hope!) doesn't always stem from high-budget research projects...

The list below gives a summary of the projects and people that have been involved to date. This project list will evolve over time, so key an eye on this for ideas of how you could use your own Seymour!

 

  
July 2016 - August 2016 Dr Simon Butler
Dr Graham Christie
Yunfei Li-Song
Alex Summers
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #7:

Summer placement project for Yunfei Li-Song at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Project ongoing!

October 2015 - March 2016 Dr Simon Butler
Dr Bart Hallmark
Alex Summers
Betsy-Ann Ward
Sam Wibberley
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #6:

Final year research project for Betsy-Ann Ward and Sam Wibberley at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Key outcomes:
  • detailed investigation of mechanical response of Seymour Mk II;
  • detailed investigation of rheological measurements taken with Seymour Mk II on Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and comparison to rheological data from TriMaster Mk II;
  • characterisation of fluids from Nepenthes Inermis, Nepenthes Palawanesis, Nepenthes Alata, Drosera Binata, Drosera Venusta and Strelitzia Reginae from University of Cambridge Botanical Gardens;
  • simulation of Newtonian filament thinning using PolyFlowTM.

July 2015 - August 2015 Dr Simon Butler
Dr Bart Hallmark
Nicolas Pistre
Alex Summers
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #5:

Summer placement project for Nicolas Pistre from ENSTA Paris Tech. Key outcomes:
  • further investigation into aspects of complex rheological response of fluid from Nepenthes Rafflesiana;
  • experimental investigation into rheology of polyethylene oxide solutions using Trimaster;
  • experimental investigation into rheology of fluid from pitches of Nepenthes Inermis from the University of Cambridge Botanical Gardens using Seymour Mk II;
  • development of expressions for filament thinning using the multi-mode Giesekus constitutive equation.

October 2014 - March 2015 Edward Bosson
Dr Mat Bryan
Dr Simon Butler
Gary Chapman
Dr Bart Hallmark
Tom Hoier
Ole Mathis Magens
Lee Pratt
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #4:

Final year research project for Edward Bosson and Tom Hoier at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Key outcomes:
  • extensive analysis of [670 gigabytes of] Dr Ulrike Bauer's data from Brunei field trip;
  • conceptual design of Seymour Mk II based on feedback from Dr Bauer's field trip;
  • detailed mechanical design and fabrication of Seymour Mk II;
  • development of linux-based image acquisition and analysis code for use with Ximea high speed cameras.
  • quantitative observations of complex, time-dependant, pH-dependant rheological response of pitcher fluid rheology;
  • investigation of carrageenan gum rheology using Seymour Mk I, Seymour Mk II and TriMaster Mk II;

July 2014 - September 2014 Dr Ulrike Bauer
Dr Bart Hallmark
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #3:

Field work in Brunei Darussalam by Dr Ulrike Bauer from the University of Bristol (formerly University of Cambridge Department of Zoology) using Seymour Mk I primarily on wild-growing pitchers of Nepenthes Rafflesiana. Image analysis and rheological fitting for initial data carried out in real time in Cambridge when sufficient internet connectivity allowed. Key outcomes:
  • successful use of Seymour Mk I in the field;
  • investigation into rheological changes as fluid from pitchers of Nepenthes Rafflesianaages;
  • investigation into how fluid from pitchers of Nepenthes Rafflesiana changes rheology with pH;
  • feedback on the operation of Seymour Mk I to allow development of Seymour Mk II.

July 2014 - August 2014 Dr Simon Butler
Elodie Chaudan
Dr Bart Hallmark
Alex Summers
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Research project #2:

Summer placement project for Elodie Chaudan from ESPCI Paris Tech. Key outcomes:
  • further investigation of extensional response of Nepenthes species grown at the University of Cambridge Botanical Gardens using Trimaster;
  • development of image analysis script in FIJI based on work by Dr Damien Vadillo;
  • development of user-friendly spreadsheets for analysis Trimaster and Seymour data.

October 2013 - March 2014 Alia Ardron
Dr Simon Butler
Gary Chapman
Cathy Collett
John Gannon
Dr Bart Hallmark
Lee Pratt
Alex Summers
Kevin Swan
Dr Loly Torres-Perez
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Conceptual design of the prototype Seymour Mk I. Detailed mechanical and electrical design, component procurement and fabrication, safety tests.

Research project #1:

Final year research project for Alia Ardron and Cathy Collett at the University of Cambridge Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. Key outcomes:
  • investigation of Seymour's mechanical response and comparison to laboratory standard (the Cambridge TriMaster Mk II);
  • extensional measurements of a Newtonian viscosity standard on Seymour and comparison to laboratory standard;
  • rheological characterisation of pitcher fluid from 5 different Nepenthes species from University of Cambridge Botanical Gardens using Trimaster and Seymour
  • successful proof-of-concept for Seymour Mk I established.

The final phase of this project was to deliver Seymour Mk I to Dr Ulrike Bauer at the University of Bristol for use in a field trip to investigate the rheology of wild samples of Nepenthes Rafflesiana in Brunei Darussalam.

Summer 2013 Dr Ulrike Bauer
Dr Walter Federle
Prof. Francis Gadala-Maria
Prof. Ian Wilson		 Seymour concept created over dinner at Jesus College, Cambridge. The objective was to provide a portable, inexpensive, means of making quantitative measurements of the rheology of pitcher plants of the Nepenthes genus in thier native habitat in Brunei.