Short Courses

 

The Bristol Colloid Centre runs a number of short courses on a range of topics in colloid science. Some, like "Creams, gels and thickeners" explore a certain specialist area in detail, and a solid background in the area would be an advantage, either from post graduate study or attendance of the Spring School. Others, like " Working with Colloids", can be used as a one-day `'beginners guide", aimed at laboratory technician level or for the non-scientist, and as a platform from which to move on to more advanced topics, such as the Spring School.

Each course we run has a large practical element that is a mixture of 'hands-on' experiments and instrument demonstrations. We endeavour to use 'real' systems for the majority of practical sessions.

Practical Rheology flyer

Practical Rheology flyer (1.4Mb, PDF file)

Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader Get Acrobat Reader

Future courses

Practical Rheology - CANCELLED!

October 2008, Bristol, UK

This impartial one day course is the second in a series of rheology courses from the Bristol Colloid Centre.

Practical Rheology is laboratory based, the day will cover important principles of the science of rheology and its application to industry. This course will focus on material systems and how they respond to an imposed stress or strain, not the instruments per se. The BCC is not affiliated to any instrument manufacturer and a range of instruments will be used on the day.

Course Outline

The day will commence with a brief re-cap of the theory taught on the first BCC Rheology Series course; “An Introduction to Rheology”. An impartial introduction regarding the various instruments to be used will be given, only the necessary theory and mathematics will be included to provide a solid grounding. A set of four experiments will be run concurrently each with a small group of participants. The individual experiments will be introduced and set into the context of the day. The focus of each session is that of a particular material type and how it responds to an imposed stress or strain. This rheological characterisation leads to an understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the materials.

For more information please download the flyer or contact

Ms Belinda Arter
Bristol Colloid Centre
University of Bristol
1st Floor
University Gate East
Park Row
Bristol
BS1 5UB

Tel: +44 (0) 117 929 8388
Fax: +44 (0) 117 929 3121

Email: bcc@bristol.ac.uk
Website: www.thebcc.co.uk

 

 

Introduction to Rheology flyer

Introduction to Rheology flyer (136Kb, PDF file)

Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader Get Acrobat Reader

Most recent courses

Introduction to Rheology

21 November 2007, Bristol, UK

This impartial one day course was the first in a series of rheology courses from the Bristol Colloid Centre.

Introduction to Rheology covered the most important principles of the science of rheology and its application to industry. The objective of this course was to provide delegates with a basic knowledge of both theoretical rheology and rheological instrumentation and the relevance to industry.

The day was designed in five sessions; the first three sessions covered concepts such as viscosity, Reynolds number, Non-newtonian fluids and thixotropy. The remaining two sessions covered the practical aspects of rheological measurements. “Instrumentation and methods of measuring” including the limitations of instruments, inertia effects, geometry choice for various types of samples and comparison of instrument types (The BCC is not affiliated to any instrument manufacturer). “Applications – Relevance to Industry” focused on rheology with reference to various industries such as coatings, medical research, foods, agrochemicals and the oil industry.

The course fee included all tuition costs, a comprehensive set of lecture notes, lunch and refreshments during the day. Delegates also received a copy of the textbook “Rheology for Chemists – An Introduction” (published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge). The textbook was written by Goodwin and Hughes, who are well know for their own research in rheology. James Goodwin is a former director of the Bristol Colloid Centre and Roy Hughes is the current Executive Manager.

 

 

 

 

Dispersion Stability flyer

Dispersion Stability flyer (252Kb, PDF file)

Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader Get Acrobat Reader

Dispersion Stability

28 – 29 November 2006 Bristol, UK

This course provided a detailed understanding of the background theory behind dispersion stability and its application to everyday systems. This two day intensive course focused on the challenges of dispersion stability. An Interactive Workshop provided the link between the taught material and real life colloid stability. A comprehensive set of notes were provided to accompany the lectures.

The topics covered included a discussion of the theory behind interparticle forces, practical measurements that can be performed on real systems, and ways of predicting the length of time over which a system will remain stable. The course focused primarily on the application of theory to experimental data.

This course was designed for scientists who wished to enhance their understanding of the fundamental science and engineering pertaining to dispersion stability. The course was also highly relevant for scientists from a number of fields including paints, coatings, ceramics, food, personal care, household product, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, novel product development etc. Participants had the opportunity to discuss their individual scientific needs with the tutors. Participants were able to network with other scientists working in the field of dispersion stability.

A brief overview of the lecture program is given in the flyer, this is available to download from the link on the right.

Previous Courses

Previous courses have included:

Creams, gels and Thickeners flyer
Working with Colloids flyer
  • Working with Colloids 2 November 2004

If any of the courses listed above are of interest to you or your organisation, please email bcc@bristol.ac.uk. If we receive a number of enquiries about a particular topic we may add the course to our upcoming list.