Viscosimetry is to this day an easy accessible, but at the same time significant an alytical method for the characterization of polymers in solution. It is therefore widely used in the technical chemistry and chemical engineering like pharmaceu tical, medical, polymer processing and food industries as weIl as in research insti tutes and universities. Viscosimetry allows for a fast and low-priced determination of relevant parameters such as solution structure, volume fraction, coil dimensions, molar mass, viscosity or thermodynamical properties of a polymer in solution. The importance of viscosimetry as an independent area in the field of polymer analytics becomes clear through the Nobel prices awarded for two works in this area. The name of the 1953 honored Prof. Hermann Staudinger for his proof of the existence of polymers is still used in viscosimetry in the intrinsic viscosity (German: "Staudingerindex") (see "Intrinsic viscosimetry" in Chap. 4). In 1974, Prof. Paul J. Flory was honored with the Nobel price for his groundbreaking works on the conformation of polymers in solution and his name is conserved for pos terity in the Flory constant (see "The Fox-Flory theory" in Chap. 8)."

This laboratory handbook offers clear guidelines and tips for the practical everyday application of viscosimetry, as well as supplying a comprehensive companion for the interpretation of viscosimetric data from simple to complex polymer solutions.