Last week the 19th International Congress on Rheology was organized in Athens, Greece. The conference is typically held every fourth year but as the pandemic moved the 2020 conference online, the face-to-face event was rescheduled to 2023. Congress gathered over 900 participants from 37 different countries.
In the technical program, there were 13 parallel sessions with over 500 oral presentations during the five conference days. In addition, the poster session had nearly 300 researchers present their work. The topics covered everything in the field of rheology from new rheology techniques to the rheology of living systems and polymers.
Although the conference is focused on bulk rheology, it was delighted to see that interfacial rheology is getting more and more attention at the conference. This was the first-time interfacial rheology had one of the parallel sessions through the whole length of the congress with a session titled “interfacial rheology, bubbles and foams, droplet and emulsions”. The total number of talks during the interfacial rheology session was 47, in addition, 25 posters were presented at the poster session.
Interfacial rheology is a relatively new branch of rheology that focuses on the rheological properties of thin films at air-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces. Interfacial viscoelasticity is important for the stability of foams and emulsions which makes it important for several applications and products such as food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The talks presented at the conference often revolved around the fundamentals of interfacial stability. A significant number of these talks delved into the intriguing role of particles at interfaces and their potential as emulsifying agents, capable of creating highly stable emulsions. Moreover, the exploration of biological interfaces using interfacial rheological techniques was a prominent theme, with several talks dedicated to showcasing its relevance and applications during the conference.
Overall, the conference showed once again how important it is to get together to discuss scientific topics to spread knowledge in this important field. The next European Rheology Conference is held in Leeds, UK, on 9th -12th April 2024. Maybe I’ll see you there!
If you would like to learn more about the interfacial shear rheometer ISR Flip also presented at the conference, please watch the webinar through the link below.
