Adapting a commercial shear rheometer for applications in cartilage research

Cartilage research typically requires a broad range of experimental characterization techniques and thus various testing setups. Here, we describe how several of those tests can be performed with a single experimental platform, i.e. a commercial shear rheometer. Although primarily designed for shear experiments, such a rheometer can be equipped with different adapters to perform indentation and creep measurements, quantify alterations in the sample thickness, and conduct friction measurements in addition to shear rheology. Beyond combining four distinct experimental methods into one setup, the modified rheometer allows for performing material characterizations over a broad range of time scales, frequencies, and normal loads.