Rapid Visco Analyzer 4500

Flour & starch functionality—measured like your process really runs

The Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) is a cooking, stirring viscometer that records viscosity while heating, cooling, and shearing your sample—so you see the same transformations your starches and flours undergo in production. It replaces guesswork with a repeatable pasting profile you can use to qualify raw materials, tune process settings, and predict end-product texture across bread, pasta, noodles, snacks, gluten-free and more.

Why it matters

Processing outcomes hinge on starch behavior: gelatinization, breakdown under shear/temperature, and retrogradation on cooling. The RVA quantifies these with a single run, letting you optimize cook programs, avoid variability, and cut development cycles. With standard methods (AACC/ICC) or custom profiles, you can mirror real plant conditions—from bakeries to extrusion and retorting—and act on data, not intuition.

RVA 4500 vs. RVA 4800—what’s the difference?

RVA 4500: Broad routine range for QC/R&D with programmable shear and temperature up to 99.9 °C—ideal for cereal, baking, dairy, and snack workflows (13-minute standard starch pasting test).

RVA 4800: Extends temperature to 140 °C to emulate UHT pasteurization, retorting, pressure cooking, jet-cooking, and aseptic processing—vital when you must validate ingredient and formulation performance above 100 °C.

What you measure in one curve

• Pasting temperature – minimum cook temperature and energy implications.
• Peak viscosity – water-holding/viscous load and quality indicator.
• Breakdown (to trough) – resistance to heat and shear.
• Setback – retrogradation on cooling, linked to texture/shelf life.
• Final viscosity – paste/gel strength after cooking & cooling.

Key features & benefits

• Process-relevant testing: Controlled heating/cooling (up to 14 °C/min) and variable shear (0–2000 rpm) replicate plant conditions; run standard AACC/ICC or custom methods.
• Fast decisions: 13-minute standard starch pasting test accelerates screening and development.
• High sensitivity & wide dynamic range: Direct-drive motor captures both low- and high-viscosity behaviors with ±2% accuracy on reference oils.
• Miniature pilot plant: Emulate heating, holding, mixing, and cooling to preview outcomes before scale-up.
• Traceable & compliant: Calibration checks with traceable standards; ER/ES-ready data handling (e.g., FDA 21CFR11 on 4800).
• Easy to use: PC-controlled with Thermocline (TCW) software; preset method library for grains, starches, hydrocolloids, proteins, and more.
• Built for plant & lab: Robust design suitable from factory floor to analytical lab.

Applications (examples)

• Milling & baking: Starch quality; amylase activity (sprout/weather damage); dough/batter behavior for breads, cakes, pastries, cookies, pasta, noodles.
• Extrusion & snacks: Degree of cook in cereals, snacks, petfood, aqua feed—at pre-conditioner, extruder, and finished product stages.
• Dairy & processed cheese: Melt behavior, stability of UHT formulations (RVA 4800).
• Hydrocolloids & proteins: Gelling/thickening, hydration and cooling profiles; soy, gluten, gelatin, milk proteins.
• Brewing/malting: Mashing simulation, malt quality, storage effects.

Methods & standards

Run approved methods including AACC 76-21/22, ICC 161/162, plus rice and barley protocols, or tailor to your process; use calibration check starch/oil for ISO-aligned QA.

Specifications at a glance

RVA 4500: 0–99.9 °C; heat/cool up to 14 °C/min; 0–2000 rpm; viscosity ranges to 50,000 cP (80 rpm) / 25,000 cP (160 rpm).

RVA 4800: 0–140 °C; heat/cool up to 14 °C/min; 0–2000 rpm; safety features for high-T testing (locked vessel, pressure release).

Bottom line

Whether you’re validating flour performance, optimizing extrusion, or proving UHT stability, RVA 4500/4800 turns starch functionality into clear, actionable curves—so you can design, control, and release with confidence.