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ABSTRACT Recent experimental and theoretical developments in the rheological characterisation of gels are introduced. The basic features of chemical, where crosslinking is covalent, and physical gels, which contain noncovalent crosslinks are outlined, and the kinetics of the gel formation briefly explained. Small deformation methods for characterising gels particularly oscillatory rheometry are considered and the potential of advances in signal processing in particular the use of multi‐wave and Fourier Transform approaches to determine information on the frequency response discussed. The concept of the gel point is discussed and the Winter‐Chambon criterion for defining this from experimental measurements of the frequency dependence of the storage and loss moduli is explained.
S.B. Ross-Murphy (Wed,) studied this question.