Consolidation behavior of flocculated alumina suspensions

Publication Year
1992

Type

Journal Article
Abstract
The consolidation behavior of flocculated alumina suspensions has been analyzed as a function of the interparticle energy. Consolidation was performed by a centrifugal force field or by gravity, and both the time-dependent and equilibrium density profiles were measured by a gamma-ray absorption technique. The interparticle energy at contact was controlled by adsorbing fatty acids of varying molecular weight at the alumina/decalin interface. We found that strongly attractive interactions result in a particle network which resists consolidation and shows compressible behavior over a large stress range. The most weakly flocculated suspension showed an essentially incompressible, homogeneous density profile after consolidation at different centrifugal speeds. We also found a significant variation in the maximum volume fraction, phi(m), obtained, with phi(m) almost-equal-to 0.54 for the most strongly flocculated suspension to phi(m) almost-equal-to 0.63 for the most weakly flocculated suspension. The compressive yield stresses show a behavior which can be fitted to a modified power law. In this paper, we discuss possible correlations between the fitting parameters and physical properties of the flocculated suspensions.
Journal
Journal of the American Ceramic Society
Volume
75
Pages
3305-3314
Date Published
12/1992
Type of Article
Article
ISBN
0002-7820
Accession Number
WOS:A1992KC29100016