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Yield stress and microstructure of washed oxide suspensions at the isoelectric point: experimental and model fractal structure

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Abstract

The yield stress and microstructure of washed, relatively monodisperse spherical zirconia (ZrO2) and titania (TiO2) suspensions at the isoelectric point (pI) were characterised. The yield stress was found to be dependent upon the particle size. At a given solid concentration, the finer suspensions produced a larger yield stress due to the higher particle concentration and hence, a greater density of attractive interaction. At pI, only the van der Waals force is in play. Vitrified fractal microstructures of these suspensions at pI were captured by cryo-SEM. A power law relationship described the (maximum) yield stress–volume fraction data for both oxides which is consistent with the prediction of scaling theory. An exponent value of ∼3 was obtained for both oxides. The fractal dimension (D f) extracted from this exponent value of the scaling law for large aggregate cluster interaction in the slow flow regime was ∼2.3. The theoretical fractal structure with the same D f constructed from monodisperse spherical particles based on the off-lattice variable-D f model showed strong resemblance to the cryo-SEM imagery of the vitrified structure for both oxides.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the facilities and the scientific and technical assistance of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterization & Analysis (CMCA), the University of Western Australia, a facility funded by the University, State and Commonwealth Governments. I personally acknowledge the CMCA staff who have helped in this cryo-activity. We wish to thank the reviewers for making this a better paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, Australia

    Pek-Ing Au, Jishan Liu & Yee-Kwong Leong

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  1. Pek-Ing Au
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  2. Jishan Liu
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Correspondence to Yee-Kwong Leong.

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Au, PI., Liu, J. & Leong, YK. Yield stress and microstructure of washed oxide suspensions at the isoelectric point: experimental and model fractal structure. Rheol Acta 55, 847–856 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-016-0959-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-016-0959-y

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