Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.84, No.8, 1733-1739, 2001
In situ rheological investigation of the coagulation in aqueous alumina suspensions
Electrostatically stabilized alumina suspensions can be destabilized by the enzyme-catalyzed decomposition of urea (direct coagulation casting). Depending on the conditions, this reaction can shift the pH of a suspension to the buffer pH of the reaction products or increase the ionic strength at the buffer pH. The coagulation for both mechanisms was investigated using in situ rheological measurements. Using a vane tool in oscillation mode, the measuring conditions were optimized to rind a reasonable method for time-dependent measurements. Constant parameters (stress or strain) proved to be unsuitable, because the linear viscoelastic region shifted considerably during the coagulation. Furthermore, the gel structure produced on coagulation via increase of ionic strength (DeltaI) was very sensitive to the oscillation. Therefore, for long-time experiments, a short continuous measurement with a low strain was followed by amplitude sweeps with increased intervals to determine the linear values of G ' and G ". In this way, the increase of the moduli G ' and G " could be followed for longer times, and it was possible to demonstrate two results. First, the final G ' of the network was about 10 times higher for DeltaI-coagulated material than for suspensions coagulated via pH shift (Delta pH). Second, particle rearrangement processes took place in DeltaI-coagulated networks even after the chemical changes were finished, whereas Delta pH-coagulated samples were "frozen-in" when approaching the isoelectric point and showed no further physical changes afterward.