Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.70, No.3, 515-522, 1998
Slip velocity and slip layer thickness in flow of concentrated suspensions
The rheological characterization of highly filled suspensions consisting of a Newtonian matrix (hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene), mixed with two different sizes of aluminum powder (30% and above by volume) and two different sizes of glass beads (50% and above by volume), was performed using a parallel disk rheometer with emphasis on the wall slip phenomenon. The effects of the solid content, particle size, type of solid particle material, and temperature on slip velocity and slip layer thickness were investigated. Suspensions of small particles of aluminum (mean diameter of 5.03 mu m) did not show slip at any concentration up to the maximum packing fraction. However, suspensions of the other particles exhibited slip at the wall, at concentrations close to their maximum packing fraction. In these suspensions, the slip velocity increased linearly with the shear stress, and at constant shear stress, the slip velocity increased with increasing temperature. The slip layer thickness increased proportionally with increasing size of the particles for the glass beads. Up to a certain value of (filler content/maximum packing fraction), phi/phi(m), the slip layer thickness divided by the particle diameter, delta/D-P, was 0, but it suddenly increased and reached a value that was independent of phi/phi(m) and the temperature. On average, the ratio of delta/D-P was 0.071 for aluminum and 0.037 for glass beads.