An approach to the quantification of the aptitude of clayey fluids for extrusion using a plastometer test

Abstract

This study comprises two stages. Firstly, quantifying the aptitude for extrusion (extrudability) of a thick clay-based fluid by setting up tests that are workable in a laboratory or on an industrial production line. Secondly, making up for the inconvenience of the preliminary tests of the extrudability of clayey fluids through a quick test with a plastometer of parallel plateaux. The resulting curve of a fluid destined for extrusion must fit in, at least partly, with a zone representing the limits of extrudability. A study of analogy of the non-viscosimetric flows through an extruder and plastometer enable the refining of the exploitation of the field and the prediction, indeed even correct, of the predisposition of the fluid to moulding by extrusion.