Correlation between the high-frequency elastic modulus and the interparticle interaction potential in zirconium oxide colloidal suspensions

Abstract

In this work, we study the high-frequency elastic modulus of aqueous suspensions made with two kinds of zirconium oxide particles, one commercially available and the other synthesized as monodisperse spheres. The effect of volume fraction of solid, ionic strength (sodium chloride as indifferent electrolyte) and particle geometry is taken into account in the study on this viscoelastic property of the suspensions. Frequency sweeps were performed at a fixed value of the applied shear-stress in order to obtain the frequency-limiting value of the elastic modulus by rheometrical methods. On the other hand, the high-frequency modulus is theoretically calculated independently by means of the models proposed by Buscall and co-workers, Wagner and Bergenholtz and co-workers, which correlate the interaction potential between particles with this rheological parameter. The approach to the interparticle potential is the extended DLVO theory, which considers the electrical repulsion between charged colloidal particles, the van der Waals attraction and the acid–base interaction that can be attractive or repulsive depending on the thermodynamic nature of the solid–liquid interface.