Effect of Particle Size on Colloidal Zirconia Rheology at the Isoelectric Point

This paper examines the effects of particle concentration and size on the yield stress of ZrO 2 suspensions at a well‐defined surface chemistry condition of the isoelectric point (IEP). At the IEP, the relationship between yield stress τ Y max and particulate volume fraction φ s and mean particle size d was evaluated to be τ Y max = K φ s 4.0 / d 2.0 . The difference in size distribution of the various ZrO 2 suspensions examined causes some degree of scatter in the data used to establish the τ Y max, φ s , and d relation. The use of particle concentration n t based on the fine size fraction instead of volume fraction φ s provided a better correlation, because the fine particles govern the properties of the flocculated network structure.