Impact of clay mineral particle morphology on the rheological properties of dispersions: A combined X-ray scattering, transmission electronic microscopy and flow rheology study

Christian Blachier (1) , Alain Jacquet (1) , Martin Mosquet, (1) , Laurent Michot (2) , Christophe Baravian (3)

1 Lafarge Centre de Recherche
2 LIEC - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux
3 LEMTA - Laboratoire d'Energétique et Mécanique Théorique et Appliquée

The rheological features of aqueous dispersions of three clay minerals, illite, kaolinite and montmorillonite are analyzed using the notion of effective volume fraction that links the morphological properties of the suspended solids to their hydrodynamical behavior. The morphological information obtained from an appropriate treatment of the flow curves is confronted to the results obtained by small and wide angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The excellent agreement obtained by independent measurements proves that rheology can be used as a relevant tool to obtain information about the morphology of clay mineral particles. The fruitfulness of this approach is further evidenced by analyzing the influence of the presence of various clay minerals on the rheology of a concentrated calcareous sand. It was proved that using effective volume fractions, the behavior of various sand-clay mineral mixtures can be easily rationalized. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mots clés: Clay; Rheology; Morphology; Effective volume; SAXS; TEM

Domaines: Interfaces continentales, environnement; Sciences de l'environnement

Christian Blachier, Alain Jacquet, Martin Mosquet,, Laurent Michot, Christophe Baravian. Impact of clay mineral particle morphology on the rheological properties of dispersions: A combined X-ray scattering, transmission electronic microscopy and flow rheology study. Applied Clay Science, 2014, 87, pp.87-96. ⟨10.1016/j.clay.2013.11.004⟩. ⟨hal-01076273⟩