Abstract
The effect of salt concentration on the visco-elastic properties of a montmorillonite suspension was clarified by applying the Maxwell model to the measured flow curves. Based on the sheet-like shape and measured size of montmorillonite, the suspended particles at a 1.1×10-2 volume concentration (experimental condition) were found to orient in the same direction. In this configuration of the particles, the repulsive force was calculated from the balk salt concentration on the basis of the two flat-plates model. The relative repulsive force at various salt concentrations was defined as the increasing ratio of this force to the force at critical coagulation concentration (C. C. C). The effect of the relative repulsive force computed from the salt concentration on the visco-elastic properties (such as viscosity, elastic modulus and relaxation time) was examined and it was found that the fluidity decreases and the solidity increases almost linearly with the increase in the repulsive force.
