Some Observation on the Flow Properties of Suspensions and Emulsions

Abstract

Observation has been made of some solid-liquid suspensions and liquid-liquid dispersions in respect of their flow properties using capillary flow viscometer and co-axial cylindrical viscometer.
The resulting flow curves will properly be recognized as generalized Newtonian flow or the so-called Ostwald flow, because the flow curve has initially shown Newtonian behavior, followed by non-Newtonian, and concluded by Newtonian pattern. These characteristics can be seen in Fig. 3.
In the chemical engineering, the plots of the friction factor f to the Reynold's number R_e are utilized to detect the occurrence of turbulence.
In the non-Newtonian regions, these plots deviate from the linearity law as shown in Fig. 5. This deviation is, in the view of the author, to be used as well to detect non-Newtonian behavior in the flow properties of the suspensions or emulsions.
The detection of the turbulence in the flow from the deviation in the linear relation in the plots of f:R_e curves, is based on the occurrence of the abrupt change in the flow profiles. Non-Newtonian flow properties of the suspensions and emulsions are observed at the points of the occurrence of the abrupt change in the flow units, as this change in the flow units is followed by the change of the flow profiles. This deviation from the linear relation can be utilized to detect non-Newtonian behavior.