Sticking of protein-coated particles in a shear field

The shear-driven formation of particle doublets at a wall, of latex and emulsion systems, has been studied using a colloidal particle scattering apparatus. In this technique, one particle is fixed on the wall while a second, mobile free particle is made to collide with the fixed particle by the application of the shear field. The effects of PH (in the range 5.5-4.8) and ionic strength (in the range 0.01-0.5 mol dm(-3)) on the efficiency of irreversible sticking (capture) of the mobile particle to the fixed particle have been studied for systems stabilised by adsorbed films of sodium caseinate, pure alpha (s1)-casein or pure beta -casein. At low ionic strength (less than or equal to0.2 mol dm(-3)), the efficiency of capture increases with decreasing PH and increasing ionic strength in ways that are consistent with decreasing net charge on the protein and increased screening of the electrostatic repulsion between the particles. The increase in capture efficiency also agrees well with a previously observed increase in viscoelasticity of the corresponding concentrated protein-stabilised emulsions. However, a pronounced drop in the capture efficiency was found at higher ionic strength (0.5 mol dm(-3)). This effect at high ionic strength, combined with qualitative visual assessment of the behaviour of particles during collisions, conforms to the additional role of tangential interparticle forces in determining the sticking behaviour. It seems that, if the adsorbed protein layer becomes sufficiently thick, even if it has a very low net charge, then particle sticking can be prevented. The sticking phenomenon probably depends on entanglement of the adsorbed layers and on the strength of the protein-protein attractive interactions, as well as on the net particle charge. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.