Effects of polysaccharides on the rheology of alumina slurries

The rheological behaviors of alumina slurries with polysaccharides having different concentrations and molecular weights were analyzed. The polysaccharide molecule absorbs to the surface of alumina powder in an aqueous slurry to give sorbate-mediated steric hindrance. Rheological measurements were used to compare the strength of alumina particulate networks. The network strength of alumina slurry increased at first and decreased later with the increase of molecular weight of polysaccharides. The network strength of alumina slurry became weaker with the addition of polysaccharides of low molecular weight and stronger with the addition of polysaccharides of higher molecular weight. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.