Colloidal suspension agglomeration kinetics

Transport in Aggregation and Deposition 861 Table 14.4. Agglomeration Kinetics of Colloidal Suspensions"... 

Papadimitrakopoulos and coworkers reported on transparent Si/ SiOx nanocomposite films, spontaneously adsorbed on glass or quartz substrates from their colloidal suspensions via a sonication-assisted oxidation process [56]. Individual nanosilicon partides (ca. 20 nm) appear to cover a significant part of the substrate along with agglomerates of the order of 50-80 nm in thickness. Kinetic studies indicate a rapid initial adsorption that slows down significantly after 3 h. 

Features of particle flocculation and gelation in colloids of considerable significance for ceramics are (1) The kinetics of agglomeration. How fast do particles in suspension agglomerate (2) The structure of agglomerates. How many particle aggregates of a given size are formed ... 

Heterodisperse Suspensions. The rate laws given above apply to monodisperse colloids. In polydisperse systems the particle size and the distribution of particle sizes have pronounced effects on the kinetics of agglomeration (O Melia, 1978). For the various transport mechanisms (Brownian diffusion, fluid shear, and differential settling), the rates at which particles come into contact are given in Table 7.2. 

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