Sedimentation phenomenon and viscosity of water-SiC suspension under gravity conditions - a water model study for composites synthesis

Sedimentation is an important phenomenon in metal matrix composite production. To enlarge the potential for controlling this process an adequate mathematical description should be used. There are many reasons due to which multiparticle movement cannot be described in the same manner as single particle movement, Several well-known formulae are used to calculate parameters of multiparticle sedimentation. Each formula provides more or less precision compared to experimental results. In this paper, the nature of particle movement is discussed on the basis of sedimentation experiments carried out with water-SiC suspension. A new formula for viscosity, which takes into account the movement of many particles and provides quite good coincidence of measured and calculated values for parameters of sedimentation, is proposed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.