Particulate suspension ( slurry) is a non-newtonian fluid and rheological properties of the slurry are very important in controlling the flowability of the suspension. In many of engineering applications, we need to have slurry with > 40vol% solid loading. In general, high solid slurry displays several characteristics such as colloidal instability, excessively high viscosity, difficulty in adding additional powder, and dilatancy etc. Rhoelogical measurements then become an important tool to determine the visco-elastic properties. The following curve demonstrate flow curve behaviour of alumina slurry with different amount of additive addition.

















In case of Gelcasting process, where in-situ gelation has been used to consolidate the body, measurement of storage modulus gives the gelling behaviour of the slurry. Adjacent figure shows that how storage modulus of alumina slurry respond when different additives and foam were present in the slurry ordered arrays of desirable nanostructures.