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Rheology evolution of a geopolymer precursor aqueous suspension during aging
Author(s) -
Dusserre Gilles,
Farrugia Anaïs,
Cutard Thierry
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of applied ceramic technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1744-7402
pISSN - 1546-542X
DOI - 10.1111/ijac.13508
Subject(s) - materials science , rheology , geopolymer , composite material , thixotropy , suspension (topology) , dissolution , shearing (physics) , chemical engineering , compressive strength , mathematics , homotopy , pure mathematics , engineering
Geopolymer‐based glass‐ceramic matrix composites can be processed at room temperature and a heat treatment below 100°C leads to matrix hardening thanks to the geopolymerization mechanisms. The stabilization of the matrix into glass‐ceramics is achieved via a post‐curing at high temperature. This paves the way of the utilization of cost‐effective liquid composite molding processes, for which all the necessary equipment is already available for processing temperature ranges related to polymer matrix composites, provided that the rheological behavior of the precursor is suitable to conveniently permeate the fibrous preform. The paper describes the thixotropic rheological behavior of a reference suspension at processing temperature (10°C‐20°C) and its evolution along aging at −18°C. The changes are interpreted in terms of geopolymerization mechanisms (dissolution and polycondensation) and suspension rheology (predominance of hydrodynamic effects at high shear rate). On this basis, a phenomenological modeling framework, combining two Krieger‐Dougherty equations, is proposed to build a relationship between the effective viscosity of the suspension and the phenomena involved during aging (dissolution of aluminosilicate particles) and shearing (microstructure scalar variable).