ABSTRACT
Concentrated colloidal dispersions are encountered in many areas, such as composite materials, polymers, coatings, cosmetics, clays and ceramics, electronic pastes, food, paper, paints, sludges and effluents. Successful preparation and processing of highly concentrated suspensions requires a basic understanding of the role of different variables on fluidity and stability of the system. The combined effect of several important factors such as hydrodynamic forces, Brownian motion of the particles, physical characteristics of solids, properties of the suspending media, and the range and magnitude of particle-particle interactions govern the suspension properties [1,2]. Control of the range of interparticle interactions is of significant importance in terms of stability, flow properties, and packing of colloidal sized particles, and the effect of interparticle forces on suspension properties becomes increasingly important as the particle size is decreased [1,3J.
