New rheological test method to determine the dewatering kinetics of suspensions

Abstract

Rheology plays an important role in dewatering processes. It is therefore interesting to analyze the dewatering process and the rheological behavior of a suspension simultaneously. An exact determination of the immobilization point at the maximum of the loss factor as well as the immobilization time can be attained using an oscillatory time test with preset strain. The degree of dewatering is determined via normal force controlled gap setting. This report offers an insight into the theory of the dewatering of liquid supersaturated suspensions and shows how the kinetics of dewatering can be determined using paper coating as an example.