Rheology and chemorheology of aqueous γ-LiAlO2 slurries for gel-casting

The rheological and chemorheological properties of aqueous γ-LiAlO2 slurries for gel-casting as well as their precursor solutions of methacrylamide and N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MAM/MBAM) were studied in the present work. The influences of mean particle size of γ-LiAlO2 powder, the dispersant content and solid loading, mechanical stirring time on the rheology of γ-LiAlO2 slurries were investigated systematically. It was demonstrated that the slurries exhibited shear-thinning behaviors with relatively low viscosity which could satisfy the gel-casting process. A rotary rheometer was used to study the chemorheology of the copolymerization of MAM/MBAM solution and the gelation process of γ-LiAlO2 slurries. The activation energy calculated from the idle time for MAM/MBAM solutions and γ-LiAlO2 slurries were 27.5 ± 0.4 kJ/mol and 25.3 ± 0.4 kJ/mol, respectively, which revealed the catalytic effect of the γ-LiAlO2 particles on the copolymerization process.