Shear thinning behavior of aqueous alumina nanoparticle suspensions with saccharides

Concentrated aqueous alumina nanoparticle suspensions with addition of low molecular weight saccharides such as fructose, glucose, sucrose, and others were studied by rheometry and low temperature differential scanning calorimetry. The viscosity of the suspensions and melting behaviors of the frozen suspensions were used to develop a model based on particle clustering which describes the viscosity decrease seen with the addition of these saccharides. It appears that characteristics of particle clustering are dependent on the saccharide type and concentration. The proposed model is in qualitative agreement with the observed behavior and the model proposed earlier based on bound water.