Gelation, Shear-Thinning and Shear-Thickening in Cement Slurries

D. Lootens (1, 2) , P. Hébraud (2) , E. Lécolier (1) , H. van Damme (2)

1 IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles
2 ESPCI Paris - Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris

The rheological behavior of cement slurries may be described in terms of a few elementary behaviors: - the rapid formation of a gel, at rest; - the collapse of this gel under a critical stress directly related to the strength of the interparticle forces; - the progressive destruction of the gel fragments under moderate shear rate, with an increasingly shear-thinning behavior as the elementary particles gets smaller; - the reconstruction, at high shear rate, of shear-resistant structures, probably as chains of grains at contact; - complete jamming, possibly. We analyze the transition mechanisms from one step to the next one. We show how the addition of a dispersing agent favors shear-thickening at the expense of shear-thinning and how the control of the particle surface state and of interparticle friction restricts shear-thickening and the risk of jamming.

Domains: Physics [physics]

D. Lootens, P. Hébraud, E. Lécolier, H. van Damme. Gelation, Shear-Thinning and Shear-Thickening in Cement Slurries. Oil & Gas Science and Technology - Revue d'IFP Energies nouvelles, 2004, 59 (1), pp.31-40. ⟨10.2516/ogst:2004004⟩. ⟨hal-02017282⟩