Effects of microstructure on the compressive yield stress

TLDR: In this paper, the effects of microstructure on the compressie properties of aggregated alumina suspensions are determined by intentionally introducing heterogeneities into the suspen- sion.

Abstract: The effects of microstructure on the compressie properties of aggregated alumina suspensions are determined by intentionally introducing heterogeneities into the suspen- sion. Suspensions are prepared at a higholume fraction and diluted with low shear hand mixing to a series of initial concentrations. As the initial concentration is in- creased, larger heterogeneities are introduced, and the suspension becomes more com- pressible relatie to the compressie yield stress of the uniform suspension. A simple model is proposed in which the heterogeneous suspensions compress by rearrangement ( of the dense aggregates until a critical concentration f , which coincides with the c ) ¤olume fraction prior to dilution is reached. Aboe f , the suspensions consolidate c ( identically to the uniform suspension. With a single fitting parameter the size of the ) heterogeneities , the model shows semiquantitatie agreement with the experimental data.