Colloidal Oxide Properties and Kinetic Studies

Silica based oxide particles prepared by various methods are compared in terms of their gellation kinetics, densification kinetics, and microable structural evolutions begin at very low temperature. Additional work reported in literature further suggested that the colloidal behaviors and the dried gel structures of the same oxide from different preparation techniques differ fundamentally. These differences significantly affect the densification kinetics and the product microstructure. Gravitational segregation of particles of different sizes in a gravitational field is modelled as a diffusion/segregation problem. A structural free volume model was used to describe the activation process of jump statistics. The sizes of the particles, the interstices, and their packing topology are accounted for in the estimation of the free volume. An attempt frequency is ascribed to particles to account for the vibrational rearrangement during powder packing.