Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

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Viscosity of slurry (3 replies)

U
uday mahajani
7 years ago
uday mahajani 7 years ago

How to estimate the viscosity of the slurry ? I have 40% slurry, in water. Sp. Gravity of solid material is 2.0

(unknown)
7 years ago
(unknown) 7 years ago

You can not "calculate" slurry viscosity without testing the material. Here are 2 papers that may help you. Also http://www.aidic.it/cet/13/32/349.pdf

S
MinEx Associates
7 years ago
MinEx Associates 7 years ago

As Bill says, you cannot calculate the viscosity knowing % solids, SG/RD, etc!

In some processes, like diamond rotary panning, the viscosity is critical.  

Depending on the specific VISCOSITY characteristics of the slurry, the same % solids, particle size distribution, RD will give you quite different viscosity.

What is the application?

Thanks for the references Bill!

 

A
Rheomet
7 years ago
Rheomet 7 years ago
1 like by David

Agreed with the previous comments - might add also that pulps and slurries do not display  "viscosity" whereas resistance to flow. The difference is that viscosity is not affected by the rate of shearing (such as impacted by mixing, shaking, etc.) whereas the resistance to flow is. Think of water versus mud or ketchup, or your slurry or pulp sample for that matter. Water will flow as you pour it. A pulp sample will not  flow unless you shake it at least a bit. By shaking it you actually shear it and as such you impact a force called "yield stress" which is necessary to enable flow. This is the parameter you need to determine, and ideally at about four solids content values - start with the highest which shows at least a tendency to flow, then decrease by 1-2% wt. increments using gentle dilution.  You plot then the yield stress vs. solids content and you should get the CSD (critical solids density) of your sample, which is also indicative of the maximum pumpable pulp (including underflow) that a commercial thickener can produce.  Here a couple of links if you would like to read more. Cheers, Alex.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex_Mezei/publications

Hydrometallurgical Applications of Rheology

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