Roughness-dependent clogging of particle suspensions flowing into a constrictionShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Soft Matter, ISSN 1744-683X, E-ISSN 1744-6848, Vol. 17, no 31, p. 7252-7259Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
When concentrated particle suspensions flow into a constricting channel, the suspended particles may either smoothly flow through the constriction or jam and clog the channel. These clogging events are typically detrimental to technological processes, such as in the printing of dense pastes or in filtration, but can also be exploited in micro-separation applications. Many studies have to date focused on important parameters influencing the occurrence of clogs, such as flow velocity, particle concentration, and channel geometry. However, the investigation of the role played by the particle surface properties has surprisingly received little attention so far. Here, we study the effect of surface roughness on the clogging of suspensions of silica particles under pressure-driven flows along a microchannel presenting a constriction. We synthesize micron-sized particles with uniform surface chemistry and tunable roughness and determine the occurrence of clogging events as a function of velocity and volume fraction for a given surface topography. Our results show that there is a clear correlation between surface roughness and flow rate, indicating that rougher particles are more likely to jam at the constriction for slower flows. These findings identify surface roughness as an essential parameter to consider in the formulation of particulate suspensions for applications where clogging plays an important role.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) , 2021. Vol. 17, no 31, p. 7252-7259
Keywords [en]
Flow velocity, Silica, Surface chemistry, Surface roughness, Topography, Concentrated particle suspensions, Micron-sized particles, Particle concentrations, Particle suspensions, Particulate suspensions, Pressure-driven flows, Suspended particles, Technological process, Suspensions (fluids)
National Category
Fluid Mechanics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-311123DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00738fISI: 000678600500001PubMedID: 34318863Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85112780129OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-311123DiVA, id: diva2:1654369
Note
QC 20220427
2022-04-272022-04-272025-02-09Bibliographically approved