Rheology of Ceramic Suspensions with Biopolymeric Gelling Additives

An overview is given of the rheological behavior of biopolymers in aqueous suspensions and of their role in new ceramic shaping processes (starch consolidation casting and carrageenan gel casting). In particular, we give a state-of-the-art account of the viscometric behavior, measured via rotational viscometry (apparent viscosity, including its shear-rate and concentration dependence), and the viscoelastic properties characterized via oscillatory shear rheometry (storage modulus, loss modulus and phase angle, including their temperature dependence), of starch-water systems, starchcontaining alumina suspensions, carrageenan-water systems and carrageenan-containing zirconia suspensions.