EFFECT OF SEDIMENTATION ON THE FORMATION OF PARTICLE GELS - A COMPUTER-SIMULATION STUDY

Aggregation of colloidal particles can lead to the formation of a part icle gel. The formation of a gel can be disturbed by sedimentation of the aggregating particles, which leads to the formation of a clear lay er on top of the gel. In this study clear-layer formation is studied b y computer simulation. The computer model used in this work is an exte nsion of the model for cluster-cluster aggregation. The influence of s edimentation rate and interparticle forces (sticking probability) on t he height of the clear layer and the porosity of the gel (or sediment) are evaluated.