Viscosity and powder dispersion in ceramic injection molding mixtures

Particle dispersion in ceramic injection molding mixtures is investigated f rom the shear viscosity data of the mixtures. The degree of agglomeration o f the mixture is examined using the Krieger and Dougherty equation on the v iscosity for a concentrated suspension. The number of particles in a single agglomerate is evaluated by the shape factor parameter of suspended partic les in the Krieger and Dougherty model with the sealing law of fractal anal ysis on particle agglomerates. The number of particles per agglomerate pred icted are four particles for a zirconia sample, and fora alumina sample the particles are in a well dispersed state. These values of agglomeration in the molding mixtures predicted by the viscometric method are almost consist ent with those predicted by the visualized technique.