The effect of Brownian diffusion on shear-induced coagulation of colloidal dispersions

Abstract

The effect of a small amount of Brownian diffusion on shear-induced coagulation of spherical particles has been calculated. This has been accomplished by considering the binary collision process between a test sphere and identical spheres interacting with the test sphere through induced-dipole attraction, electrostatic repulsion and hydrodynamically induced forces. The effect of diffusion is found by means of an expansion in inverse Péclet number. Specific calculations were performed for uniaxial extension and for laminar shear flow. It is found that Brownian diffusion, the effect of which is nonlinearly coupled with flow type and strength, can act to increase or decrease the coagulation rate.