Effect of polyacrylic acid molar mass as a surface modifier on rheological properties of calcium carbonate suspensions

Suspensions of calcium carbonate are of a major concern in various fields, such as coating, painting and ceramics and their rheological properties are very important. The effect of polyacrylic acid (PAA) of different molecular mass as a surface modifier on the surface and rheological properties of the aqueous suspension of calcium carbonate was investigated. The effect of the volume fraction of particles and polymer concentration on the viscosity at lower shear rate was discussed. The flow behavior of the concentrated suspension in the presence of PAA can be explained by the difference of the repulsive force among particles, induced by the adsorbed polymer. The results showed that the dispersibility is more pronounced by the steric hindrance behavior rather than the electrostatic behavior.