This volume contains 16 papers originally presented at the ACS symposium Concentrated Colloidal Dispersions: Theory, Experiment, and Applications, held in Orlando, FL in 2002. It examines the current state of knowledge and proposes new research directions in this centrally important field of colloid science. Topics include dense dispersion simulations; many body interactions; rheological properties; sensing and measurement of size, charge, and structure in dense particulate and emulsion systems; nanoparticles in concentrated dispersions; and more.

From the Preface: “The world of real colloidal dispersions...invariably involves concentrated or dense suspensions where the dispersed phase can be as large as 50% or more by volume. The classical experimental tools of light scattering or microelectrophoresis, for example, are of limited value in such systems and the classical Derjagui—Lindau—Verwey—Overbeck (DLVO) theory of the stability of such systems ignores many body interactions Marked advances in experiment, theory, and technology have allowed the field of concentrated dispersion to progress significantly during recent years...We feel that this compilation presents a comprehensive examination of the progress made on concentrated dispersions along with problems and opportunities apparent through the chapters.”

Target Audience: Academic and commercial researchers, as well as upper-level students, in a variety of fields, including personal care and cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food science, surface coatings, agricultural products, and advanced materials science.

Table of Contents:

Preparation and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles at High Concentrations

Synthesis of Calcium Carbonate-Coated Emulsion Droplets for Drug Detoxification

Colloidal Systems for Binary Mixtures Studies

A New Wetting Polymer for Magnetic Dispersions: Methyl Acrylate and 2-Hydroxyl Ethyl Acrylate Copolymers

Techniques for Measurements in Concentrated Systems: Applications of Electromagnetic Scattering and Ultrasound

Direct Measurement of Surface Forces for Nanoparticles

Scattering and Optical Microscopy Experiments of Polyelectrolyte Rodlike Cellulose Whiskers

Ultrasound for Characterizing Colloids

Assessment of Electrostatic Interactions in Dense Charged Colloidal Suspensions Using Frequency Domain Photon Migration

Novel Fundamental Model for the Prediction of Multiply Scattered Generic Waves in Particulates

Toward a Model for the Mobility of Circularly Permuted DNA Fragments in Gel

Viscoelastic Properties of Solid—Liquid Dispersions

Polymer Adsorption and Conformation in Dispersion—Flocculation of Concentrated Suspensions

Conformation and Aggregation Properties of Associative Terpolymer in Aqueous System and Correlation with Rheological Behavior

Effects of Process Variables and their Interactions on Rheology of Concentrated Suspensions: Results of a Statistical Design of Experiments

Stability of Highly Loaded Alumina Slurries

Index