Shear-induced restructuring of colloidal silica gels

Continuous oscillatory experiments were used to investigate the viscoelastic properties and structural evolution of silica gels obtained from unsheared and presheared sols, at pH 8. The processes controlling structural evolution before, at and after the gel point are discussed. Although the viscoelastic properties of the aged gels are comparable (implying similar structures on length scales of several microns), their chemical properties and microstructures (<1 μm) are significantly different. This is directly related to the different aggregate structures formed in the unsheared and presheared systems (50 and 700 nm, respectively) and the associated concentration of surface hydroxyls available for cross-linking and formation of stable siloxane bonds.