Analysis of dispersion behaviors of binary particles with different widths of primary particle size distribution in suspensions with ultrasound attenuation

Abstract It is a challenging problem to analyze the particle size distribution (PSD) and dispersion behaviors of mixed micro- and nanoparticles in suspensions for engineering applications, and only ultrasonic attenuation technology can provide the technical possibility for this. For two kinds of micron-sized diamond particles and carbonyl iron powder (CIP) particles with quite different primary PSD widths, it is difficult to analyze the PSD using the available effective medium model, while the bi-phase model cannot be applied either, as suspensions with identical particles are non-Newtonian ones. A new model, the equivalent density model (EDM), is proposed here to analyze these suspensions with binary particles and deionized water (DIW), and it was able to obtain PSD results with a small fitting error and clear physical meaning. It was found that the volume ratio and total volume of the binary particles had a significant influence on the attenuation and PSD results of suspensions. The agglomeration of the binary particles in suspensions was more obvious than that in suspensions with identical particles, while there were some small dispersed CIP particles in suspensions with the binary particles. The binary particles had a potential between those of the corresponding identical particles, which did not show a regular effect on the dispersion behavior of the binary particles in DIW. The EDM eliminates the application conditions required for the previously available models, has good universality, and can effectively promote research on the properties and behaviors of complex suspensions.