A deflocculant is a chemical substance that is added as an additive to a ceramic formulation (glaze, slip, etc.) whose purpose is to obtain a more stable dispersion in a mixture.
Deflocculants are capable of producing an alteration of the zeta potential of the suspension particles, of the pH and of the apparent viscosity of the ceramic formulations depending on the addition of each type of deflocculant substance.
A deflocculant prevents the aggregation of fine particles, keeping them in suspension and modifying the rheological behaviour of the suspension.
The mechanism of action of this type of products depends in itself on the type of deflocculant used. For example, in the case of sodium tripolyphosphate, the mechanism of action is electrostatic stabilization, since alterations occur in the effective electrical potential of the particles, thus stabilizing the suspension; sodium phosphonate uses the cation capture mechanism since it is capable of acting as a chelating agent and captures cations from the clay suspension and sodium polyacrylate, the stabilization mechanism by steric hindrance, in this case by introducing polymeric organic molecules, is generates a repulsive force caused by steric hindrance.
Advantages
- Lower power consumption
- higher production efficiency and higher quality of the final product
- greater production
- less amount of water needed and high density values
- reduction of time in the grinding phase, both in the wet and in the dry process.
ADISPER is the series of deflocculants from Aditivos Cerámicos S.L. We sell a wide range of chemical products that are specially formulated to improve the rheological properties of the ceramic industry, which include glazes, slips and screen printing pastes.
Our deflocculants include traditional formulas based on alkali metal salts such astripolyphosphate, hexametaphosphate, polyacrylate and silicate. In addition, we also manufacture new and customized developments, based on polycarboxylates of different molecular weight, phosphonates, etc.
The use of different polyelectrolytes and active ingredients in the formulation of our deflocculants allows us to offer the client personalized solutions, with which to improve the workability and rheology of the pastes, increasing in most cases the productivity and quality of the final product.