The characterizations of rheological, electrokinetical and structural properties of ODTABr/MMT and HDTABr/MMT organoclays

In the present paper, we have investigated as a function of surfactant concentration the rheological (yield value, plastic viscosity) and electrokinetic (mobility, zeta potential) properties of montmorillonite (MMT) dispersions. The influence of surfactants (Octadeccyltrimethylammonium bromide, ODTABr and Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, HDTABr) on dispersions of Na-activated bentonite was evaluated by rheological and electrokinetic measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The interactions between clay minerals and surfactants in water-based Na-activated MMT dispersions (2 wt.%) were examined in detail using rheologic parameters, such as viscosity, yield point, apparent and plastic viscosity, hysteresis area, and electrokinetic parameters of mobility and zeta potentials, and XRD also analyses helped to determine swelling properties of d-spacings. MMT and organoclay dispersions showed Bingham Plastic flow behavior. The zeta potential measurements displayed that the surfactant molecules hold on the clay particle surfaces and the XRD analyses displayed that they get into the basal layers.