Arrested state of clay-water suspensions: Gel or glass?

Abstract

The aging of a charged colloidal system has been studied by small-angle x-ray scattering, in the exchanged momentum range Q=0.03-5 nm(-1) , and by dynamic light scattering, at different clay concentrations (C(w)=0.6-2.8%) . The static structure factor S(Q) has been determined as a function of both aging time and concentration. This is the direct experimental evidence of the existence and evolution with aging time of two different arrested states in a single system simply obtained only by changing its volume fraction: an inhomogeneous state is reached at low concentrations, while a homogeneous one is found at high concentrations.