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DESIGN, ASSEMBLY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPOSITE ...

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lack gel at φsolids=0.44 by calculation. In this way, carbon black ink with φsolids in the<br />

range from 0.40 to 0.44 and appropriate rheological behavior may be prepared.<br />

3.2.4 Rheological Characterization of Carbon Black Gel<br />

The rheological properties of above carbon black gel is compared to a<br />

hydroxyapatite (HA) colloidal gel 33 prepared by polyelectrolyte induced bridging-<br />

flocculation. 105 The HA gel is a representation of typical ceramic gels used in<br />

Robocasting. Also, to examine the effect of HPMC addition, a carbon black gel with no<br />

HPMC addition is also studied. Finally, the effect of EO chain length on gel behaviors is<br />

investigated in the following way: while keeping other constituents unchanged, same<br />

amount of either Makon 10 or Makon 12 surfactant is used in place of Pluronic F-127<br />

surfactant. All carbon black gels investigated have φsolids=0.44 and the HA gels has a<br />

φsolids=0.47. For each measurement, a sample at 3.6 mL is loaded into the cup and bob<br />

geometry of a rheometer (C-VOR 200, Bohlin Instruments, Cirencester, Gloucestershire,<br />

UK) using a 10 mL syringe (BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ) and subjected to 30 minutes<br />

oscillatory pre-shear at 1Hz with a controlled shear stress at 0.02 Pa, then undisturbed for<br />

30 minutes. Next, an oscillatory stress sweep measurement is carried out from stress<br />

amplitude τmin=10 Pa to τmax=1000 Pa at a frequency of 1Hz. The complex shear modulus<br />

(G*) is measured as a function of τ; however, only the storage (or shear elastic) modulus<br />

(G') is reported here. Next, shear stress τ as a function of shear rate γ� is measured across<br />

the range from γ� min =10 -3 s -1 to γ� max =10 3 s -1 .<br />

86

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