Research Capabilities
Interfacial Science and Rheology
The Interfacial Science and Rheology team in the Radiological Materials and Technology Development group understands and controls chemical and mechanical behaviors at solid-liquid interfaces in multi-phase material systems, e.g., nuclear waste process slurries. The team utilizes rheometers, particle size distribution, zeta potential, and other characterization tools to evaluate multi-phase materials and develop simulants with representative physico-chemical properties. Simulants are surrogates for actual materials that pose unusual handling risks in a standard laboratory and/or are not readily available in sufficient quantity for process testing, especially as the process scale is increased. While multi-phase solid-liquid systems are a specialty, single-phase systems, such as non-radioactive liquid chemical simulants, are also developed and tested. Further, the IS&R team is active in applying these types of materials to the development and enhancement of various chemical process technologies. To this end, the team consists of a number of chemical and materials engineers and scientists and highly experienced, senior technicians.
Developing and applying understanding of Interfacial Science and Rheology to multiphase materials