Improvement of the Dispersion of Al2O3 Slurries Using EDTA‐4Na

Polyacrylic acid (PAA) is known to be an effective dispersant for Al2O3 powder in aqueous media. However, at high solid loading (>55 vol%), the dispersion of the Al2O3 suspensions became difficult with only PAA as a dispersant. In this paper, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, tetrasodium salt, dihydrate (EDTA-4Na) was introduced to improve the dispersion of the Al2O3 suspensions. With the aid of EDTA-4Na, the adsorption amount of sodium polyacrylic acid (PAA-Na) increased, while the apparent viscosity of 60 vol% Al2O3 slurries decreased significantly. Particle size measurements showed that EDTA-4Na could help to reduce larger agglomerates, possibly by modifying the adsorbed layer thickness. The interactions between EDTA-4Na and PAA-Na were studied using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Results showed that it was possible to introduce EDTA-4Na as the second dispersant to improve the dispersion of high solid content Al2O3 slurries.