The rheological behavior of metallic alloys containing both solid and liquid
phases is investigated in the low solid fraction range (<50%). This behavior
depends on both the solid fraction and the shear rate. The concept of Effective
Volume Fraction (EVF) is used to decorrelate the influence of these two
parameters. At high shear rate the slurry behaves like a suspension of hard
spheres, whereas at lower shear rate, particles tend to aggregate in clusters,
entrapping liquid and thus, increasing the EVF and the viscosity. A lattice
model is introduced to simulate the aggregation / break-up processes within a
slurry under shear. When the steady state is reached, the entrapped liquid
fraction is calculated, leading to a viscosity estimation. Simulation results
for the viscosity and 3D cluster structure are in good agreement with
experimental results.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figures, to be published in Acta Mate
