As a research organization in the nuclear field and alternative energies, the CEA participates in fundamental studies involving dense suspensions. Inorganic particles (glass, zeolite, sludge, salts, or cement/sand) suspended in fluids, sometimes with very high viscosity like bitumen, are part of the systems under study for various applications. These include optimizing the filling of glass packages (Dem N' Melt process) or cement packages, where flow properties need to be optimized to ensure homogeneity of waste drums. Besides to addressing the recovery (historical sludges), treatment, and conditioning of waste in glass or bituminous matrices, concentrated suspensions of glass grains are being studied for high-temperature electrolysis production of dihydrogen.
In this optic, the research will initially focus on model concentrated suspensions, characterizing their flow properties under shear and compression. This latter type of mechanical test can trigger the appearance of frictional regimes, liquid/solid phase separation, and various non-linear responses that will need to be modeled. After this first stage, the topology, particle size distribution, and polydispersity of the solid particles will be varied to be as close as possible to the suspensions encountered in industry.