Electrical conductivity of dispersions: from dry foams to dilute suspensions

Abstract

We present new data for the electrical conductivity of foams in which the liquid fraction ranges from two to eighty percent. We compare with a comprehensive collection of prior data, and we model all results with simple empirical formulæ. We achieve a unified description that applies equally to dry foams and emulsions, where the droplets are highly compressed, as well as to dilute suspensions of spherical particles, where the particle separation is large. In the former limit, Lemlich's result is recovered; in the latter limit, Maxwell's result is recovered.

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Bubble kinetics in a steady-state column of aqueous foam
• The surface tells it all: Relationship between volume and surface fraction of liquid dispersions
• A technique for measuring velocity and attenuation of ultrasound in liquid foams
• Foamed emulsion drainage: flow and trapping of drops
• Electrical conductivity of quasi-two-dimensional foams
• Rheology of nearly ideal 3d foams