Routes to gelation in a clay suspension.

The gelation of water suspension of a synthetic clay (Laponite) has been studied by dynamic light scattering in a wide range of clay weight concentration (C(w)=0.003-0.031). At variance with previous determination, indicating a stable liquid phase for C(w)<C(*)(w) approximately 0.015-0.018, we find that gelation actually takes place in the whole examined C(w) range. We find also that C(*)(w) marks the transition between two different routes to gelation. We hypothesize that at low concentration Laponite suspension behaves as an attractive colloid and that the slowing down of the dynamics is attained by the formation of larger and larger clusters while at high concentration the basic units of the arrested phase could be the Debye Huckel spheres associated with single Laponite plates.