Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
The response of wet gels to applied stresses is discussed, with emphasis on the role of flow of the pore liquid. Even when the network of the gel is purely elastic, the gel exhibits time-dependent behavior that resembles viscoelasticity, which results from fluid flow. The permeability of the gel can be determined from measurement of this time-dependence. Fluid flow also influences the thermal expansion behavior of gels, and can cause severe stresses to develop during supercritical drying, if the autoclave is heated too rapidly.