The clay is used with polymer solutions in numerous applications such as drilling muds or to make textile fibers fireproof. Because of the very particular structure of the clay particles, with several scales of association of platelets, the rheological properties of clay dispersions in aqueous polymer solutions strongly depend on the mechanical history of the material. An ageing study of clay dispersion in aqueous CMC solutions showed the effect of time, in particular on the existence of a yield stress and its evolution. The rheological measurements display gel like behaviours. They are the result of formation, within the fluid, of different kind of networks, depending on the continuous phase. The partially exfoliated particles join together according to mechanisms which depend on the pH. While in the polymer solution, it seems that particle aggregates are connected through the macromolecular chains. The influence of the temperature and the pH on the rheological properties is studied. Several independent experiments show a non-monotonous evolution of the mechanical properties of the fluids as the temperature increases. It may be due to an increase of the mobility of the macromolecular chains favouring the dissociation of the particles aggregates. The control of the pH allows the particle-particle and particle-polymer interactions to be modified and to therefore act on the mechanical properties of the gels.
