Water proton relaxation in dilute and unsaturated suspensions of non-porous particles.

NMR water proton relaxation times are reported for suspensions of silica powder of varying silica/water ratios. Pore size distributions and pore connectivities are derived from the relaxation time distributions for the water-saturated suspension. Capillary theory appears to explain the relaxation behaviour of the unsaturated, packed suspensions. The relaxation data in suspensions that have lower solid/liquid ratios than the saturated, packed suspension are sensitive to the particular radial distribution function. This is analysed with a simple cluster model.