Thixotropy

These researchers, Mewis and Barnes, Schalek and Szegvari, and H. Freundlich, then learned that they could make the gel turn into a liquid simply by shaking the contents.

[3] Some clays are thixotropic, influenced by thermochemical treatment, and their behaviour is of great importance in structural and geotechnical engineering.

[4][5] Landslides, such as those common in the cliffs around Lyme Regis, Dorset and in the Aberfan spoil tip disaster in Wales are evidence of this phenomenon.

Similarly, a lahar is a mass of earth liquefied by a volcanic event, which rapidly solidifies once coming to rest.

[6] Some clay deposits found in the process of exploring caves exhibit thixotropism: an initially solid-seeming mudbank will turn soupy and yield up moisture when dug into or otherwise disturbed.

Some other inks, such as those used in CMYK-type process printing, are designed to regain viscosity even faster, once they are applied, in order to protect the structure of the dots for accurate color reproduction.

Thixotropy has been proposed as a scientific explanation of blood liquefaction miracles such as that of Saint Januarius in Naples.

[9] Semi-solid casting processes such as thixomoulding use the thixotropic property of some alloys (mostly light metals like magnesium).

[11] While thixotropy has been seen to benefit in areas pertaining to clay and cement, the material also comes with many harmful effects.

[12] There is now no true way to counteract the effect of thixotropy while also allowing it to break down the materials in the cement and clay.