1. adj. [Drilling Fluids]
Referring to a finely divided, solid material, which when dispersed in a liquid medium scatters a light beam and does not settle by gravity; such particles are usually less than 2 microns in diameter. Some drilling fluid materials such as bentonite clay, starch particles and many polymers become colloidal when used in a mud. Oil muds contain colloidal emulsion droplets, organophilic clays and fatty-acid soap micelles.
See: alum, clay-water interaction, colloid, colloidal solids, micelle, oil mud, oil-mud emulsifier, peptizing agent, polymer, prehydration