Particle-Packing Phenomena and Their Application in Materials Processing

Abstract

Particle packing is directly controlled by the particle-size distribution of a material being processed. For this reason, particle packing is important to all particulate/fluid systems. After the solids fraction of a body is defined, interparticle chemistry controls how the body will pack and flow. A system of powders can never pack better than the maximum possible level defined by the particle-size distribution alone. Proper control of interparticle chemistry however can help achieve maximum packing, can be used to open the structure, and/or can be used to modify rheological or other process properties.The main goals of particle-packing research have been to determine how systems of particles pack, to develop algorithms for calculating packing densities and porosities for any distribution of particles (spherical or nonspherical, rough or smooth, wet or dry), and to determine how packing and its properties affect the variety of industrial operations that utilize particulate/fluid systems.