Effect of Surface State of Die on Flow Rate of Steamed Bamboo Powder in Thermal Flow Test Using Capillary Rheometer

Abstract

Thermal flow tests were performed on steamed bamboo powder using capillaries that were processed under different conditions in order to investigate the effect of the die surface state on the fluidity of the woody powder. The capillaries were processed by wire-cut electric discharge machining, reaming or drilling, and the arithmetic average roughness (Ra) varied from 0.5 to 2.5 μm. The bamboo powder was first steamed at 200 °C for 20 min, and its particle size was then controlled using different mesh screens. The thermal flow temperature was set at 200 °C. The results indicated that the flow behavior improved with increasing particle size. For the capillaries processed by WEDM, the flow rate for samples with particle sizes of 75~150 and 150~300 μm decreased with increasing Ra. On the other hand, when reaming or drilling was used to process the capillaries, the flow rate was almost independent of Ra, regardless of the particle size.