Fluidity and Flow Properties of Fine Powders

ABSTRACT

Fluidization and/or flow properties of many fine powders (d₅₀ < 50 μm), including pharmaceutical powders, toners, powder paints, and ceramic powders, are of critical importance. Particles in this range behave as cohesive powder because of the relatively large inter-particle forces (electrostatic, van der Waals', and liquid bridge forces), compared to the hydrodynamic force exerted on the particles by the fluid flowing around the particles. Flow additives, mechanical agitation, and other forces such as acoustic and electromagnetic, are often applied for good fluidization and uniform dilute phase flow. In this paper, we present a brief discussion and experimental data on fluidization properties, fluidity, and flow behavior of several fine powders as functions of particle size distribution, relative humidity, relative concentration of flow additives, and the frequency and amplitude of mechanical agitation. Electrostatic charging, dependent upon the chemical composition and electrical conductivity of the particles, and its influence upon the flow properties are also presented.     

A codoping route to realize low resistive and stable p-type conduction in (Li, Ni):ZnO thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

We report on the growth of Li-Ni codoped p-type ZnO thin films using pulsed laser deposition. Two mole percent Li monodoped ZnO film shows highly insulating behavior. However, a spectacular decrease in electrical resistivity, from 3.6 × 10(3) to 0.15 Ω cm, is observed by incorporating 2 mol % of Ni in the Li-doped ZnO film. Moreover, the activation energy drops to 6 meV from 78 meV with Ni incorporation in Li:ZnO lattice. The codoped [ZnO:(Li, Ni)] thin film shows p-type conduction with room temperature hole concentration of 3.2 × 10(17) cm(-3). Photo-Hall measurements show that the Li-Ni codoped p-ZnO film is highly stable even with UV illumination. XPS measurements reveal that most favorable chemical state of Ni is Ni(3+) in (Li, Ni): ZnO. We argue that these Ni(3+) ions act as reactive donors and increase the Li solubility limit. Codoping of Li, with other transitional metal ions (Mn, Co, etc.) in place of Ni could be the key to realize hole-dominated conductivity in ZnO to envisage ZnO-based homoepitaxial devices.     

Effects of Powder Velocity and Contact Materials on Tribocharging of Polymer Powders for Powder Coating Applications

Electrostatic powder deposition using corona charging is widely used in a plethora of industrial applications. Disadvantages of this technique are back corona onset and the Faraday penetration limitation. Another method to charge powders is to use tribochargers. Tribocharging depends upon the work function difference between the contacting materials and generates bipolarly charged particles. In this study, acrylic and epoxy powders were fluidized and charged by passing through stainless steel, copper, aluminum, and polycarbonate static mixers, respectively. The particle velocity and powder flow rate were varied to determine their effect on the net charge-to-mass ratio (Q/M) acquired by the powders. The Q/M increased rapidly with velocities between 1.5 to 2.5 m/s and stabilized for higher velocities but decreased with increasing powder flow rate at a constant velocity. The net positive or negative charge on each powder was determined to be dependant on the charger material. The use of an aluminum charger (net negative charge) in combination with a PTFE finger nozzle (net positive charge) resulted in a net powder Q/M of - 0.05 μC/g. The generation of an ion-free powder cloud with high bipolar charge but overall charge density of almost zero is anticipated to provide a better coverage of recessed areas.     

Dispersion in unsteady Couette–Poiseuille flows

The paper presents the longitudinal dispersion of passive contaminant released in an incompressible viscous fluid flowing between two infinite parallel flat walls, in which the flow is driven by the application of both periodic pressure gradient and the oscillation of upper plate in its own plane with a constant velocity. A finite difference implicit scheme has been adopted to solve the unsteady convection-diffusion equation for all time period based on Aris method of moments. The dispersion coefficients are obtained for three different flow situations: steady, periodic and the combined effect of steady and periodic Couette–Poiseuille flows, separately. The results show that oscillation of upper plate produces more dispersion than the pulsation of pressure gradient and their combined action leads to a further increase of dispersion. Also plate oscillation has stronger effect on velocity distribution and on dispersion coefficient than the pressure pulsation. There is a remarkable difference in the behaviour of dispersion coefficient depending on whether the ratio of two frequencies arising from the oscillations of pressure gradient and the upper plate possesses a proper fraction or not.     

Small-angle neutron scattering investigations on sintering behavior of combustion synthesized La0.8Sr0.2CrO3

Pore morphology of La0.8Sr0.2CrO3 (LSC) powder compacts, sintered between 1200 degrees C and 1450 degrees C for a fixed time, has been characterized by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) in the scattering wave vector 'q' range, 0.003-0.17 nm(-1) of a double crystal based instrument. Scattering profile of green compact exhibits fractal scaling at two regions of 'q' with magnitudes of fractal dimensionality 1.8 and 2.36. Scattering profiles of sintered pellets have been modeled assuming a random distribution of near spherical pores in the solid matrix. Estimated pore size distributions of sintered pellets indicate decrease in pore volume has taken place by progressive elimination of smallest pores and growth of relatively larger pores with increasing sintering temperature. SANS results are supplemented by light scattering measurement and TEM image of powder and SEM image of the fracture surface of sintered pellet.     

Effectiveness of combinations of raft foundation with aprons as a protection measure against bridge pier scour

Scour around bridge pier is the main reason for the failure of bridges. The local scour around the pier causes exposure of the foundation and may lead to undermining of the structure. Different types of protection measures such as the provision of raft, apron, sheet piles, etc. can be used as scour protection measures. One of the possible effective bridge scour protection measures is to provide a raft foundation with cut-off walls and provision of flexible stone aprons towards upstream (u/s) and downstream (d/s) sides of the pier. In this study, the effectiveness of various bridge pier scour protection measures using raft and aprons is investigated through hydraulic model studies in the laboratory. The results are compared for various cases, such as a simple pier, pier with raft and extended raft, pier resting on a raft with stone aprons at u/s and d/s of the raft and pier resting on an extended raft with stone aprons on u/s and d/s of it. The comparison of various cases showed that rigid raft with stone aprons on u/s and d/s and extended raft with apron are found to be more effective in reducing immediate scour beyond the rigid raft, thereby giving protection to the bridge piers.     

Machine learning-based accelerated design of fluorphlogopite glass ceramic chemistries with targeted hardness

In this work, we develop and employ an accelerated design strategy using a machine learning algorithm to overcome the challenges for designing a new machinable glass ceramic. The trained machine learning model predicts the specific hardness value for numerous possibilities of processing conditions such as growth temperature and time. We report that the optimized growth parameters of 1200°C and 5 h achieve the highest machinability of 0.4 in the glass ceramic. Furthermore, we predicted the eight most promising candidates containing specific ratios of silicon, magnesium, aluminum, lithium, boron, potassium, barium, and oxygen. Combining machine learning with experimental data enables a systemic and rapid design of a ceramic material while capturing the underlying physics represented in the experimental data.