Powder behaviour - Eddie McGee, technical director of Ajax Equipment, highlights a new approach to predicting powder flow behaviour

摘要

Accurately predicting flow behaviour of particulate solids during storage and feeding has eluded all but the most experienced in solids handling. Often the chemical and process engineer is faced with the awkward task of making sense of bulk behaviour. A powder sample held in a jar may appear to be free flowing but hammer rash on plant suggests a different story highlighting the interaction of material characteristics, equipment design and interfacing, flow regimes and operational circumstances. Perhaps the most meaningful parameters that affect plant performance are how the material slides against a contact surface, how strong it gets and how the bulk density varies with all of these factors often affected by the compaction or stress conditions imposed.