Partic. vol. 32 pp. 10-20 (June 2017)
doi: 10.1016/j.partic.2016.08.003

A comparison between powder flow property testers

Hamid Salehi, Diego Barletta, Massimo Poletto^*

mpoletto@unisa.it

Abstract

In this work, three different shear testers—the Jenike shear cell tester, the Schulze ring shear tester, and the Brookfield powder flow tester—were compared in terms of the raw shear stress time series, yield loci points, angle of internal friction, cohesion, and unconfined yield strength. The three different powders of dolomitic lime, calcium lactate, and calcium carbonate were used for these comparisons. These three powders were characterized into different flowability classes using the Jenike classification, wherein dolomitic lime falls into the cohesive range, calcium lactate falls into the free-flowing range, and calcium carbonate falls into the very cohesive range. Results showed that the best agreement between the testers was found with moderately cohesive powders such as dolomitic lime. Furthermore, the free-flowing material tends to produce more consistent data between the three testers in terms of shear stresses and yield loci. It should be noted that the pre-shear data of free-flowing powder obtained by the Jenike shear cell must be appropriately interpreted. The largest differences between the testers are found with calcium carbonate, which is a highly compressible powder. The ways in which a high powder compressibility can differently affect the results obtained with the different testers were discussed.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Powder flow property; Shear tester; Flowability; Jenike tester; Schulze tester; Brookfield powder flow tester