Powder Flow and Unconfined Yield Strength
Powder flow property measurements generally fall into two main categories: dynamic analysis and static analysis. Dynamic instruments measure powder flow properties as the test material is moving or is about to move. Static instruments measure powder that is not moving and typically has been exposed to pressure. For a complete picture of a material’s flow behavior, both types of testers are required. For solving specific flow problems, usually one type of tester or test is required.
Dynamic Analysis
The Revolution Powder Analyzer can measure your powder’s ability to flow, consolidate, granulate, cake, pack and fluidize by measuring the power, time and variances in power of your powder in a rotating drum. This data can be used to quantify your powder’s particle behavior during process applications such as blending, tableting, mixing and transportation. The Revolution is both easy to load and automatic, eliminating the opportunity for human error. Caking, Flowability, Fluidization, Granulation, Multi-Flow and Packing parameters can all be measured quickly and easily.
Static Analysis
The Evolution Powder Tester (EPT) is a economical and easy to use powder flow tester that measures the unconfined yield strength of a material (a critical flow property) at pressures up to 500KPa. The unconfined yield strength can be measured at one pressure or at many different pressures in order to create a flow function. The flow function presents the material’s gain in strength as more pressure is applied to it.
The EPT offers many advantages over traditional shear and other uniaxial testers, and is a standalone instrument designed just for powder testing and is not an accessory to a general purpose instrument. This allows the design to be cost effective, easy to operate and suitable to any laboratory or manufacturing environment. In addition, it takes approximately 3 minutes for a user to test one sample. This is significantly less testing time than other shear or uniaxial testers.
Get more information about the Powder Analyzer and Tester here.