2015-2016 IFPRI Research Program Short Overview

• Powder Structure Control, Reinhard Kohlus (University of Hohenheim):

development of new metrics for characterizing structure of porous materials (particularly multicomponent particles with random pore structures) and correlation with particle properties.

• High Temperature Dying Behavior of Liquid Droplets, Andrew Bayly (University of Leeds):

development of experimental and modeling methods to study and predict evolution of particle morphology from droplet drying history, with a focus on the impact of boiling of the solvent.

• Development of grindability tests, Jin Ooi (University of Edinburgh):

development of bench-scale, material-sparing characterization tools for assessing milling behavior of materials, based on subjecting materials to similar stress and strain (rate) as in full-scale mills.

• Relating Compaction Performance and Behavior to Process Conditions, Antonios Zavaliangos (Drexel University):

development of quantitative models for evolution of strength of powders as they are compacted and densified.

• Creating Tuneable Agglomerates via 3D Printing, Karen Hapgood (Monash University):

preparation of particles with reproducible structure and mechanical properties by 3-dimensional printing. Particles could be used in experiments to validate particle simulations (e.g. DEM) in an analogous fashion as the “Boger fluid” was used to validate fluid mechanics simulations of complex fluids.

• Effect of Tribocharging on Powder Packing, Antonio Castellanos (University of Seville):

experimental study of the impact of triboelectric charging of particles on powder bulk density

• Prediction of Segregation, Joe McCarthy (University of Pittsburgh):

a “grand challenge” project to develop experimental and theoretical methods for predicting how powders segregate in manufacturing-scale process equipment

• Flowability Assessment of Weakly Consolidated Particles, Colin Hare (University of Surrey) and Ali Hassanpour (University of Leeds):

development of new methods for characterizing how powders flow under very low consolidation stresses, for which conventional methods like shear-testing are inappropriate or inaccurate.

• Die Filling of Aerated Powders, Charley Wu (University of Surrey):

an experimental and modeling study of flow of fine powders into die cavities.

• Long-Term Stability of Attractive Colloidal Gels, Wilson Poon (university of Edinburgh):

an experimental and theoretical study of the process of gel collapse (phase separation) aimed toward quantitative prediction of gel stability

• Dry Powder Rheology, Karen Daniels (North Carolina State University):

development and validation of non-local (continuum) rheological models for active dry powder flows.

• Molecular Self Assembly, Uli Wiesner (Cornell University):

application of self-assembled monolayers to study and control the nucleation of polymorphic crystals.