Summary
This is the fourth phase of a research program to study the agglomeration of particles in fluidized bed systems. The report contains an updated review of the literature on high temperature agglomerating fluidized beds as well as equili- brium shapes of liquid bridges between particles. It also includes a comparison between predicted and measured minimum gas velocities necessary to keep a bed of sintered granules in the fluidized state.
The use of a dilatometer to measure the minimum sintering temperature of potentially agglomerating particles is described together with measurements to determine agglomerate strength. Different materials such as glass, polymers, coal and inorganic salts were used during the experiments.
The correlation between the sintering temperature and other thermodynamic properties of these materials, as observed from a differential scanning calorimeter test, was determined experimentally. A new original theory concerning the strengthening of a liquid bridge between two particles due to relative motion (viscous dissipation) is proposed. Future theoretical and experimental work on the project including a means to verify the above theory are also outlined.