Controlling adhesion between particles for a better understanding of compaction and aeration of powders

We propose an experimental approach to investigate the rheology of powders and their behavior during compaction and aeration processes. The first step is to develop protocols to synthetize and characterize model cohesive granular materials. The aim is to synthetize particles with tailored properties (stiffness and adhesion) using two technics (micro-polymer particles, or polymer coated silica particles). The second step involves developing tools to characterize particle properties and their bulk rheology. The third step will involve studying different flow configurations encountered in packaging processes. The final step concerns the coupling with air.