Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 75, Number 6, September 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 985 - 991 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2006-10208-4 | |
Published online | 25 August 2006 |
Random loose packing of cohesive granular materials
Faculty of Physics, University of Seville - Avda Reina Mercedes s/n 41012 Sevilla, Spain
Received:
30
March
2006
Accepted:
26
July
2006
The volume fraction ϕ of a disordered packing of noncohesive
hard spheres may vary between the random loose packing at the limit
of zero gravitational stress () and the
random close packing (
). When interparticle
attractive forces are present it is known however that ϕ can be
as low as
for nanoparticles. Experimental and numerical
works show that ϕ decreases as the ratio of interparticle
attractive force to particle weight (Bog) is increased. We focus
on the packing fraction of cohesive particles settled at the limit
of zero gravity (jamming transition). From a model of particle
agglomeration in suspensions we find the simple equation
, where
is the volume fraction of particle agglomerates at
jamming, which is close to
, and D their fractal
dimension. Our experimental results on fine powders agree with this
equation and show that agglomeration of particles in suspension is
the relevant physical mechanism to understand the packing of
cohesive particles.
PACS: 83.80.Fg – Granular solids / 81.20.Ev – Powder processing: powder metallurgy, compaction, sintering, mechanical alloying, and granulation / 47.57.Gc – Granular flow
© EDP Sciences, 2006
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