Experimental Investigation of Electrostatic Charge Generation for Granules

In studies of granule electrification due to sliding, quantitatively evaluating the charging characteristic of single particles, rather than of a mass of granules as a group, is important for a fundamental understanding of the elementary tribocharging phenomenon, which is complicated, since it is resulted from electrical and physical properties of granules and operational environment conditions. In this work, charge transfer due to a single particle repeated sliding along metal plane for Polyvinyl Chloride(PVC)granules(diameter 1.1-4.1 mm, in the shape of half-circle or rectangle). The amount of transferred charge is expressed as a function of granular shape factor, such as length-ratio, sliding area, front-facing edge, as well as sliding velocity, plane angle and relative humidity. The transferred charge increases with length-ratio and area. Front-facing edge, plane angle, sliding velocity and relative humidity do have effect on the degree of electrification.