A study on the sensitivity of Drucker-Prager Cap model parameters during the decompression phase of powder compaction simulations

A commercial finite element code implementing the Drucker-Prager Cap (DPC) model with parameters obtained from the literature is used to model the compression and decompression stages of powder compaction in a tabletting operation. Although the compression stage of the process gives expected behavior, the decompression response is unrealistic for at least one set of published data. Small values for the friction and cohesion parameters result in significant elastic recovery during decompression. This study demonstrates the need to obtain accurate parameter data in order to model the decompression stage of powder compaction.