Stochastic analysis on coordination number distribution of particles during powder compaction

•We propose how to measure the coordination number of particle in powder compact.•We investigate the change in the coordination number distribution of Cyclic CIP’ped compacts.•We analyze the distribution data with stationary Markov process.•We discuss the particle packing mechanism of Cyclic CIP.

This paper deals with the change in the coordination number distribution in spherical mono-sized silica powder compacts to discuss its particle-packing process during Cyclic CIP (Cold Isostatic Pressing) with increasing the number of cycles at the maximum CIP pressure of 100 MPa. By measuring the distance between the first closest particles (viz. contact particles) to a center particle, the coordination number of the center particle is determined. The resultant coordination number distributions are analyzed with stationary Markov process. The transition probability matrix obtained by the data at the number of cycles from 1 to 10 gives sufficient predictions for the experimental data at the number of cycles of 100 and 1000.

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