Investigation of flow properties of metal powders from narrow particle size distribution to polydisperse mixtures through an improved Hall-flowmeter

Initially, we critically examined the results provided by the improved Hall-flowmeter, based on bulk volume flow rate, with narrow particle size distribution metal powders (iron, aluminium and copper) of different sizes (fine to coarse) and shapes (nearly spherical to non-spherical). Binary and ternary mixtures of various combinations of fine (< 100 μm) and coarse (> 100 μm) metal powders at different size ratios and weight fractions were allowed to discharge from a mass flow hopper. The results show that the mass flow rate of polydisperse mixtures of metal powders is affected by four factors: the size ratio, the volume fraction of the smallest sieved fraction, the initial mass flow rate and the shape of metal powders.

Graphical abstractA detailed experimental investigation of flow properties of narrow particle size distribution, binary and ternary mixtures of the most common metal powders using various combinations of different sizes, shapes and volume fractions has been performed. This figure shows volume flow rate of A) binary and B) ternary mixtures of irregular iron powder.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide