ScienceDirect
Screening powder properties such as flowability, compressibility, and particle geometry is crucial for controlling ceramic processing, particularly in automated workflows that demand high reproducibility. Sacrificial templating for porous ceramics is well suited to automation because it is prone to variability arising from manual handling. In this study an automated dispensing unit was investigated as the first step in a high-throughput workflow, identifying the powder properties that most affect system performance. Three alumina powders and two spherical organic pore formers were characterized using the angle of repose (AOR), Hausner ratio and Carr index, as well as by analyzing their particle geometry. Weighing accuracy was then assessed. The organic powders exhibited excellent flowability and high accuracy (96% for phenolic resin spheres and 99% for microcrystalline cellulose spheres), whereas only the alumina powder consisting of agglomerated particles with sizes of 200 μm demonstrated acceptable performance (94%). Flowability, as measured by AOR, emerged as the strongest predictor of accuracy, though trial runs remain the most reliable assessment method.
For details:
Identifying critical powder properties for high-throughput dispensing of alumina and organic templates
Edwyn Wolf 1, Udo Eckstein 1, Kyle G. Webber 1, Tobias Fey 1
1) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272884226013945
