Measuring powder flowability with a modified Warren Spring cohesion tester

The measurement of powder flowability is a major concern for most industrial processes that deal with the handling of bulk solids as raw materials,intermediates,or products.The development of devices that measure the flowability of non-aerated powders has not progressed as rapidly as might have been hoped since most research activities have been based on various types of shear testers intended to aid the design of hoppers.A new flowability indicator named as weighted cohesion (WS) is established using newly...     

Identifying sets of key players in a social network

A procedure is described for finding sets of key players in a social network. A key assumption is that the optimal selection of key players depends on what they are needed for. Accordingly, two generic goals are articulated, called KPP-POS and KPP-NEG. KPP-POS is defined as the identification of key players for the purpose of optimally diffusing something through the network by using the key players as seeds. KPP-NEG is defined as the identification of key players for the purpose of disrupting or fragmenting the network by removing the key nodes. It is found that off-the-shelf centrality measures are not optimal for solving either generic problem, and therefore new measures are presented. Stephen P. Borgatti is Professor of Organization Studies at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College. His research is focused on social networks, social cognition and knowledge management. He is also interested in the application of social network analysis to the solution of managerial problems.     

Wet granular materials

Most studies on granular physics have focused on dry granular media, with no liquids between the grains. However, in geology and many real world applications (e.g. food processing, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, civil engineering, construction, and many industrial applications), liquid is present between the grains. This produces inter-grain cohesion and drastically modifies the mechanical properties of the granular media (e.g. the surface angle can be larger than 90 degrees). Here we present a review of the mechanical properties of wet granular media, with particular emphasis on the effect of cohesion. We also list several open problems that might motivate future studies in this exciting but mostly unexplored field.

Wet granular materials

All authors

Namiko Mitarai &; Franco Nori

https://doi.org/10.1080/00018730600626065

Published online:

01 February 2007

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Effect of magnetic field orientation on fluidized beds of magnetic particles: Theory and experiment

Geldart-A fluidized beds of fine particles experience a jamming transition between a fluid-like state and a solid-like state at a certain superficial gas velocity, that depends on the relative strength of interparticle attractive forces with respect to particle weight. Interparticle forces provide the bed with a certain tensile strength in the jammed state. In the work presented here we analyze the behavior of a fluidized bed of magnetic particles subjected to an externally applied magnetic field, which contributes to enhance interparticle forces. The importance of the magnetic contribution to interparticle forces is measured by the changes in the tensile strength and the superficial gas velocity at the jamming transition. The link of the field orientation with the microstructure of the bed is discussed.     

Stability analysis of a swarm model with rooted leadership

In this paper, we consider the stability of a swarm model, which is typically associated with the phenomenon of maintaining cohesion. In the swarm model, each individual has its own intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and the interaction between individuals follows a rooted leadership topology. We prove that, if the corresponding real symmetric matrix is negative definite, then the swarm is stable in the sense that all individuals will eventually form a cohesive swarm. In addition, we obtain the bounds of the swarm size. Numerical simulations were conducted to validate the theoretical results.     

Viscoelastic behavior of stock indices

The scattering diagram of a stock index results in a complex network structure, which can be used to analyze the viscoelastic properties of the index. The change along x- or y-direction of the diagram corresponds to purely elastic (or spring like) movement whereas the diagonal change at an angle of 45° corresponds to purely viscous (or dashpot like) movement. The viscous component pushes the price from its current value to any other value, while the elastic component acts like a restoring force. Four indices, namely, DJI, S&P-500, NASDAQ-100, and NASDAQ-composite were studied for the period of 2001-2009. NASDAQ-composite displayed very high elasticity while NASDAQ-100 displayed the highest fluidity in the time period considered. The fluidity of DJI and S&P-500 came out to be close to each other, and they are almost the same in the second half of the period.     

Materials cohesion and interaction forces

The most important methods to determine the cohesive interactions of materials and adhesive interactions between different substances are reviewed. The term cohesion is generalized as representing the unifying interaction forces of a single material and adhesion forces between different substances due to attraction. The aim is to interlink a number of frequently used interaction parameters in order to promote the understanding of materials research executed within different scientific (Material, Colloid, Sol-Gel and Nano) communities. The modern interdisciplinary research requires a removal of the historical obstacles represented by widely differing nomenclature used for the same material properties. The interaction parameters of different models are reviewed and representative numerical values computed from tabulated thermodynamic and spectroscopic material constants. The results are compared with published values. The models are grouped to represent single and two component systems, respectively. The latter group includes models for films on substrates and work of adhesion between liquids and solids. In most cases rather rough approximations have been employed, mostly relating to van der Waals substances for which the gas state is common reference state. In order to improve the predictability of the key Hamaker constant, a novel model for interpreting the dielectric spectrum is presented. The interrelation between thermodynamic, electronic, spectroscopic and dielectric parameters is illustrated by model calculations on typical inorganic materials of current interest as model compounds. The ionic solids are represented by NaCl and KCl, while ZnO, FeO, Fe(2)O(3), Fe(3)O(4), Al(2)O(3), SiO(2), TiO(2), ZrO(2), SnO, SnO(2) represent ceramic oxides and semiconductors. The model compounds thus illustrate the effect of bond type (covalent or ionic) and valence (charge number and sign) of the constituent elements. However, since the focus is placed on a phenomenological analysis, the number of examples remains self-evidently incomplete.     

Synthesis of novel lipophilic and/or fluorophilic ethers of perfluoro-tert-butyl alcohol, perfluoropinacol and hexafluoroacetone hydrate via a Mitsunobu reaction: Typical cases of ideal product separation

Fluorophilic ethers having the structure RC(CF₃)₂O(CH₂)₃C_nF_2n + 1 are obtained in high yields, when F-tert-butyl alcohol (R = CF₃), F-acetone hydrate (R = O(CH₂)₃C_nF_2n + 1), F-pinacol (R = C(CF₃)₂O(CH₂)₃C_nF_2n + 1) are reacted with 3-perfluoroalkyl-1-propanols (C_nF_2n + 1(CH₂)₃OH, n = 4, 6, 8, 10) in a Mitsunobu reaction (Ph₃P/DIAD [i-PrO₂CN = NCO₂Pr-i]/ether). The parent lipophilic ethers with the structure of (CF₃)₃CO(CH₂)₃C_nH_2n + 1 were prepared analogously using the corresponding fatty alcohols and F-tert-butyl alcohol. To achieve ideal separations, products were transferred to orthogonal phases relative to the other reaction components using fluorous extraction, fluorous solid-organic liquid filtration, or steam-distillation. Selected physical properties including melting and boiling point, together with fluorous partition coefficients of these ethers were determined and the figures obtained were qualitatively analyzed using relevant thermodynamic theories. Some of these ethers are liquids with rather low freezing points and are miscible with fluorocarbon solvents.     

Ultramicroscopic examination of mature massulae of Habenaria arinaria (Orchidaceae)

The mature massula of H. arinaria was examined by means of transmission electron microscopy, with the aim to understand the nature of cohesion between grains, the accumulation of pollen storage reserves, and the behavior of the nucleus of the vegetative cell in this composite type of pollen. The massula was a union of a large number of polygonal pollen grains that were tightly linked together. The exine within the massula were highly simplified, consisting of a single layer of nexine-2, lacking tectum, bacula, and nexine-1, while all the four layers comprised the exine on the massula surface. The two layers of nexine-2 of adjacent grains fused into a seamless whole. Undoubtedly the fusion of the nexine-2 was the mechanism by which the grains of the massula were linked together. No starch grains, lipid bodies, or storage proteins were present in the mature massula, and so the composite pollen of this species belonged to a novel type with regard to storage reserves. The vegetative nucleus was not lobed and revealed a huge amount of highly condensed chromatin, indicating a quiescent status. The condensed status of the vegetative nuclei in this composite type of pollen system is in striking contrast to the highly decondensed status reported in the free type of pollen grains.     

Analysis and modelling of the cohesion strength of concrete at high strain-rates

With the exponential increase of computational power, numerical simulations are more and more used to model the response of concrete structures subjected to dynamic loadings such as detonation near a concrete structural element or projectile-impact. Such loadings lead to intense damage modes resulting from high strain-rate tensile loadings in the concrete structure. However, the modelling of the post-peak tensile response of concrete still remains difficult due to the lack of experimental data at high strain-rates. This work aims at improving the modelling of the softening behaviour of concrete based on the following statement: despite the propagation of unstable cracks in the tested specimen cohesion strength exists in the vicinity of triggered cracks and is driving the whole softening behaviour of concrete. This statement is justified in the present work by means of experiments and Monte-Carlo calculations: firstly, concrete samples have been subjected to a dynamic tensile loading by means of spalling experiments. Several specimens have been recovered in a damaged but unbroken state and have been subsequently loaded in quasi-static tensile experiments to characterise the residual strength and damage level in the sample. In addition, Monte-Carlo simulations have been conducted to clarify the possible influence of cohesion strength in the vicinity of cracks. Finally, the DFH (Denoual–Forquin–Hild) anisotropic damage model has been adapted to take into account the cohesion strength in the damaged zone and to describe the softening behaviour of concrete. Numerical simulations of experiments conducted on dry and saturated samples at different levels of loading-rate illustrate the new capability of the model.