The Delft Solids Solutions laboratory is known for physical characterization of solid materials. Part of her portfolio is focused on the investigation of powder behavior in industrial processing equipment; this can range from particle crushing strength, quantification of dustiness of powders, segregation to powder flow behavior. Powder flow and shear testing has proven to be very useful in the design of processing equipment such as hoppers and silos, but it also helps to acquire an improved understanding of powder behavior in existing equipment. Such techniques can help to minimize downtime when e.g. hoppers discharge erratically or fail to discharge at all.
Due to an increased demand for such capabilities, the Delft Solids Solutions laboratory has now expanded her range of equipment for shear testing. Besides a classical Jenike shear tester and a Peschl shear testing set-up, a Brookfield powder flow and ring shear tester is currently available for powder testing. Including an optional small shear cell enables to cover a total range of consolidation pressures up to 13 kPa. The instrument also offers the option to perform wall friction measurements and time-consolidated shear tests. The latter option is to mimic the influence of time during compaction of powders on the subsequent powder flow characteristics, since during storage powders are often exposed to certain pressures for a longer period of time.
Delft Solids Solutions is pleased to provide you additional information on the possibilities of shear testing in particular and bulk powder testing in general.
