Results of a study of the influence of impeller speed on the strength, structure and morphology of granules produced in a type of high shear mixer granulators are reported. Calcium carbonate particles (Durcal 65) have been granulated in a Cyclomix with a capacity of 5 L. An aqueous solution of polyethylene glycol was used as the binder. The granules produced have been dried and their structure visualized using X-ray micro-tomography equipment, Nanotom, with a resolution of less than 1 μm. It is shown that the operation of the granulator at high impeller tip speeds produces granules with a higher strength and lower porosity than those produced at medium and low impeller speeds. Two different granule micro-structures and morphologies are produced at high and low impeller speeds. Structure descriptors such as phase volume fraction (as representative of porosity), chord length distribution and auto-correlation function (as indices of homogeneity of structure) are used to quantify the internal structure of granules in 3D, which in turn affects the granule strength.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/6143 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Rahmanian, Nejat, Ghadiri, M., Jia, X., Stepanek, F. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
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