Some Properties of Irregular 3-D Particles

Published

October 12, 2021

Author(s)

Michael A. Taylor, Edward Garboczi, S T. Erdogan, D Fowler

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the properties of irregular particles that are of interest to engineers, including volume, density, & surface area. Numerical and statistical information on these properties is essential (a) for a better understanding of particulates, (b) to suggest more efficient ways to utilize particulate materials, and (c) to permit the creation of mathematical models that can reduce the need for lengthy real-world testing. While the motivation, examples and applications are from the construction materials industry, the results should be of interest to others. Measurement techniques used included x-ray computed tomography & multiple projected images, augmented by traditional laboratory techniques. To compare the results of these techniques a set of 12 rocks were studied of which six were between 19 mm and 12.7 mm in size, and six were between 12.7 mm and 6.3 mm in size. Microfine versions of these rocks (< 80 um equivalent spherical diameter) were also studied and compared. The shapes of the rocks were studied by relating three dimensions to their volume and surface area. These three physical dimensions were defined in two different ways: direct measurement of three unique orthogonal dimensions on the rock surface, and dimensions obtained from the use of absolute first moments of volume and principal moments of volume. These measurements and calculated moments allowed the development of three-parameter equivalent shape models based on rectangular parallelepipeds and tri-axial ellipsoids. All types of three-parameter equivalent shape models considered provided acceptable accuracy in predicting both vol-ume & surface area, with the box models generally more physical and realistic than the ellipsoid-based equivalent shape models.

Citation

International Journal of Powder Metallurgy

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

equivalent shape models, irregular particles, microfine, multiple projected images, rectangular parallelepipeds, tri-axial ellipsoids, x-ray computed tomography

Citation

Taylor, M. , Garboczi, E. , Erdogan, S. and Fowler, D. (2021), Some Properties of Irregular 3-D Particles, International Journal of Powder Metallurgy (Accessed October 31, 2024)