Cohesion is regularly regarded as one of the most influential properties to bulk powder flowability and is often blamed for powder processing issues. In a cohesive powder, particles attract to each other to form clumps or agglomerates that can cause blockages and inconsistent feeding and dosing, leading to wastage and inefficient processing. Cohesive powders can show great variability in their bulk density, being prone to packing inefficiently or loosely under gravity, but they can also form tight structures with high compact strength when compressed, posing challenges to feeding and filling operations and to their general management in manufacturing lines.
Characterising powder cohesivity means quantifying the likelihood of encountering certain handling and manufacturing problems, and assigning a number to the quality of a powdered product. Understanding the extent to which cohesive forces affect powder flowability allows the prediction of a material’s performance in a process without the need to mimic each stage directly, and informs the powder formulators or handlers on how to address flow problems due to cohesion, for example by modifying particle size, chemistry or via surface treatments.
Cohesion is regularly regarded as one of the most influential properties to bulk powder flowability and is often blamed for powder processing issues. In a cohesive powder, particles attract to each other to form clumps or agglomerates that can cause blockages and inconsistent feeding and dosing, leading to wastage and inefficient processing. Cohesive powders can show great variability in their bulk density, being prone to packing inefficiently or loosely under gravity, but they can also form tight structures with high compact strength when compressed, posing challenges to feeding and filling operations and to their general management in manufacturing lines.
Characterising powder cohesivity means quantifying the likelihood of encountering certain handling and manufacturing problems, and assigning a number to the quality of a powdered product. Understanding the extent to which cohesive forces affect powder flowability allows the prediction of a material’s performance in a process without the need to mimic each stage directly, and informs the powder formulators or handlers on how to address flow problems due to cohesion, for example by modifying particle size, chemistry or via surface treatments.
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