Chemicals, additives and industrial

Chemical, additive, and industrial powders often exhibit complex, process-dependent behaviour due to fine particle size, surface modification, formulation chemistry, or handling history. While traditional flow tests provide simple classification, they frequently fail to predict how powders will behave during conveying, storage, and high-throughput processing.

By combining dynamic powder flow analysis with static strength and consolidation testing, manufacturers can characterise flowability, speed dependence, consolidation, and failure mechanisms under controlled, process-relevant conditions. This enables more effective troubleshooting, objective supplier comparison, confident scale-up, and the development of robust, reliable manufacturing processes.

View examples of published work:

Spray granulated ceramic powders, spray granulated submicron alumina granules, alumina granules and alumina ceramics shaped using methylcellulose.

• Wallpaper adhesive is the most instructive sample on this page for understanding the limits of single-parameter flow classification. Its Cohesion Index is low (7.40) which by a simple flowability rating would suggest an easy-flowing material presenting few handling problems. But the other parameters tell a completely different story: a Bridging Factor of nearly 2000, a compaction coefficient at low speed that is the highest of any sample across all seven industry pages, a mean cake strength over 500g, and a cake height ratio of 0.93 meaning the powder column has almost completely consolidated under load. The practical message is that low cohesion does not mean low risk. For this material, the dominant failure modes are packing, bridging, and severe caking, none of which a cohesion index alone would predict.
• Cement and Tile grout occupy a more similar and moderate band across all parameters: both show moderate cohesion and bridging, both become substantially easier to move as speed increases (speed ratios around 0.35-0.36), and both produce moderate cake strengths in the 115-125g range. They are not, however, identical: cement shows slightly higher cohesion and higher bridging than tile grout, and its compaction coefficient at low speed is marginally higher, consistent with a finer and more angular particle morphology. For both materials, the handling story is one of manageable flow when the powder is in motion but meaningful consolidation risk during shutdown, storage, or restart – the combination that most commonly drives unexpected downtime in industrial powder handling.

Powder Flow Analyser – dynamic behaviour

Texture Analyser – strength and weaknesses

Powder problems are driven by movement, stress, and time. Dynamic flow and strength-based testing reveal behaviours that static tests cannot capture.