The Effect of Particle Shape on the Compaction of Realistic Non-Spherical Particles-A Multi-Contact DEM Study

Area of Science:

• Computational Mechanics
• Materials Science
• Particle Technology

Background:

• Accurate simulation of particle deformation is crucial for understanding powder compaction.
• Non-spherical particle shapes significantly influence material behavior under load.
• Existing methods like conventional multi-sphere (CMS) have limitations in capturing large elastic deformations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the deformation behavior of non-spherical particles during high-load compaction.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the bonded multi-sphere (BMS) method within multi-contact discrete element simulations (MC-DEM).
• To compare BMS with conventional multi-sphere (CMS) for simulating particle compression.

Main Methods:

• Employed the multi-contact discrete element method (MC-DEM).
• Utilized the bonded multi-sphere (BMS) method incorporating intragranular bonds.
• Used the conventional multi-sphere (CMS) approach for comparative analysis.
• Validated simulations with experimental data and multiple particle finite element method (MPFEM).

Main Results:

• The BMS method accurately captured the large elastic deformation of a single rubber sphere, agreeing with experimental and MPFEM data.
• The CMS method demonstrated limitations in simulating single rubber sphere compression.
• BMS simulations of uniaxial compaction of microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel® PH 200) showed very good agreement with experimental results for non-spherical particles.

Conclusions:

• The bonded multi-sphere (BMS) method is a suitable approach for simulating the deformation of non-spherical particles in high-load compaction.
• MC-DEM with BMS provides a reliable tool for predicting the behavior of granular materials with complex particle shapes.
• This study highlights the advantages of BMS over CMS for accurately modeling particle compaction.