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Particulate Systems (particulate + system)
Selected AbstractsFIB-Nanotomography of Particulate Systems,Part I: Particle Shape and Topology of InterfacesJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 8 2006Lorenz Holzer A new 3D-microscopy method, focused ion beam-nanotomography (FIB-nt), has been applied to the statistical particle shape analysis and for topological characterization of granular textures in cement samples. Because of its high resolution (15 nm), FIB-nt reveals precise microstructural information at the submicrometer scale, which cannot be obtained with conventional tomography methods. It is demonstrated that even from complex granular textures with dense agglomerates, it is possible to identify the individual sub-grains. This is the basis for reliable statistical shape analysis. For this purpose, moments of inertia were determined for particles from five different grain size fractions of a given cement, which provides important input data for future modeling of rheology and hydration processes. In addition, FIB-nt was used for topological characterization of the particle,particle interfaces in the dense and fine-grained granular textures. The unique 3D-data obtained with FIB-nt thus open new possibilities for quantitative microstructure analysis and the data can be used as structural input for object-oriented modeling. [source] FIB-Nanotomography of Particulate Systems,Part II: Particle Recognition and Effect of Boundary TruncationJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 8 2006Beat Münch The focused ion beam-nanotomography (FIB-nt) technique presented in Part I of this article is a novel high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) microscopy method that opens new possibilities for the microstructural investigation of fine-grained granular materials. Specifically, FIB-nt data volumes allow particle size distributions (PSD) to be determined, and the current paper discusses all the processing steps required to obtain the PSD from 3D data. This includes particle recognition and the subsequent PSD estimation. A refined watershed approach for 3D particle recognition that tolerates concavities on the particle surfaces is presented. Particles at the edge of the 3D data volume are invariably clipped, and because the data volume is of a very limited size, this effect of boundary truncation seriously affects the PSD and needs to be corrected. Therefore, two basic approaches for the stereological correction of the truncation effects are proposed and validated on artificially modeled particle data. Finally, the suggested techniques are applied to real 3D-particle data from ordinary portland cement and the resulting PSDs compared with data from laser granulometry. [source] Empirical preprocessing methods and their impact on NIR calibrations: a simulation studyJOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 2 2005S. N. Thennadil Abstract The extraction of chemical information from dense particulate suspensions, such as industrial slurries and biological suspensions, using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic measurements is complicated by sample-to-sample path length variations due to light scattering. Empirical preprocessing techniques such as multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), extended MSC and derivatives have been applied to remove these effects and in some cases have shown promise. While the performance of these techniques and other related approaches is known to depend on the nature and extent of the variations and on the measurement configuration, detailed investigations into the efficacy of these approaches under various conditions have not been previously undertaken. The main obstacle to carrying out such investigations has been the lack of, and the difficulty in obtaining, an accurate and comprehensive experimental data set. In this work, simulations that generate ,actual' measurements were carried out to obtain ,experimental' spectroscopic data on particulate systems. This was achieved by solving the exact transport equation for light propagation. A model system comprising four chemical components with one consisting of spherical submicron particles was considered. Total diffuse transmittance and reflectance data generated through simulations for moderate particle concentrations were used as the basis for examining the effect of particle size variations and measurement configurations on the efficacy of a number of preprocessing techniques in enhancing the performance of partial least squares (PLS) models for predicting the concentration of one of the non-scattering chemical species. Additionally, a form of extended multiplicative signal correction based on considerations arising from fundamental light scattering theory is proposed and found to perform better than the other techniques for the cases considered in the study. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Heat conduction in granular materialsAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 5 2001Watson L. Vargas Heat transfer in particulate systems is important to a vast array of industries, yet is poorly understood even in the simplest case,conduction through the solid phase. This is due in part to the stress and contact heterogeneities inherent to these systems. Heat conduction in a packet bed of cylinders is investigated both experimentally and computationally. A novel model is developed based on the Discrete Element Method, which not only sheds light on fundamental issues in heat conduction in particles, but also provides a valuable test bed for existing theories. By explicitly modeling individual particles within the bulk material, bed heterogeneities are directly included, and dynamic temperature distributions are obtained at the particle level. Comparison with experiments shows that this model yields a quantitatively accurate temperature field without the need for adjustable parameters or detailed microstructural information. This simple system may also provide insight into such phenomena as reactor hot spot formation and spontaneous combustion of bulk reactive materials. [source] Materials in particulate form for tissue engineering.JOURNAL OF TISSUE ENGINEERING AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE, Issue 1 2007Abstract For biomedical applications, materials small in size are growing in importance. In an era where ,nano' is the new trend, micro- and nano-materials are in the forefront of developments. Materials in the particulate form aim to designate systems with a reduced size, such as micro- and nanoparticles. These systems can be produced starting from a diversity of materials, of which polymers are the most used. Similarly, a multitude of methods are used to produce particulate systems, and both materials and methods are critically reviewed here. Among the varied applications that materials in the particulate form can have, drug delivery systems are probably the most prominent, as these have been in the forefront of interest for biomedical applications. The basic concepts pertaining to drug delivery are summarized, and the role of polymers as drug delivery systems conclude this review. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On Different Approaches to Estimate the Mass Fractal Dimension of Coal AggregatesPARTICLE & PARTICLE SYSTEMS CHARACTERIZATION, Issue 5 2005Jimmy Y. H. Liao Abstract Several methods to measure the structures of coal aggregates are compared. Loose and compact coal aggregates were generated through flocculation of ultrafine coal particles (mean volume diameter of 12,,m) under specific shearing conditions. Aggregate structure in terms of mass fractal dimension, Df, was determined using various methods; namely 2D and 3D image analysis, interpretation of intensity patterns from small angle light scattering, changes in aggregation state through light obscuration, and settling behavior. In this study, the measured values of Df ranged from 1.84,2.19 for coal aggregates with more open structures, and around 2.27,2.66 for the compact ones. All of these approaches could distinguish structural differences between aggregates, albeit with variation in Df values estimated by the different techniques. The discrepancy in the absolute values for fractal dimension is due to the different physical properties measured by each approach, depending on the assumptions used to infer Df from measurable parameters. In addition, image analysis and settling techniques are based on the examination of individual aggregates, such that a large number of data points are required to yield statistically representative estimations. Light scattering and obscuration measure the aggregates collectively to give average Df values of the particulate systems; consequently ignoring any structural variation between the aggregates, and leaving possible small contaminations undetected (e.g. by dust particles or air bubbles). Appropriate utilization of a particular method is thus largely determined by system properties and required data quality. [source] | |||||||||||||