An analytical approach to relating powder characteristics and rheological properties of powder injection molding feedstocks

This study quantitatively analyzes the relationship between the material structure (powder characteristics) and flow properties of highly filled compounds. The model parameters are the powder particle size distribution and its volume fraction in a compound. The simulated material structure is developed using the Hard Spheres Model, from which the structural functions in terms of the statistical distribution of inter-particle distances and the histograms of effective volumes of groups of close particles are calculated. A close similarity between simulated and real functions was obtained. The results obtained imply that numerical modeling might serve as a reliable and sensitive approach for analyzing the influence of powder particle-size distribution on the ability to process highly filled compounds. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.