Fundamental and Rheological Properties of Powders

Powders exhibit several kinds of bulk properties such as mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, optical, acoustic, and surface physico-chemical properties. Among these, the rheological property of particles is widely investigated in the applied fields. It is closely related not only to the material properties of a single particle but also to the unit operations in powder technology. Included here are the most fundamental characteristics of deformation and flow of particulate solids, that is, packing, permeability and strength, mainly in the dry system. Thus, the bulk properties are essential for describing various rheological behaviors in powder handling processes, and constitute one of the current topics in the field of particle science.