Particle Shape

WEEK 1 2
Shape Factor
A normal way of expressing the shape factor is to
make it the ratio of the particle property to the
property of a sphere having a diameter equal to
the measured particle dimension
Volume-based Shaped Factor
particle volume

volume of a sphere of the same diameter

v Dp3 v 6 v
'v

Dp3
6 6
 Ratio of Specific Surface
specific surface of the particle

specific surface of a sphere of the same "diameter"

specific surface (cm 2 /g)

6Dp

diameter is usually taken as the mean screen opening
Example
What is the specific surface diameter of galena particles (7.6 gm/cm3)
that passed through Tyler Mesh # 35 (425 micron), if it is assumed that
only 40% of the particles has the same diameter that of a spherical
galena.

specific surface (cm 2 /g)

6Dp

Advantage
The specific surface of a material for which
there are no data may be roughly estimated
from the ratio of specific surfaces of a similar
material
 Specific Surface from Ratio
61m1 62 m2 6 k mk 6 k i mi
Total Surface
( D p )1 ( D p ) 2 ( D p ) k i 1 ( D p )i

6 k
i mi

(D
i 1 )
Average Specific Surface
p i

m i
Example
Find the Total surface area of a sample of Galena particles (7.6 gm/cm3)
with breakdown as follows:

mi (g) ni (Dp)i (micons)

24 0.3 250

34 0.4 212

21 0.5 180
 mi (g) ni Dpi (cm) nimi nimi/Dpi

24 0.3 2500000 7.2 0.00000288

34 0.4 2120000 13.6 6.4151 x 106

21 0.5 1800000 10.5 5.8333 x 106

sum 79 1.5128x 105

AveSpecSurf = 1.5118 x 107 cm2/g

Porosity
Porosity of a static bed depends upon
Particle shape and surface roughness
Particle size and size distribution
Size of the container relative to the particle diameter
Method of packing
Method of Packing
Water-fill method initially gives more porous
packing
BUT
Vibration of the vessel and the effect of gas
or liquid flow through it ultimately compacts
the bed
Particle Shape and Surface
Roughness
The lower the particle sphericity, the more open is
our packed bed
Particles settle across each other and pack with
pointed ends against each other, preventing a close
packing
Sphericity as a Function of Porosity
Porosity
Fraction of void volume

=VV/VT=1-VP/VT
Particle Size and Size Distribution
Presence of fine and coarse particles results in a
bed of lower porosity than would be obtained with
uniform particles
Particle Size and Vessel Size
The presence of container wall interrupts the pattern of particle-to-
particle contacts
Hence makes for a larger fraction voids at the wall
 6 k
i mi

(D
i 1 )
Average Specific Surface
p i

Seatwork m i

A laboratory sample of milled quarts (2.65 g/cm3) has the following

classification:
mi (g) ni (Dp)i (microns)
213 0.1 90
321 0.2 75
153 0.3 63
253 0.4 53
123 0.5 44
164 0.6 37
211 0.7 25
What is the Average specific area of the sample?