Browse PTI technical publications

Wood powder can bridge because fibrous particles mechanically interlock, because moisture increases [...]

Jet milling micronization reduces particle size through particle-particle impact controlled by classifier wheel speed and feed rate. Pushing the cut point lower can raise amorphous surface content and hygroscopicity in ways a passing PSD result will not reveal. This guide covers the mechanism and the tests that actually diagnose a changed lot.

DEM input parameters are fitted to match a bulk observable, not derived from first principles. A parameter set calibrated against an angle of repose test constrains one point in a multi-dimensional parameter space. When the hopper geometry changes, the stress state changes, and unconstrained parameters become the dominant source of prediction error.

CFD-DEM simulations show triboelectrically charged particles can reverse direction in low-drag duct corner zones during pneumatic conveying, with the delay between feed pulses driving the effect more than pulse length.

Bulk-blended fertilizer fails in three recurring ways: segregation between straight materials of different size and density, hygroscopic caking in urea and ammonium nitrate under humidity cycling, and dust release during bagging. Each failure mode maps to a specific diagnostic test rather than a single generic powder check.

LED-based particle image velocimetry (PIV) images the velocity field inside a moving powder bed during blending, adding spatial resolution that static angle of repose, Hausner ratio, and shear cell tests cannot provide. Here is what that resolution can and cannot support for a process decision.

Vacuum conveying contains by default: any breach draws air inward rather than pushing powder out. That containment advantage comes with a fixed pressure budget, and filter design competes directly with conveying velocity for every millibar of available driving force.

In powder-fed laser cladding, a stable feeder setpoint and an in-spec particle size distribution do not guarantee a stable deposit. Catchment efficiency and stream divergence sit between the feeder and the melt pool, and both can drift independently of the powder's PSD.

Co-processing engineers particle morphology, density, and surface structure into a single composite excipient particle. Flow function and compactibility testing show what that buys formulators on continuous direct compression lines, and where it does not.

Jenike shear cells and ring shear testers measure the same yield locus through different mechanics. Here is how their sample, stress range, and time differences map onto the mass-flow versus funnel-flow hopper design decision, plus a checklist for choosing between them.

Copper reflects most near-infrared laser light and conducts absorbed heat away faster than almost any other engineering metal. GRCop-42's move into commercial powder catalogs shows how feedstock morphology, oxide content, and particle size distribution are being engineered around that problem rather than worked around it.

The power or torque trace in high-shear wet granulation rises and plateaus as granules consolidate, but the signal is a supporting process indicator, not a direct particle size measurement, and its interpretation is bounded by batch size, impeller geometry, and formulation.