Browse PTI technical publications

Dense-phase and dilute-phase pneumatic conveying create different particle contact mechanics, and the resulting attrition and segregation risk depends on velocity, solids loading ratio, and the powder's own attrition sensitivity, not on a fixed assumption about which mode is gentler.

Talc's expected EU restriction is forcing cosmetic formulators toward mica, kaolin, silica, and starch. None of them reproduce talc's platelet slip, oil absorption, and low dustiness at the same time, and each substitution changes flow and compaction behavior in pressed powder products differently.

Cement fineness is not a single number. Blaine surface area, particle size distribution, grinding aid chemistry, and moisture history each pull on hydration reactivity in different ways, and a fineness specification that ignores any one of them will eventually let a bad batch through.

Geldart classification, minimum fluidization velocity, bubble dynamics, droplet-to-particle size ratio, and permeability all determine whether a fluidized bed process delivers controlled granule growth, uniform coating, or consistent drying at production scale.

Rotary airlocks function as pressure boundaries as much as metering devices. The rotor tip clearance governs particle attrition at the nip zone and the rate of fine-particle bypass under differential pressure. As clearance widens through wear, the downstream particle size distribution shifts in a pattern frequently misread as upstream process variation.

Both the Hausner Ratio and Carr Index reduce bulk and tapped density to a single number. The mechanism behind that number, whether aeration, particle shape, or surface cohesion, determines whether it supports a process decision or actively misleads one.

The same screw feeder at the same speed can deliver consistently on one powder and drift by several percent on another. The difference lies in compressibility, wall friction, and cohesion, and in how bulk density shifts as the hopper empties.

Process analytical technology combined with machine learning is changing residual moisture control and yield prediction in pharmaceutical and food spray drying. The gains are real but bounded, and the off-line test panel has not been replaced.

Kst quantifies explosion rate-of-pressure-rise under standardized lab conditions. It does not directly describe how an explosion behaves in your vessel, at your turbulence level, or with your ignition scenario. This insight explains what the number means, where the cubic law holds, and when a competent person must go further than the test certificate.

Temperature shifts surface energy, contact compliance, and residual moisture state in ways that can reverse a powder's ambient flow behavior. This Insight explains the dominant mechanisms across three temperature ranges and what elevated-temperature testing reveals for SLS powder beds, spray dryer outlets, and heated conveying systems.

Sintered contacts, additive manufactured heat exchangers, EV motor components, and conductive pastes each require a different copper powder. This article explains why morphology, particle size distribution, oxygen content, and packing density are engineering variables, and how to specify them correctly for electrification applications.

Poorly soluble APIs now represent the majority of the pharmaceutical development pipeline. Dissolution and oral bioavailability are determined by molecular solubility, surface wetting behavior, solid-state stability, and how the formulation interacts with the GI environment from first contact onward. Amorphous dispersions, lipid systems, nanocrystals, and co-crystals each rely on different surface mechanisms to deliver their intended advantage.