Powders with specific properties are often required in industrial processes, as raw material or in the final product. Obtaining granules with the required morphology is crucial, since it strongly affects the use and handling of the powders.
Several methods are available to produce spherical particles with a narrow size distribution and controlled morphology. The main granulation method is spray drying with freeze granulation starting to attract interest.
In material sciences, granules are commonly produced prior to pressing. The aim is to have a free flowing powder that is easier to fill into the pressing dye evenly and disintegrates easily at pressing.
Spray drying is one of the most recognized methods for drying suspensions and for granulation of materials. Spray dried granules may be more or less spherical and/or more or less hollow depending on the formulation and process parameters.
Freeze granulation can be performed by dripping suspensions into liquid nitrogen and subsequently freeze-drying them. This will result in spherical, free flowing granules with optimal homogeneity.
Both spray drying and freeze-granulation can be performed using BUCHI instruments. Find out more about the use of our Mini Spray Dryer B-290, Encapsulator B-390 and Lyovapor in material sciences applications.
Freeze granulation: Powder processing for transparent alumina application
Michael Stuer, Zhe Zhao, Paul Bowen
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955
Laboratory spray drying of materials fro batteries, lasers, and bioceramics
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