MPFEM Modeling on the Compaction of Al/SiC Composite Powders with Core/Shell Structure

Uniaxial die compaction of two-dimensional (2D) Al/SiC core/shell (core: SiC; shell: Al) composite powders with different initial packing structures was numerically reproduced using DEM-FEM coupled MPFEM modeling from particulate scale. The effects of external pressure, initial packing structure, and SiC content on the packing densification were systematically presented. Various macro and micro properties such as relative density and distribution, stress and distribution, particle rearrangement (e.g. sliding and rolling), deformation and mass transfer, and interfacial behavior within composite particles were characterized and analyzed. The results show that by properly controlling the initial packing structure, pressure, and SiC content, various anisotropic and isotropic Al/SiC particulate composites with high relative densities and uniform density/stress distributions can be obtained. At early stage of the compaction, the densification mechanism mainly lies in the particle rearrangement driven by the low interparticle forces. In addition to sliding, accompanied particle rolling also plays an important role. With the increase of the compaction pressure, the force network based on SiC cores leads to extrusion on Al shells between two cores, contributing to mass transfer and pore filling. During compaction, the debonding between the core and shell of each composite particle appears and then disappears gradually in the final compact

DEM investigation of the effect of particle breakage on compact properties

Particle breakage during compaction affects compaction behavior and the quality of the formed compact. This work conducted a numerical study based on the discrete element method (DEM) to investigate the effect of particle breakage on compaction dynamics and compact properties, including particle size and density distributions, and pore properties. A force-based breakage criterion and Apollonian sphere packing algorithm were employed to characterize particle breakage behavior. The pore structures of the compacts were characterized by the watershed pore segmentation method. Calibrated with experimental data, the model was able to simulate the stress-strain relation comparable with experimental observation. During compaction, the particles were gradually broken from top to bottom with increasing pressure. Both density and pore size of the compacts had relatively uniform distribution at larger stress, while the pore size decreased sharply when the particles started to break, indicating that the smaller fragments in the compact system have a significant effect on the pore size distribution

DEM investigation of the effect of particle breakage on compact properties

Particle breakage during compaction affects compaction behavior and the quality of the formed compact. This work conducted a numerical study based on the discrete element method (DEM) to investigate the effect of particle breakage on compaction dynamics and compact properties, including particle size and density distributions, and pore properties. A force-based breakage criterion and Apollonian sphere packing algorithm were employed to characterize particle breakage behavior. The pore structures of the compacts were characterized by the watershed pore segmentation method. Calibrated with experimental data, the model was able to simulate the stress-strain relation comparable with experimental observation. During compaction, the particles were gradually broken from top to bottom with increasing pressure. Both density and pore size of the compacts had relatively uniform distribution at larger stress, while the pore size decreased sharply when the particles started to break, indicating that the smaller fragments in the compact system have a significant effect on the pore size distribution

Microscopic analyses of stress profile within confined granular assemblies

Bottom pressure of confined granular assemblies saturates at a certain value even this packing bed is being continuously charged. Corresponding formulation has been established to describe this interesting phenomenon. In this work, the influences of particle size and friction on the bottom stresses of granular matter were numerically investigated by discrete element method (DEM). It is found that the Janssen model can well predict the stress profile only when the size ratio of the container versus the particle is larger than 16. Moreover, a hydrostatic linear relation between apparent mass and filling mass can be obtained when the friction coefficient becomes insignificant (μ ≤ 0.01). To further interpret the Janssen effects, the granular assemblies are characterized and evaluated from the overall interactions with sidewalls, angular distribution function, void size distribution, coordination number, contact networks, contact orientation and distributions of contact forces within the packing structure. It is believed that these results will be helpful to comprehend the granular behaviors and may offer instructive reference to industrial processes in related fields

DEM simulation of binary sphere packing densification under vertical vibration

The densification of random binary sphere packings subjected to vertical vibration was modeled by using the discrete element method (DEM). The influences of operating parameters such as the vibration conditions, sphere size ratio (diameter ratio of larger versus small spheres), and composition (volume fraction of large spheres) of the binary mixture on the fractional packing density φ (defined as the volume of spheres divided by the volume of container) were studied. Two packing states, i.e., random loose packing (RLP) and random close packing (RCP), were reproduced and their micro properties such as the coordination number (CN), radial distribution function (RDF), and force structure were characterized and compared. The results indicate that properly controlling vibration conditions can realize the transition of binary packing structure from the RLP to RCP state when the sphere size ratio and composition are fixed, and the fractional packing density for RCP after vibration can reach φRCP ≈ 0.86. Different packing characteristics from RLP and RCP identify that RCP shows much denser and more uniform structure than RLP. The current modeling results are in good agreement with those obtained from both the physical experiments and the proposed empirical models in the literature

Topological and metrical property characterization of radical subunits for ternary hard sphere crystals

Quantitative characterization on the topological and metrical properties of radical subunits (polyhedra) for two new ternary hard sphere crystals was studied. These two ideal crystalline structures are numerically constructed by filling small and medium spheres into interstices (corresponding to regular tetrahedral and octahedral pores) of perfect face centered cubic (FCC) and hexagonal close packed (HCP) crystals formed by the packing of large spheres. Topological properties such as face number, edge number, vertex number of each radical polyhedron (RP), edge number of each RP face and metrical properties such as volume, surface area, total perimeter and pore volume of each RP, area and perimeter of each RP face were analyzed and compared. The results show that even though the overall packing densities for FCC and HCP ternary crystals are the same, different characteristics of radical polyhedra for corresponding spheres in these two crystals can be identified. That is, in the former structure RPs are more symmetric than those in the latter; the orientations of corresponding RP in the latter are twice as many as that in the former. Moreover, RP topological and metrical properties in the HCP ternary crystal are much more complicated than those in the FCC ternary crystal. These differences imply the structure and property differences of these two ternary crystals. Analyses of RPs provide intensive understanding of pores in the structure

Dynamic modelling on the confined crystallization of mono-sized cubic particles under mechanical vibration

The dynamic crystallization of cubic granular particles under three-dimensional mechanical vibration is numerically investigated by the discrete element method. The effects of operational conditions (vibration, container shape and system size) and particle properties (gravity and friction) on the formation of crystals and defects are discussed. The results show that the formation and growth of clusters with face-to-face aligned cubic particles can be easily realized under vibrations. Especially, a single crystal with both translational and orientational ordering can be reproduced in a rectangular container under appropriate vibrations. It is also found that the gravitational effect is beneficial for the ordering of a packing; the ordering of frictional particles can be improved significantly with an enlarged gravitational acceleration. The flat walls of a rectangular container facilitate the formation of orderly layered structures. The curved walls of a cylindrical container contribute to the formation of ring-like structures, whereas they also cause distortions and defects in the packing centers. Finally, it is shown that the crystallization of inelastic particles is basically accomplished by the pursuit of a better mechanical stability of the system, with decreasing kinetic and potential energies