A Study of the Compaction Mechanism of Granulated Materials

Using model granules produced from pharmaceutical powders, a mechanism for their compaction was established which was then applied to ceramic materials. Different granulation techniques, for example, spray drying, slugging and agitating granulation, were used to produce granules with different properties. Basic characteristics such as granule size and size distribution, granule shape, specific surface area and apparent specific volume were measured. It was found that, in general, the strength of the compacts formed from the model granules was higher for the granules with higher apparent specific volume. Compacts with higher strength were formed from granules with low specific surface area and large pores while granules with high specific surface area and small pores formed low strength compacts. In this paper, a mechanism for compaction is established and the compaction behaviour of ceramic materials is considered.