DEM investigation of the effect of particle breakage on compact properties

Abstract

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.