DEM analysis of compression breakage of 3D printed agglomerates with different structures

• Published in: Powder technology Vol. 356; pp. 1045 - 1058
• Main Authors: Ge, Ruihuan, Wang, Lige, Zhou, Zongyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.11.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: 3D printing; Agglomerates; Agglomeration; Bond model; Bond stress; Breakage; Compression; compression strength; Computer simulation; crushing; Discrete element method; Discrete element method (DEM); manufacturing; Mathematical models; powders; Structural damage; Three dimensional printing; Timoshenko beams; Discrete element method (DEM); Agglomerates; Breakage; Bond model; 3D printing
• ISSN: 0032-5910; 1873-328X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.powtec.2019.08.113

Understanding agglomerate breakage characteristics is of great importance in industries of particulate manufacturing. In this work, Discrete Element Method (DEM) combined with Timoshenko Beam Bond Model (TBBM) is employed to simulate the agglomerate breakage with different structures subject to compressive loads. The agglomerates are made of 4 mm diameter rigid primary particles connected by cylindrical inter-particle bonds. Using 3D printing technology, test agglomerates with tuneable properties are produced and experimentally crushed. The simulation results of agglomerate crushing show similar qualitative trends with experimental results under identical conditions. Different agglomerate types with well-defined bond properties are considered in numerical simulations, e.g. cube/spherical shaped agglomerates with regular packed structures. Detailed damage ratios, particle velocities and bond stress distributions are obtained and analysed by DEM simulations. The results demonstrate that the breakage is strongly influenced by the agglomerate internal bond network orientations and external shapes. [Display omitted] •DEM combined with TBBM model was used to simulate the agglomerate breakage.•3D printing was used to produce agglomerates for comparing with simulations.•Uniaxial compression tests were performed to investigate the agglomerate mechanical properties.•Effects of bond properties and internal structures on the breakage were analysed.