An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets, in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog, dust, forest exudates and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols are haze, particulate air pollutants and smoke. The liquid or solid particles have diameters typically <1 μm; larger particles with a significant settling speed make the mixture a suspension, but the distinction is not clear-cut. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray that delivers a consumer product from a can or similar container. Other technological applications of aerosols include dispersal of pesticides, medical treatment of respiratory illnesses, and convincing technology. Diseases can also spread by means of small droplets in the breath, also called aerosols.
Sintering is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Centrifugation is a technique which involves the application of centrifugal force to separate particles from a solution according to their size, shape, density, viscosity of the medium and rotor speed. This process is used to separate two miscible substances, but also to analyze the hydrodynamic properties of macromolecules. More-dense components of the mixture migrate away from the axis of the centrifuge, while less-dense components of the mixture migrate towards the axis, i. e., move to the center. Chemists and biologists may increase the effective gravitational force on a test tube so as to more rapidly and completely cause the precipitate (pellet) to gather on the bottom of the tube. The remaining solution (supernatant) may be discarded with a pipette.. Centrifugation of protein solution, for example, allows elimination of impurities into the supernatant.
Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term covering a wide range of ways in which materials or components are made from metal powders. PM processes can avoid, or greatly reduce, the need to use metal removal processes, thereby drastically reducing yield losses in manufacture and often resulting in lower costs.
The angle of repose, or critical angle of repose, of a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be piled without slumping. At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the verge of sliding. The angle of repose can range from 0° to 90°. The morphology of the material affects the angle of repose; smooth, rounded sand grains cannot be piled as steeply as can rough, interlocking sands. The angle of repose can also be affected by additions of solvents. If a small amount of water is able to bridge the gaps between particles, electrostatic attraction of the water to mineral surfaces will increase the angle of repose, and related quantities such as the soil strength.
A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact. The constituents that compose granular material are large enough such that they are not subject to thermal motion fluctuations. Thus, the lower size limit for grains in granular material is about 1 µm. On the upper size limit, the physics of granular materials may be applied to ice floes where the individual grains are icebergs and to asteroid belts of the Solar System with individual grains being asteroids.
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser as the power source to sinter powdered material, aiming the laser automatically at points in space defined by a 3D model, binding the material together to create a solid structure. It is similar to Selective Laser Melting (SLM); the two are instantiations of the same concept but differ in technical details. Selective laser melting (SLM) uses a comparable concept, but in SLM the material is fully melted rather than sintered, allowing different properties. SLS is a relatively new technology that so far has mainly been used for rapid prototyping and for low-volume production of component parts. Production roles are expanding as the commercialization of AM technology improves.
Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized between 1 to 1000 nanometres but usually is 1 to 100 nm.
Nanoparticles are particles between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in size with a surrounding interfacial layer. The interfacial layer is an integral part of nanoscale matter, fundamentally affecting all of its properties. The interfacial layer typically consists of ions, inorganic and organic molecules. Organic molecules coating inorganic nanoparticles are known as stabilizers, capping and surface ligands, or passivating agents. In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit with respect to its transport and properties. Particles are further classified according to diameter.
In the field of extractive metallurgy, mineral processing, also known as ore dressing, is the process of separating commercially valuable minerals from their ores.
Ceramic engineering is the science and technology of creating objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials. This is done either by the action of heat, or at lower temperatures using precipitation reactions from high-purity chemical solutions. The term includes the purification of raw materials, the study and production of the chemical compounds concerned, their formation into components and the study of their structure, composition and properties.
A coal preparation plant is a facility that washes coal of soil and rock, crushes it into graded sized chunks (sorting), stockpiles grades preparing it for transport to market, and more often than not, also loads coal into rail cars, barges, or ships.
A sieve analysis is a practice or procedure used to assess the particle size distribution of a granular material by allowing the material to pass through a series of sieves of progressively smaller mesh size and weighing the amount of material that is stopped by each sieve as a fraction of the whole mass.
Sensor-based sorting, is an umbrella term for all applications where particles are singularly detected by a sensor technique and rejected by an amplified mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic process. The technique is generally applied in the three industries mining, recycling and food processing and used in the particle size range between 0.5 and 300 mm. Since sensor-based sorting is a single particle separation technology, the throughput is proportional to the average particle size and weight fed onto the machine.
Gyratory equipment, used in mechanical screening and sieving is based on a circular motion of the machine. Unlike other methods, gyratory screen operates in a gentler manner and is more suited to handle fragile things, enabling it to produce finer products. This method is applicable for both wet and dry screening.
A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of a large number of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material. In particular, powders refer to those granular materials that have the finer grain sizes, and that therefore have a greater tendency to form clumps when flowing. Granulars refers to the coarser granular materials that do not tend to form clumps except when wet.
The characterization of nanoparticles is a branch of nanometrology that deals with the characterization of physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have at least one primary external dimension of less than 100 nanometers, and are often engineered for their unique properties. Nanoparticles are unlike conventional chemicals in that their chemical composition and concentration are not sufficient metrics for a complete description, because they vary in other physical properties such as size, shape, surface properties, crystallinity, and dispersion state.
Agglomerated food powder is a unit operation during which native particles are assembled to form bigger agglomerates, in which the original particle can still be distinguished. Agglomeration can be achieved through processes that use liquid as a binder or methods that do not involve any binder.
Food powder is the most common format of food material in the market. Powders are particulate discrete solid particles of size ranging from nanometres to millimetres that generally flow freely when shaken or tilted. The bulk powder properties are the combined effect of particle properties by the conversion of food products in solid state into powdery form for ease of use, processing and keeping quality. Various terms are used to indicate the particulate solids in bulk, such as powder, granules, flour and dust, though all these materials can be treated under powder category. These common terminologies are based on the size or the source of the materials.
