A low cost powder flowability tester for industry has been developed at The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, University of Greenwich in collaboration with Brookfield Engineering and four food manufacturers: Cadbury, Kerry Ingredients, GSK and United Biscuits. Anticipated uses of the tester are primarily for quality control and new product development, but it can also be used for storage vessel design.
This paper presents the preliminary results from ‘round robin’ trials undertaken with the powder flow tester using the BCR limestone (CRM-116) standard test material. The mean flow properties have been compared to published data found in the literature for the other shear testers.
BerryRJBradleyMSA. Investigation of the effect of test procedure factors on the failure loci and derived failure functions obtained from annular shear cells. Powder Technol2007; 174: 60–63.
3.
BerryRJBradleyMSAArizaK. Interpretation of stick-slip powder flow-ability measurements. 6th international conference for conveying and handling of particulate solids (ChoPS-06 2009), Brisbane, Australia, August 2009.
4.
BerryRJBradleyMSA. An investigation of the effect of annular shear cell geometric factors on the measured failure loci and derived failure functions. In: 5th international conference for conveying and handling of particulate solids (ChoPS-05 2006), Sorrento, Italy: Hilton Hotel, 27–31 August 2006.
5.
BerryRJBradleyMSA. Comparisons between observed powder behaviour in industrial feeders and measured powder failure properties obtained using a short cut silo design procedure. In: 5th international conference for conveying and handling of particulate solids (ChoPS-05 2006), Hilton Hotel, Sorrento, Italy, 27–31 August 2006.
6.
BerryRJBradleyMSAMcGregorRJ. Development and commercialisation of a new powder flow tester for powder formulation, quality control and equipment design. Bulk Solids India, March 2010March 2010.
7.
AkersRJ. The certification of a limestone powder for Jenike shear testing CRM-116, 1990. , Loughborough Univ. of Technology, UK, BCR/163/90 (Community Bureau of reference 1990).
8.
SchulzeD. Flowability and time consolidation measurements using a ring shear tester. Powder Handling Proces1996; 8(3): 221–226.
Cooke J and Freeman T. Validation of shear testing using the FT4 Powder Rheometer and limestone powder CRM 116, White Paper, Freeman Technology, Welland, Worcs, UK, May 2005, Freemantech.co.uk.
12.
BellTAEnnisBJGrycoRJ. Practical evaluation of the Johanson hang-up indiczer. Bulk Solids Handling1994; 14(1): 117–125.
13.
PeschlIASZ. Equipment for the measurement of mechanical properties of bulk materials. Powder Handling Process1989; 1(1): 73–81.
14.
JohansonJR. The Johanson Indicizer™ System vs. the Jenike shear tester (new technology simplifies solids flow properties characterization). Bulks Solids Handling1992; 12(2): 237–240.
