Studying the Avalanching Behaviour of a Powder in a Rotating Disc

Abstract The use of a rotating disc to study the avalanching behaviour of a powder is discussed. It is shown that the strange attractor plotted in discreet time maps summarizes useful information on the rheological behaviour of powders and powder mixtures. In particular it is shown that the avalanching behaviour is related to the particle size distribution of the powder and that one can study the changes in rheological behaviour as another powder is mixed with it. The strange attractor patterns generated are dependent upon the environmental conditions under which the experiments are carried out. For this reason the measurements are referred to as an assessment of the holistic powder rheology. The potential use of the disc to study the holistic rheology of powder systems is outlined.