简介:Theprocessofsinteringofseveralparticlesincontactviaaviscousflowmechanismwasstudiednumericallyusingcomputationalfluiddynamics.Thevolumeoffluidtechniquewithinafinitevolumemethodwasusedtosimulatebridgeformationbetweenparticles,aswellasdensificationatdifferentconfigurationalstatesoftheparticles.Themethodwasvalidatedbycomparingresultsfortwo-particlecoalescencewiththeliterature.Theeffectofthenumberofparticlesonagglomerationkineticswasstudiedbycomparingbridgegrowthrateforsystemshavingdifferentnumbersofparticlesinachain.Althoughincreasingthenumberofparticlesledtoadecreaseinthelocalbridgegrowthrateandtoslowerequilibration,therewerenomarkeddifferences,whentheoverallvolumeofthesystemwasconsidered.Theeffectofcoordinationnumberonthedensificationratewasdirectlystudiedbychangingthenumberofparticlesincontactwithacentralparticle.Increasingthecoordinationnurnbeccausedtheoverallrateofdensificationtoincrease,butdelayedequilibration,analogoustostericeffects.Thesefindingsdescribetheconfigurationalstateofagglomerates,typicalofmesoscalecaking.Inamulti-scalestudy,theycanbeusedtocharacterizecakingatabulkscaletopartlyaddressthelackofexperimentaldatainthisfield.