Experimental Investigation on Shape Segregation of 3d Printed Particles Using a Ft4 Freeman Rheometer

Abstract

This study examines how granular mixtures of differently shaped particles segregate in a Freeman (FT4) rheometer. The mixtures contained two sets of particles with varying shapes and relative sizes. While our main focus was on the effect of particle shape on segregation, we recognized that even slight differences in size could lead to segregation. We specifically investigated when particles of different shapes have the same effective size, exploring three cases: 1) the largest sphere within a cubic particle (inscribed sphere), 2) the smallest sphere enclosing a cubic particle (circumscribed sphere), and 3) a sphere and cube with equal volume. Our findings reveal that binary mixtures of cubical and spherical particles can significantly segregate radially in the bed. We propose that the primary mechanism for this radial segregation is percolation caused by radial centrifugal forces pushing the particles outward.