Investigation of flow properties of metal powders from narrow particle size distribution to polydisperse mixtures through an improved Hall-flowmeter

Initially, we critically examined the results provided by the improved Hall-flowmeter, based on bulk volume flow rate, with narrow particle size distribution metal powders (iron, aluminium and copper) of different sizes (fine to coarse) and shapes (nearly spherical to non-spherical). Binary and ternary mixtures of various combinations of fine (< 100 μm) and coarse (> 100 μm) metal powders at different size ratios and weight fractions were allowed to discharge from a mass flow hopper. The results show that the mass flow rate of polydisperse mixtures of metal powders is affected by four factors: the size ratio, the volume fraction of the smallest sieved fraction, the initial mass flow rate and the shape of metal powders.