Current Trends in Air Classification of Powder Raw Materials for Advanced Materials

Abstract

For many applications, the fineness and the shape of the particle size distribution of the powders used as raw materials have an important influence on the properties of the final products. Therefore, air classification utilising deflector wheel classifiers has been state of the art in powder processing for many decades. However, the micro processes taking place inside these machines are still not fully revealed and remain subject to further investigations. In practice, three main trends can be observed today: tendency to finer powders, the need for tailored particle size distributions in order to ensure quality requirements, and the focus on the reduction of the specific energy consumption of air classification processes, which is especially important in the production of commodities.

Graphical Abstract