Online Purdue course delves into characterizing, handling and processing particles, powders and compacts
Handling and processing particles, powders and compacts are a challenge that spans fields ranging from agriculture including grain, feed and food to pharmaceutical manufacturing, and many other industries. In the chemical industry alone, approximately one-half of the products and at least three-quarters of the materials used are in a granular form. The issue even comes into play in manufacturing the lithium-ion batteries that power mobile devices and electric vehicles and in emerging 3-D printing applications.
But despite their near ubiquity, characterizing particles, powders and compacts is sparsely covered by undergraduate education in engineering and other technical disciplines, especially in the U.S. Nor is it routinely covered in great depth in graduate school.
“Characterization of Particles, Powders and Compacts,” an online course from Purdue University, aims to help fill that gap. The course covers the physical and mechanical characteristics of particulates and the methods used to measure those properties. The goal is to provide learners with knowledge of properties needed to improve the design, handling and processing of the materials, an area where substantial room for improvement exists. One recent study found that 80% of processing facilities had materials handling issues and could reach just 40% to 50% of their design capacity.
Purdue’s course teaches students how to characterize powders, particles and compacts to get meaningful information that can be used to improve downstream processes. The course covers the fundamentals of characterizing the materials, the methods employed and the principles behind those methods, along with different characterization approaches.
“To define a process, design a process and design appropriate machinery to handle and process these products, you should know what properties are important and what properties influence the design and also the handling of these materials,” said Kingsly Ambrose, the Purdue agricultural and biological engineering professor who teaches the online course. “The important thing is knowing the material before we start processing. To know the material, we should know how to characterize the material. This class encompasses how we can characterize different materials that we see and handle and process in every walk of life.”
Ambrose said the self-paced asynchronous course is excellent for agricultural, chemical and mechanical engineers, as well as scientists, who do work in any industry or in academia that involves particles, powders and compacts and who are looking to gain advanced knowledge to enhance their careers. The anytime, anywhere online format makes the course readily available for working professionals in the U.S. and internationally.
The course content includes four modules covering such topics as sampling; particle size and distribution; particle and granule shape, texture, surface area, porosity and density; powder compressibility and powder flow; compact mechanical properties; and friction.
Students successfully completing the course will be able to:
- Define and describe the significant properties of particles, granules, powders and compacts.
- Explain how these properties are measured.
- Illustrate how the properties influence the performance of particle-based products and manufacturing processes.
- Create a computational or a web-based tool that demonstrates or implements concepts from the course — such as calculating a flowability index or calculating particle size, shape, volume and surface area — which students will do as part of a team project.
Ambrose leads the Agricultural Particulates Research Group at Purdue. He also is a faculty researcher with the Purdue College of Engineering’s preeminent Center for Particulate Products and Processes (CP3) and serves as the director of CP3’s characterization lab.
For more information about Purdue’s 100% online “Characterization of Particles, Powders and Compacts” course, visit the course website.