Achieve complete control over your powder behavior with Morphologi 4 and FT4 Powder Rheometer

The size, shape, and flow of the particles within a powder are important factors in determining their behavior, and can influence a final product’s storage, flow, and packing. From pharmaceutical or food products to batteries, cement, and other industrial materials, powder material characterization is crucial for product quality and safety.

Automated particle size and shape data with Morphologi 4

Morphologi 4 is an automated, high resolution, static image analysis system that combines over 20 morphological parameters including particle size and shape data for complete materials understanding. Its integrated dry powder dispersion unit enables simple, reproducible preparation of dry powder samples: a precise amount of sample is dispersed automatically using a unique compressed air dispersion mechanism. This process is controlled from within the software, for objective, reproducible dispersions every time.

The combination of size and shape analysis can help to identify differences between raw materials that may have the same size but behave differently. For instance, particles with irregular or elongated shapes may increase the risk of blockages.

Powder flow bulk analysis with the FT4 Powder Rheometer

The FT4 Powder Rheometer® is designed to characterize powder flow properties by simulating powder processing conditions and testing samples in a consolidated, moderately stressed, aerated, or fluidized state. By applying multi-faceted powder characterization to assess dynamic powder flow, bulk, and shear properties, it delivers a comprehensive understanding of how a powder behaves.

Deploying seven standard tests in a single platform, the unparalleled sensitivity of the FT4 enables the differentiation of powders that other testers classify as identical. Crucially, FT4 data provides directly actionable insight into in-process powder performance, enabling optimisation of formulations and processes, as well as early detection of potential issues before they impact production. 

A powerful combination for your powders

Whether troubleshooting in a QC environment or conducting predictive analysis in R&D, data on particle size and shape distribution provides the fundamental, microscale understanding needed to interpret macroscale powder flow behaviour. Particle characteristics such as size, surface area, and morphology influence interparticle forces, packing efficiency, and friction, which in turn govern how a powder flows, compresses, or segregates. While bulk flow testing reveals how a material actually behaves under process-relevant conditions, particle size and shape data explain the underlying causes of that behaviour, helping to rationalise differences between seemingly similar powders.  

While particle size has a definite effect on powder behaviour, it is one of many factors. A single sample may process perfectly one day, but show blockages on another where the ambient temperature is lower or the relative humidity is higher. Understanding the effect of particle size and shape on the processing performance of powdered materials can inform and importantly quantify how much processes can be optimised by improving particle characteristics, and how much it is worth taking other courses of action. The combination unlocks full understanding for confident and informed decision-making. 

Together, these datasets enable more accurate prediction of performance, support targeted formulation and process optimisation, and facilitate effective diagnosis of issues such as attrition, agglomeration, or variability during handling and manufacture.

Application study: The influence of particle size and shape on flow properties

Using three carefully selected lactose samples with deliberately varied size and shape characteristics, this study investigates how these physical properties influence powder flowability across a range of processing conditions.

Testing with the FT4 on these samples reveals that the relative importance of particle size versus shape, characterised quantitatively by the Morphologi 4, is not fixed. Rather, the effect that particle shape has on powder performance depending on the type of stress involved in the process a powder experiences.

If reliable powder flow is critical to manufacturing success in your industry, read the full application note to find out more: https://micromeritics.com/resources/the-influence-of-particle-size-and-shape-on-flow-properties/

Choose Morphologi 4 and FT4 Powder Rheometer for your lab to understand your particles completely, make faster, more confident decisions, and reduce time and cost across development and manufacturing. 

Authors

This article was jointly prepared by Amalia Thomas, PhD, Product Manager, Powder Rheometer Team, and Carolyn O’Grady, MEng, Product Manager, Imaging Product Team, with contributions from both authors across the scientific content and application insights.