(322f) Mixing and Packing of Binary Particles

Three different approaches for mixing binary particles are presented. The first requires mixing coarse and fine silica aerogel particles so that the bulk (or packing) density of the mixture is increased, thereby increasing the insulating properties of the aerogels. This was done by combining a negative pressure (vacuum) with an external force field, such as sound waves. The second application requires uniform mixing and a high packing density of 300 and 30 μm aluminum oxide particles acting as surrogates for explosive RDX particles. This was accomplished by adding moisture to uniformly mix the particles and then removing the moisture to increase the packing density. The third application was to mix 2 different nanoparticles on the nanoscale using a micro-jet assisted nano-fluidized bed.