(577a) Exploiting a Framework for the Development of Segregation Rate Models

Segregation, or un-mixing, of particles can be a costly problem and a source of frustration for industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to ceramics to agriculture. When particles differ in almost any mechanical property—size, density, shape, etc.—they become very difficult to keep homogeneous and this problem can even plague "uniform" materials if their is a size or shape distribution within the sample. In this talk, we first review recent advances in controlling segregation, then show how a flow-perturbation-based technique can be used as a predictive test-bed for past and future models of segregation kinetics. As an example of the efficacy of this model-testing framework we critically examine several models for segregation rate, including a first-of-its-kind model of the impact of wet cohesion on segregation kinetics.