SIMULATION OF POWDER RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE CERAMIC TILE PRESSING PROCESS

Although the discrete element method (DEM) has been successfully used to simulate the flow of particulate materials in different industrial processes, the die filling procedures used in numerous compaction processes have drawn little attention. The die filling step before compaction by pressing of ceramic tile bodies needs to be appropriately performed to assure the end product’s targeted physico-chemical properties. This study fine-tunes a constitutive model, based on the DEM, which allows the spray-dried powder feed procedure into the press die to be studied.