Fine powder applications

Sampling systems for multiple-stage sample reduc tion incorporating components such as crushing units, interstage feeders, reject handling, and others range up to several hundred thousand dollars in cost. A requirement would be rarely encountered in fine-powder applications. 

Electrical Applications. The largest application of PTFE is for hookup and hookup-type wire used in electronic equipment in the military and aerospace industries. Coaxial cables, the second largest appHcation, use tapes made from fine powder resins and some from granular resin. Interconnecting wire appHcations include airframes. Other electrical appHcations include computer wire, electrical tape, electrical components, and spaghetti tubing. 

Chemical Applications. The chemical processing industry uses large amounts of granular and fine powder PTFE. Soft packing appHcations are manufactured from dispersions, and hard packings are molded or machined from stocks and shapes made from granular resin. 

More advanced insulations are also under development. These insulations, sometimes called superinsulations, have R that exceed 20 fthh-°F/Btu-m. This can be accomplished with encapsulated fine powders in an evacuated space. Superinsulations have been used commercially in the walls of refrigerators and freezers. The encapsulating film, which is usually plastic film, metallized film, or a combination, provides a barrier to the inward diffusion of air and water that would result in loss of the vacuum. The effective life of such insulations depends on the effectiveness of the encapsulating material. A number of powders, including silica, milled perlite, and calcium silicate powder, have been used as filler in evacuated superinsulations. In general, the smaller the particle size, the more effective and durable the insulation packet. Evacuated multilayer reflective insulations have been used in space applications in past years. 

Frit may be milled dry or wet. The long established dry process is used for cast iron baths and for chemical plant. Vitreous enamel application by a dry electrostatic method is being used on an increasing scale. In these cases, the frit is milled alone, or with inorganic colouring or refractory additives. This is achieved in cylinders using balls of porcelain, steatite or more dense alumina, or with pebbles of flint, to produce a fine powder of predetermined size. 

The Karl Fischer procedure was applied to the determination of water present in hydrated salts or adsorbed on the surface of solids. The procedure, where applicable, was more rapid and direct than the commonly used drying process. A sample of the finely powdered solid, containing 5-10 millimoles (90-180 mg) of water, was dissolved or suspended in 25 mL of dry methanol in a 250-mL glass-stoppered graduated flask. The mixture was titrated with standard Karl Fischer reagent to the usual electrometric end point. A blank titration was also carried out on a 25 mL sample of the methanol used to determine what correction (if any) needed to be applied to the titre obtained with the salt. 

The most intensive development of the nanoparticle area concerns the synthesis of metal particles for applications in physics or in micro/nano-electronics generally. Besides the use of physical techniques such as atom evaporation, synthetic techniques based on salt reduction or compound precipitation (oxides, sulfides, selenides, etc.) have been developed, and associated, in general, to a kinetic control of the reaction using high temperatures, slow addition of reactants, or use of micelles as nanoreactors [15-20]. Organometallic compounds have also previously been used as material precursors in high temperature decomposition processes, for example in chemical vapor deposition [21]. Metal carbonyls have been widely used as precursors of metals either in the gas phase (OMCVD for the deposition of films or nanoparticles) or in solution for the synthesis after thermal treatment [22], UV irradiation or sonolysis [23,24] of fine powders or metal nanoparticles. 

Indium also has many of the characteristics that make Al and Ga very useful for such applications. Particularly important is its capacity to dissolve Si, Ge and several lanthanide and transition metals, producing highly reactive forms of the elements. Moreover In does not form binaries with Si and Ge and has a low-melting point. RNiGe2 compounds, for instance, were prepared from stoichiometric quantities of the components in fine powder mixed with a 10 fold quantity of In in alumina tubes. These, flame sealed in fused silica tubes, were slowly heated to 1000°C, held at this temperature for a few hours, ramped down to 850°C, held for an additional 4 days and finally cooled down to room temperature over the course of another 4 days. Compound isolation from the In excess was performed by centrifugation at 300°C through a coarse frit. Further purification was carried out by a 15-minute submersion and sonication in 6 M aqueous HC1 (Salvador et al. 2004). 

The solid material when transformed into fine powder creates a new material (regarding its surface properties and applications). The technology related to this subject is very expansive (found in talcum powder, cement, the clay industry, etc.). The Following areas of powder science are currently being investigated ... 

The conventional techniques for the purification of low-molecular-weight compounds, such as distillation, sublimation, and crystallization, are not applicable to polymers. In some cases, it is possible to remove the impurities by cold or hot extraction of the finely powdered polymer with suitable solvents or by steam distillation. Separation of low-molecular-weight components from water-soluble polymers [e.g., poly(acrylic acid),poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(acryl amide)]... 

Pastes are semi-solid preparation for external application that differ from similar products (i.e. ointment) in containing a high proportion of finely powdered medicaments. 

Pyrotechnics are invariably intimate mixtures of finely powdered fuels and oxidizers together with other additives in order to impart special effects depending on the requirement. Pyrotechnic formulations burn very rapidly when ignited as a loose powder. However, there are some applications where controlled steady burning is required for a definite time and this is achieved by compressing the mixture into columns surrounded by a relatively non-combustible material so that combustion proceeds from one end to other, layer by layer for a long duration. 

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