An agglomeration model: Influence of proximity of particles on agglomeration

Aluminum is added to solid propellant to increase specific impulse of solid propellant, but tends to stick together and so agglomerate into large particle. Such an agglomeration has a detrimental effect on the propellant performance due to incomplete combustion. There are so many factors that cause agglomeration. In this study, we assume the distance between aluminum particles as one of the most important factors affecting agglomeration. Microstructure was reflected through 3D random packing and X-ray micro-CT scanning. And agglomeration model was developed to predict the sizes of agglomerates. As a result of applying the model to the random packing and Xray micro-CT data, the volume distributions of agglomerates was similar in most of the ranges.