Synthesis of spherical particles with a targeted size distribution

Sessions : Segregation and Mixing - Modeling, Simulations and Applications I; International audience; It is often desirable to produce spherical particles with a targeted size distribution. In this paper, we present an experimental setup able to generate droplets of a liquid that will further solidify into solid particles upon cooling. We show that a controlled mechanical vibration applied to a jet emanating from a circular orifice can lead to a monodisperse distribution with a mean size of the order of the orifice diameter (ranging between 50 and 250 µm in our experiments). By appropriately tuning the piezo-ceramic electrical stimulation, we show how to generate a controlled particle size distribution, with dmax/dmin of the order of 1.3. This size ratio is favorable to elaborate dense granular beds. The experiments are conducted with different materials.