PREDICTION OF NANOPARTICLE SIZE AND THE ONSET OF DENDRITE FORMATION USING THE METHOD OF CHARACTERISTIC TIMES

The behaviour of an aerosol, in which particles are simultaneously gro wing by collisions and coalescing, is determined by the difference bet ween the local collision and coalescence times. An equation is written for the dimensionless excess surface area of the agglomerates which s hows the sharp change in the behaviour of the system when the characte ristic times become equal. This sharp change and the growth of primary particles are illustrated by example calculations. The resulting prim ary particle size depends on the time-temperature history, volume load ing and material properties of the system. Increasing initial temperat ure or volume loading increases primary particle size. (C) Copyright ( C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd