Fatigue characteristics of granular materials

Comminution and attrition are processes in which particles become broken or damaged. It occurs when a load higher than the particle strength is statically or dynamically applied. Breakage could also occur with lower loads that are applied repeatedly, a phenomenon that is known as fatigue. Fatigue is the real cause for the breakage of particles in many industrial systems such as grinding or transporting in pneumatic conveying pipelines. In this paper, experimental results of the fatigue behavior of an assembly of particles of several materials are analyzed. Fatigue curves of constant damage are presented for compression stress with the number of cycles. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.