In the present paper, tablets simulating the adhering layer of granules of four single ore blends were made

with the proportions of materials in each particle size chosen based on the population balance granulation
model. The uniaxial compression method and direct shear method were applied to measure the tensile
strength and shear strength of the adhering layer tablets. Then the loss of bed voidage due to the adhering
layer deformation was evaluated quantitatively.

EXPERIMENTAL

Raw materials
To get representative raw materials to simulate the adhering layer of granules for a typical sinter blend, four
iron ores were blended with flux, coke and return fines to achieve the target blend chemistry. Table 1 gives
the target chemistry of the blend and the related composition of all components of each blend is reported in
Table 2. A total of approximately 13 kg of each blend was dried in an oven at 105 °C overnight and then
screened into 13 size fractions using a standard ro-tap sieve shaker.
In Litster’s granulation model, a parameter called the partition coefficient for each size fraction, ∂ i , is defined
according to Equation 1 below (Waters et al. 1989). The partition coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, representing
the mass fraction of particles in the ith size fraction that act as nuclei during granulation. Figure 1 shows the
measured partition curves for ore blend Y under different granulation moisture conditions. It can be seen that
more intermediate particles would embed in the adhering layer with increasing granulation moisture.

m +m
∂ i = ii n ii +1
∑ mij
（1）

j =1

where mij is the mass of particles of ith size fraction found in granules of jth size fraction.
In the present study, 7 size intervals were chosen to simulate the adhering layer of granules in a sinter bed,
i.e., -0.25 mm, 0.25-0.355 mm, 0.355-0.5 mm, 0.5-0.71 mm, 0.71-1 mm, 1-1.4 mm and 1.4-2 mm particle
size. For a typical blend and moisture condition, the mass percent of each size interval used in making
tablets was calculated from the measured dry size distribution and the measured partition coefficient values.
100 g of particles in the 7 size intervals were weighed and mixed manually, then further wetted with the
target amount of water to get the experimental moisture content. Then these particles were charged into the
specially designed cylinder or shear cell to measure their strength by the following uniaxial compression
method and direct shear test method.

Uniaxial compression test

Figure 2 shows the setup for the uniaxial compression test. The cylinder containing the tablet of fine particles
was compressed by a plunger at a constant speed of 4 mm/min. The compression was stopped when the
force reached 400 N, corresponding to a pressure of 564 kPa. The cylinder has an internal diameter of 30
mm and a height of 100 mm. The tablet height after compression was recorded to calculate the bed strain as
a percentage of the plunger’s penetration into the cylindrical tablet. Each test was repeated once and the
mean value was reported in the results.

Direct shear test

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the direct shear test. The shear cell consists of two separate rings
kept together during sample preparation. The bottom ring is fixed while the upper ring can move horizontally.
Both rings have an internal diameter of 60 mm and a height of 10 mm. In the tests, the mass load was
controlled at three levels of 2 kg, 4 kg and 6 kg, corresponding to 6.9 kPa, 13.9 kPa and 20.8 kPa vertical
stress respectively. The velocity of the upper ring was set to 3.0 mm/min. The shear force was monitored
when it exceeded 3 N and the test was stopped when the displacement reached 6 mm. Both the horizontal
shear force and displacement were recorded continuously during the shearing process and each test was
repeated once.