Multidimensional Particle Properties: Characterization, Description, Separation

Dear Colleagues,

In 2016 the Senate of the German Science Foundation implemented the priority program 2045 “MehrDimPart - highly specific multidimensional fractionation of fine particles with technical relevance”. The joint research within the priority program aims at the research on and development of technological approaches which allow the separation/fractionation of fine particles below 10 μm. This separation has to meet more than one separation criteria (e.g., size and composition or size and shape), which ultimately allows the production of highly specific particle systems.

Highly specific particle systems form the basis for high-quality industrial products. Intermediate particle systems with defined multi-dimensional specifications are essential and quality-determining for the production of ceramic and powder metallurgical components, coatings, printed products, porous functional structures, particle-reinforced polymers, electrodes in electrochemical energy storage systems or electronic assemblies, for example, in the field of printed electronics.

Downstream of particle production via synthesis or comminution, the particle systems have to undergo further process steps to reach the specified quality (i.e., size distribution and distribution of further properties). These steps include fractionation, that is, the selective separation of the particle system according to particle characteristics. Comparable processes are also used in mineral processing technology to extract particles containing valuable substances from natural or secondary raw materials.

Since the characteristic lengths of both the technical structures and the primary and secondary raw materials are continuously decreasing, fine, highly specific particle systems will have to be processed or produced in the future. The technology required for this is reaching its limits since in this size range the physical separation principles used lose their effectiveness and selectivity.

This Topical Collection addresses the characterization and separation/fractionation of particle systems with multi-dimensional properties. The separation/fractionation is therefore following more than one particle property, and thus is multi-dimensional. Different technological approaches will be presented, as will fundamental methods for process control and multidimensional particle characterization. The processes, technologies, and approaches are grouped into three classes: investigations on fundamental mechanisms for separation, applications of new process concepts and applications of established separation/fractionation concepts adopted to the size scale.

Prof. Dr. Urs Alexander Peuker
Prof. Dr. Alfred P. Weber
Prof. Dr. Einar Kruis
Prof. Dr. Doris Segets
Collection Editors

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As stated above, the central purpose of this Topical Collection is to present research from SPP 2045 “MehrDimPart - highly specific multidimensional fractionation of fine particles with technical relevance”. Given this purpose, the Guest Editors’ contribution to this Topical Collection may be greater than standard Topical Collection published by MDPI. Further details on MDPI's Special Issue guidelines can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/special_issues_guidelines. The Editorial Office and Editor-in-Chief of Powders has approved this and MDPI’s standard manuscript editorial processing procedure (https://www.mdpi.com/editorial_process) will be applied to all submissions. As per our standard procedure, Guest Editors are excluded from participating in the editorial process for their submission and/or for submissions from persons with whom a potential conflict of interest may exist. More details on MDPI’s Conflict of Interest policy for reviewers and editors can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/ethics#_bookmark22.