Interpretation of Mechanical Testing Measurements for Pastes
Pastes occur as intermediates or final product forms in many industrially important manufacturing sectors. The use of computer simulation techniques, such as the finite element method, is becoming more common in the design of paste processing operations. A major problem in the application of this approach is the development of sufficiently representative materials models. It has been established that pastes may be described as elasto-viscoplastic materials with the plastic flow being governed by the Herschel-Bulkley relationship. This paper describes the development of analytical and numerical models that can be used as a basis for deriving the material parameters from experimental data obtained using extrusion, compression and bending procedures. Measurements have also been carried out on a model paste and the derived material parameters are compared with published data for the same paste. The merits of the three experimental methods are compared on this basis.