American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers



Click on the underlined title to access the document or go back to the Search Results screen to download the PDF version.


If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Dielectric Properties and Density Relationships for Granular Materials

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  046088,  2004 ASAE Annual Meeting . @2004
Authors:   Stuart O. Nelson
Keywords:   Dielectric properties, permittivity, dielectric constant, loss factor, bulk density, granular materials, powdered materials, wheat, coal

When knowledge of the dielectric properties, or permittivity, of granular or powdered materials is important, as in dielectric heating applications or in the sensing of moisture content by radio-frequency or microwave instruments, some reliable relationship between the dielectric properties and the bulk density of the material is required. Linear relationships between functions of the permittivity and bulk density have been observed, and dielectric mixture equations have been explored to obtain useful relationships for determining the dielectric properties of granular and powdered materials. These findings are reviewed, useful permittivity-density relationships are identified, and an equation is provided that permits reliable calculation of the permittivity of a particulate material at any given bulk density, if the permittivity is known or measured at another known bulk density. The relationships are illustrated for pulverized coal, wheat, and ground wheat. The useful mixture equation is valid for granular and powdered materials with permittivities in the same range as those for grain and coal.