Detail profiling and understanding physico-chemical characteristics of powders is the key to develop a physics-based prediction model. Significant increase in the production rate during the scale up process also leads to several challenges such as insufficient powder supply, inhomogeneity of composition, etc, which lead to increased production time, higher wastage, more number of sample analysis to ensure that specified quality parameters are met. Thus, it is necessary to characterize the properties beforehand so that flow behavior can be predicted accurately

Powder yield strength is one of the key characteristics that determines powder discharge behavior in bins and hoppers.

Measuring the powder yield strength e.g. using shear testers, is a necessary step to find the flow behavior in large scale hoppers/bins. Especially, yield strength under lower normal loads determines its ability to form bridging/arching and also whether the powder would yield funnel flow or mass flow. Other characteristics such as bulk density, tapped density, angle of repose (dynamic and static), resting angle specific surface area, friction coefficients, etc. form an important set of powder properties that need to be assessed with appropriate methodology.