Packing properties of binary mixtures in disordered sphere systems

Mixtures of binary spheres are numerically simulated using a relaxation algorithm to investigate the effects of volume fraction and size ratio. A complete profile of the packing properties of binary spheres is given. The density curve with respect to the volume fraction has a triangular shape with a peak at 70% large spheres. The density of the mixture increases with the size ratio, but the growth becomes slow in the case of a large size disparity. The volume fraction and size ratio effects are reflected in the height and movement, respectively, of specific peaks in the radial distribution functions. The structure of the mixture is further analyzed in terms of contact types, and the mean coordination number is demonstrated to be primarily affected by large-small contacts. A novel method for estimating the average relative excluded volume for binary spheres by weighting the percentages of contact types is proposed and extended to polydisperse packings of certain size distributions. The method can be applied to explain the density trends of polydisperse mixtures in disordered sphere systems. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences.