Experimental and computational design tools for industrial drying processes: Challenges in process-limit prediction

The coating and drying of inks and slurries are important steps to manufacture a plethora of products. Drying processes, particularly, comprise energy-intensive steps that affect product cost and quality. Prior work has highlighted failures of various multicomponent diffusivity models to conserve mass in dryer modeling and challenges in predicting process limits given variability in published values of key thermodynamic parameters. Herein, we develop a computational model and benchtop drying experiments to investigate these concerns for drying polymer-laden coatings. Model predictions of process limits in a single-zone drying oven demonstrate that published variability in Flory-Huggins parameter yields large variations in predicted operating temperatures above which blistering occurs. This indicates that caution should be exercised when choosing approaches to obtain or predict the Flory-Huggins parameter, and that both benchtop drying experiments and a set of additional experiments, such as sorption experiments, are needed to fully characterize and optimize a given drying process.

Automated summary

The coating and drying of inks and slurries are crucial steps in manufacturing various products. Drying processes, in particular, have significant impacts on product cost and quality due to their energy-intensive nature. This study develops a computational model and conducts benchtop drying experiments to address challenges in dryer modeling and predict process limits for drying polymer-laden coatings. The findings highlight the variability in Flory-Huggins parameter and the need for caution in choosing predictive approaches, as well as the importance of additional experiments to fully characterize and optimize drying processes.