Apparatus for the triaxial compression of particulate material

Claim 1

A triaxial compression apparatus for the compaction of particulate material feed, said apparatus comprising, a non-deformable enclosure, the inner portion of which defines a substantially right circular cylindrical bore, a non-deformable floating plunger axially disposed and supported within said bore approximal the upper end thereof, said plunger (i) being comprised of an upper section and a right circular cylindrical lower section, and (ii) having top and bottom planar surfaces perpendicular to the axis of said bore, the ratio of the area of the top planar surface of said upper section to the area of the bottom base surface of said cylindrical lower section being other than 1, said plunger lower section fitting slidably within a deformable tube supported within said bore, whereby said plunger bottom base surface forms the top surface of a confine for containing said feed, the outer diameter of said tube being smaller than the diameter of said bore, so that the annular region between the outer surface of said tube and the surface of said bore forms a chamber for containing media under pressure, said plunger being supported within a member having upper and lower sleeve portions, in which (i) the perimetric surface of the plunger upper section and the inner surface of the upper sleeve portion mate, and (ii) the perimetric surface of the plunger lower section and the inner surface of the lower sleeve portion, mate in fluid tight engagement to provide a cavity bound by said perimetric surfaces and sleeve portions, which cavity is isolated from said chamber, a non-deformable means sealing the lower end of said bore, said lower end seal means including a substantially right circular cylindrical element, the top base diameter of which is approximately equal to the inner diameter of said tube, said cylindrical element being fitted within said tube so that the top base surface of said element forms the bottom enclosure of said feed confine, a non-deformable capping means sealing the upper end of said bore, said capping means having a substantially planar surface oppositely facing said plunger top planar surface and being spaced therefrom a distance sufficient to permit ready ingress of said media in the region therebetween, means for the admission of media to said chamber, and means for the admission of media to said therebetween region, whereby upon pressurization, an isostatic pressure will be exerted on the circumferential surface of said tube while the pressurization of said therebetween region will exert a pressure on the top surface of said