Formation and fragmentation of nylon fibre aggregates

The aggregation process of fibers suspended in a fluid remains an open question, despite its critical role in numerous natural and industrial processes. This paper presents an experimental setup designed to create fiber aggregates in a turbulent flow. The phase diagram for the aggregation states is established as a function of the experimental parameters, and the statistical properties of the resulting aggregates are characterized. Additionally, the fragmentation process is investigated, and a model is proposed to describe the fragmentation time of the aggregates, which is subsequently validated through comparison with experimental results.