Methods of making and using bulk products including fiber-containing particles with dual-tapered shape

A method of making a bulk product comprising a plurality of fiber-containing particles, the method comprising:

• processing a fiber feed and a binder material to prepare fiber-containing particles including fibers from the fiber feed, wherein the fiber feed comprises reinforcing fibers in a non-continuous form having a weight average fiber length of the reinforcing fibers in the fiber feed in a range of from 1 millimeter to 18 millimeters;
• the processing comprising rotational tumbling of a mixture of the reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed and the binder material to form agglomerates each comprising a portion of the reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed and a portion of the binder material;
• during the rotational tumbling, forming the agglomerates with at least 25 weight percent of the agglomerates being dual-tapered agglomerates having a dual-tapered particle structure, wherein the dual-tapered particle structure comprises;
• a particle length dimension, being a maximum separation distance in a longitudinal direction between first and second longitudinal ends of the agglomerate;
• a maximum particle width dimension transverse to the longitudinal direction at a longitudinal location between the first and second longitudinal ends;
• an aspect ratio equal to the particle length dimension divided by the maximum particle width dimension;
• and
• a dual-tapered shape comprising a first tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the first longitudinal end and a second tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the second longitudinal end;
• and
• recovering the agglomerates including the dual-tapered agglomerates prepared during the rotational tumbling;
• wherein the dual-tapered agglomerates comprise:
• from 90 weight percent to 99.5 weight percent reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed;
• and
• from 0.5 weight percent to 10 weight percent of the binder material;
• a weight average particle length dimension in a range of from 3 millimeters to 40 millimeters, wherein the weight average particle length dimension is an average on a weight basis of the particle length dimensions of the dual-tapered agglomerates;
• and
• a weight average aspect ratio of at least 1.5, wherein the weight average aspect ratio is an average on a weight basis of the aspect ratios of the dual-tapered agglomerates.

A method of making a bulk product comprising a plurality of fiber-containing particles, the method comprising:

• processing a fiber feed and a binder material to prepare fiber-containing particles including fibers from the fiber feed, wherein the fiber feed comprises reinforcing fibers in a non-continuous form;
• the processing comprising rotational tumbling of a mixture of the reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed and the binder material to form agglomerates each comprising a portion of the reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed and a portion of the binder material;
• during the rotational tumbling, forming the agglomerates with at least 25 weight percent of the agglomerates being dual-tapered agglomerates having a dual-tapered particle structure;
• wherein the dual-tapered particle structure comprises:
• a particle length dimension, being a maximum separation distance in a longitudinal direction between first and second longitudinal ends of the agglomerate;
• a maximum particle width dimension transverse to the longitudinal direction at a longitudinal location between the first and second longitudinal ends;
• an aspect ratio equal to the particle length dimension divided by the maximum particle width dimension;
• and
• a dual-tapered shape comprising a first tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the first longitudinal end and a second tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the second longitudinal end;
• recovering the agglomerates including the dual-tapered agglomerates prepared during the rotational tumbling;
• preparing a fiber-containing bulk product comprising a plurality of the fiber-containing particles, the plurality of the fiber-containing particles comprising:
• from 90 weight percent to 99.5 weight percent of the reinforcing fibers from the fiber feed;
• from 0.5 weight percent to 10 weight percent binder, holding the reinforcing fibers in a particle structure;
• each said fiber-containing particle of the plurality of the fiber-containing particles comprising:
• a particle length dimension, being a maximum separation distance in a longitudinal direction between first and second longitudinal ends of the particle;
• a maximum particle width dimension transverse to the longitudinal direction at a longitudinal location between the first and second longitudinal ends;
• an aspect ratio equal to the particle length dimension divided by the maximum particle width dimension;
• and
• a dual-tapered shape comprising a first tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the first longitudinal end and a second tapered portion tapering in the longitudinal direction away from the longitudinal location toward the second longitudinal end;
• and
• the plurality of the fiber-containing particles further comprising:
• a weight average particle length dimension of the fiber-containing particles is in a range of from 3 millimeters to 40 millimeters, wherein the weight average particle length dimension is an average on a weight basis of the particle length dimensions of the fiber-containing particles;
• and
• a weight average aspect ratio of the fiber-containing particles of at least 1.5, wherein the weight average aspect ratio is an average on a weight basis of the aspect ratios of the fiber-containing particles;
• wherein the plurality of the fiber-containing particles comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of the dual-tapered agglomerates and modified dual-tapered particles resulting from subsequent processing of the dual-tapered agglomerates after the rotational tumbling.