Cohesion-controlled granular material.

We present a simple method to prepare a granular material with a controlled cohesion between particles. The granular material is made of spherical glass beads coated with a polyborosiloxane polymer. This material is proved to be stable in time and nonsensitive to temperature and humidity. The interparticle force is measured and related to the size of the grain and the polymer coating thickness. Classical measurements (packing fraction, repose angle, macroscopic cohesion) are performed with this cohesion-controlled granular material. This model material opens many perspectives to study in a controlled manner the flow of cohesive grains.