We develop a novel coarse-grained contact model for Discrete Element Method simulations of TiO ₂ nanoparticle films subjected to mechanical stress. All model elements and parameters are derived in a self-consistent and physically sound way from all-atom Molecular Dynamics simulations of interacting particles and surfaces. In particular, the nature of atomic-scale friction and dissipation effects is taken into account by explicit modelling of the surface features and water adsorbate layers that strongly mediate the particle-particle interactions. The quantitative accuracy of the coarse-grained model is validated against all-atom simulations of TiO ₂ nanoparticle agglomerates under tensile stress. Moreover, its predictive power is demonstrated with calculations of force-displacement curves of entire nanoparticle films probed with force spectroscopy. The simulation results are compared with Atomic Force Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy experiments.

Efficient nanopowder processing requires knowledge of the powder’s mechanical properties. Due to the large surface area to volume ratio, nanoparticles experience relatively strong attractive interactions, leading to the formation of micron-size porous structures called agglomerates. Significant effort has been directed towards the development of models and experimental procedures to estimate the elasticity of porous objects such as nanoparticle agglomerates; however, none of the existing models has been validated for solid fractions below 0.1. Here, we measure the elasticity of titania (TiO2, 22 nm), alumina (Al2O3, 8 nm), and silica (SiO2, 16 nm) nanopowder agglomerates by Atomic Force Microscopy, using a 3.75 μm glass colloid for the stress–strain experiments. Three sample preparations with varying degree of powder manipulation are assessed. The measured Young’s moduli are in the same order of magnitude as those predicted by the model of Kendall et al., thus validating it for the estimation of the Young’s modulus of structures with porosity above 90 %.