PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS

-Particle shape -Particle size distribution -Particle size measurements

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle size Analysis

Primary characteristics, relating to basic material properties, particulate size, shape and surface area

Secondary characteristics, behavioural properties such as flow, bulk and tapped density, compactibility, lubricity

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

The ideal particle and reality

r r h
w

h l r

Solid Sphere
One dimension (radius) describes size, shape, surface area, volume

Solid Geometrical Particles

Two-three dimensions required to describe size, shape, surface area, volume

Solid Irregular Particles

Porous Irregular Particles

Size and shape can only be Size, shape, surface area and approximated, surface area and volume can only be approximated 3 volume can be measured Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle Shape Terminology

Acicular: needle-shaped

Angular : sharp edged; having a roughly polyhedral shape

Dendritic: having a branched crystalline shape Fibrous: thread-like

Flaky : plate-like
Granular : irregular but of approximately spherical overall form Irregular : lacking any symmetry

Modular : having a rounded, irregular shape

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle shape
y

The thickness is the height of the particle when it is resting in its position of maximum stability. The breadth is the minimum distance between two tangential planes which are perpendicular to those defining the thickness and breadth. The length is the distance between two planes which are perpendicular to those defining the thickness and breadth.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 5

Shape factors
The ratio of two equivalent diameters obtained by different methods is termed a shape factor.

Elongation ratio = length/breadth Flakiness ratio = breadth/thickness Bulkiness factor = projected area/(length x breadth)

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Circularity
Circumscribed circle (dc) Inscribed circle (di)

dc=10 mm di= 1 mm Circularity=0.1

dc=10 mm di= 5 mm Circularity=0.5

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle size influences dissolution

Dissolution
Small particles dissolves more rapidly than larger ones.

Drug in Solid Dosage Form Release from Dosage Form Drug Crystals Exposed to GI Fluids Dissolution Absorption

Drug Dissolved Dr Ali Nokhodchi In GI Fluids

Drug in Blood

Particle size effect on bioavailability of a poorly soluble drug

Particle size dissolution rate ? Bioavailability ?

Other examples: Tetracycline Aspirin Sulphonamides Digoxin Dicoumarol

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

1 cm

1g

Surface area = area/face 6 faces = 6 cm2

1 cm

1 cm

Weight-specific surface area = Sw = [surface area/weight]

Therefore , Sw = 6 cm2 /g
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 10

The total surface area in 1 g is now: [1012 cubes][6 x 10-8 cm2/cube]

Sw = 6 104 cm2 = 60000 cm2
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 11

Range of particle size and units

Pharmaceutical system usually are confined to a narrower size range Most pharmaceutical systems lie in the range 1 mm to 10 mm Colloidal range is considered less than 1 mm 1 mm forms useful boundary since the properties of colloidal materials are often very different to those of coarser systems, and the techniques used to study them are quite distinct from those used for larger particulates

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Individual particle characteristics

The way that we characterise the particles largely

depends on the technique used to measure them. The way that we measure a particle size is as important as the value of the measured size. For example, how would you quantify yourself if measured by 1) Circumference around your waist? 2) Diameter of a sphere of the same displacement volume as your body? 3) Length of your longest chord (height)?

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Measures of Particle size

As you can deduce, the measured values have different meanings and will be important relative to those meanings. If you are sizing a life jacket belt you would be interested in the first size (circumference around your waist). If you are buying a sleeping bag I suggest the last one (length of your longest chord) . We have already been using a length to describe particle size, with the intention that it indicates the distance from one side of the particle to its opposite side. The description is unambiguous in the case of a spherical particle, example: emulsion droplet or Dr Ali Nokhodchi 14 microsphere.

The ideal particle and reality

r r h
w

h l r

Solid Sphere
One dimension (radius) describes size, shape, surface area, volume

Solid Geometrical Particles

Two-three dimensions required to describe size, shape, surface area, volume

Solid Irregular Particles

Porous Irregular Particles

Size and shape can only be Size, shape, surface area and approximated, surface area and volume can only be approximated 15 volume can be measured Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle sizing of powders

Large, geometric objects: Size is described in three dimensions (minimum)

Small, irregular particles: Three dimensional size description is impractical, only one dimension (average diameter) is used.

1 cm

1 cm

1 cm

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

1 m

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What should we do if the particle is irregular?

What is the diameter of this particle?

4
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 17

Measures of Particle size

The problem can be solved by quoting the particle size of a non-spherical particle as the diameter of a sphere which is in some way equivalent to the particle; such a sphere is termed an equivalent sphere and the diameter is an equivalent diameter.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Measures of Particle size

Example:

Weigh a particle measure its density Find the particle volume The volume equivalent sphere is the sphere which has the same volume as the irregular particle, and is characterised by the volume equivalent diameter.
Mass= 1g Density=2 g/cm3 Volume= 0.5 cm3 V=(4/3)r3 0.5= (4/3) 3.14r3 R3= (0.5/4.19)=0.119 r=0.49 cm Diameter = 0.98 cm

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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r h

Size of cylinder Height Diameter (m) (m) 20 40 100 20 20 20

Aspect ratio

r h

1:1 2:1 5:1

Equivalent spherical diameter (m) 22.9 28.8 39.1

For cylinder: Radius= 10 m, h= 100 m Volume of cylinder Volume of cylinder = 3.14 (10)2x100 Volume of cylinder = 3.14 x 10000 Volume of sphere =
h

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Volume of sphere =(4/3) 3.14 x r3 In equivalent assumption both volume should be the same (4/3) x 3.14 x r3 =3.14 x 10000 4r3 = 3x10000 r3= 30000/4 r3= 7500 r=19.5 diameter= 2 x r diameter = 39.1 m

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Selected ESDs

da (the projected area diameter): the diameter of a sphere having the same projected area as the particle in question dv (the volume diameter) the diameter of a sphere having the same volume as the particle ds (the surface diameter) the diameter of a sphere having the same surface area as the particle dst (the stokes diameter) the diameter of a sphere having the same density and free-fall velocity in given fluid as the particle dsieve (the sieve diameter) the diameter of a sphere that is just able to pass through the same square aperture as the particle Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Illustrations of equivalent diameters

dp

da

dv

dsa

dmass

ds

x
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

m/s2

dst

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Selected EDSs (continued)

dF (Ferets diameter) the (mean) value between pairs of parallel tangents to the projected outline of the particle dM (Martins diameter) the (mean) chord length of the projected outline of the particle dd (aerodynamic diameter) the diameter of a sphere with the same viscous drag as a particle in a fluid at the same viscosity dM1 dF1 dM2 dF2 dM3 dF3
* Ferets and Martins diameters are taken from a statistical mean of diameters measured from different particle orientations.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 23

There are many different ways of defining equivalent diameters. All of these diameters will generally be different-unless the particle really is a sphere:

Projected area diameter da

Projected perimeter diameter dp

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Dr Ali Nokhodchi

The volume equivalent sphere is the sphere which has the same volume as the irregular particle, and is Characterised by the volume equivalent diameter.

Example: What is the volume equivalent spherical diameter in m of a rectangular prism (length = 3 m , Width = 2 m, thickness = 1 m)?

V = 3 2 1 = 6 m3 Vsphere = d3/6 d = dv = 2.25 m

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

V=(4/3)r3

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ESDs for a simple shape

Bear in mind that all equivalent diameters available to us will be different for a given irregular particle. Dr Ali Nokhodchi 26 Select an equivalent diameter (and associated measurement technique) which is relevant to the property of the particle that we are interested in.

Which equivalent diameter do you use?

To obtain a good description of the particle system, we must select an equivalent diameter (and associated measurement technique) which is relevant to the property of the particle in which we are interested. e.g. Paint pigment particles: Projected area diameter measured by microscopy. Aerosol deposition in the lungs: Aerodynamic diameter measured by inertial impaction methods.

Sedimentation properties of the material: Stokesdiameter

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 27

The mean value is the center of gravity of the distribution. It is calculated using the following equation:

Arithmetic mean

1
2

1 2 3 4

10

11

Dr Alifor Nokhodchi 28 2. Calculate the arithmetic mean the particle populations 1 &

Arithmetic Mean (d = ESD)

Number-length mean diameter which is arithmetic mean of a number distribution of length; D [1, 0]

1 m

3 m

5 m
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

8 m
2x8 +

10 m
2x10 = 67
29

3x1 + 1x3 + 5x5 + Dav = [67/13] = 5.15 m

Calculate the arithmetic mean for the above particle populations.

Assume a simple situation of 10 particles having the following lengths (i.e., ESDs) in m : 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 2, 2, 6.5, 6, 5 What are the arithmetic and geometric means?

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Arithmetic mean 30

Geometric mean
The geometric mean is calculated using the following equation:

1
2

1 2 3 4

10

11

Calculate the geometric mean for the particle populations 1 & 2. Dr Ali Nokhodchi 31

Geometric Mean (d =ESD)

1 um

3 um

5 um

8 um

10 um

dg = 3.89 m Calculate the geometric mean for the particle populations 1 & 2.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

log dg = 1/12 x [3xlog1 + 1xlog3 + 4xlog5 + 2xlog8 + 2xlog10] log dg = 1/12 x [0 + 0.48 +2.80 + 1.81 +2 ] log dg = 0.59

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Geometric mean

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Number Surface area mean diameter D [2, 0]

The surface mean diameter (SMD) is the calculated using the following equation:
SMD =
n1 d12

n2d22

n3d32

+ =

nd2 n

where n1, n2, = number of particles in size groups d1, d2 , and n is the total number of particles (i.e., n1 + n2 + )

Calculate the SMD for the particle populations 1 & 2.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 34

Number-Volume/Mass mean diameter D [3, 0]

VMD =

n1d13 + n2d23 + n3d33 +

n

nd3
n

where n1, n2, = number of particles in size groups d1, d2 , and n is the total number of particles (i.e., n1 + n2 + ) The volume-number mean diameter is the diameter of a particle having average weight (i.e. weight = volume density) therefore, dnv is uniquely related to Nw, the specific particle number
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 35

Volume-surface mean diameter; D [3, 2] Surface area moment mean (Sauter mean diameter) The volume surface mean diameter (VSMD) is calculated using the following equation:
VSMD = n1 d13

n2d23

n3d33

n1d12 + n2d22 + n3d32 +

nd3
nd2

where n1, n2, = number of particles in size groups d1, d2

It is defined as the diameter of a sphere that has the same volume/surface area ratio as a particle of interest
Ali Nokhodchi Calculate the VMD forDr the particle populations 1 & 2. 36

Typical statistics (d= ESD)

d=(0.5 + 1)/2 = 0.75 m nd = 2 x 0.75 = 1.5 nd2 = 2 x (0.75)2 = 1.13 nd3 = 2 x (0.75)3 = 0.85

dnl=265.5/118 = 2.25 m

D[1, 0]

dns =(640.89/118)1/2 = 2.33 m D[2, 0]

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 37 dvs = 1645.25/640.89 = 2.57 m D[3, 2]

dnv = (1645.25/118)1/3 = 2.41 m D[3, 0]

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Particle size distribution

A particle population which consists of spheres or equivalent spheres with uniform dimensions is monosized and its characteristics can be described by a single diameter or equivalent diameter. Unusual for the particles to be completely monosized in a batch: most powders contain particles with a large number of different equivalent diameters. What do we do to compare the characteristics of two or more powders consisting of particles with many different diameters?
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 39

Particle size distribution

No. of Particle No. of particles size (m) particles
50 50 Mean 5 15 10 10 10 10 mean

Particle size (m)

5 10 15 10

1 2

1 2 3 4
6 6 6

5
6

6
6

7
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

8
6 6

9
6

10
6 6

11
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Particle size distribution

We would not only want to know about the characteristics of the average' particle, but have some idea of the variation between the particles.

Divide the data into size classes Draw a histogram of the number of particles in each size class.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Particle size distributions

Frequency Distribution Data
ESD (m) Number of particles (frequency) Per cent particles (% frequency)

0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6

0 4 25 50 86 93

0 0.9 5.4 10.7 18.5 20.0

9-10 8-9

F(%) = (4/466) x100 = 0.9%

14

Frequency histogram
39 67 88 93 86 50 25

6-7
7-8 8-9 9-10

88
67 39 14

18.9
14.4 8.4 3.0

7-8 6-7 5-6 4-5 3-4 2-3

466

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

1-2 0-1

4 0

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Such a histogram: - reflect the distribution of particle sizes. - presents an interpretation of the particle size distribution. - enables the percentage of particles having equivalent. diameter to be determined. - allows different particle size distribution to be compared.

Normal: symmetrical about mean (+) skewed

Dr Ali Nokhodchi Commonly encountered distributions

Bimodal
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% per mm

Particle size [mm] % per mm

Particle size [mm] Distributions may have a pointed or rounded shape, this is quantified as the kurtosis of the distribution. A distribution which is pointed is termed leptokurtic.
A distribution which is flattened is termed platykurtic.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 44

Particle Number size of [mm] particles In band

1-2 2-3 3-4 4 25 50

Percentage in range d
0.86 5.36 10.73

Percentage under size

Percentage over size

0.86 6.22 16.95

99.14 93.78 83.05

4-5
5-6

86
93

18.45
19.96

35.40
55.36

64.6
44.64

6-7
7-8 8-9

88
67 39

18.89
14.38 8.37

74.24
88.62 96.99 100

25.76
11.38 3.01 0

9-10 14 3.00 Total particles= 466

%in range= (4/466)*100= 0.86 %undersize=(0.86+5.36)=6.22

Less than 2 m Larger than 2 m
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 45

The graph shows, at any size, what fraction of the particles are smaller than that size, and so is termed a percentage undersize graph.

The graphs shows, at any size, what fraction of the particles are larger than that size, and so termed a percentage oversize graph.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

The two curves are mirror images around a horizontal axis.

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Typical statistics (d = ESD)

%n=(2/118)x100= 1.69 Cumulative undersize = 1.69+8.47=10.69 Dr Ali Nokhodchi =10.69+18.64=28.80

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Question?

Particle size number of (m) particles 10 1 20 2 30 3 40 50 60 70 4 3 2 1

Plot Cumulative % undersize and oversize (number and mass distributions) against particle size. Determine the median of each distribution.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 48

Two methods of plotting distributions: Incremental & cumulative

The histogram is termed an incremental distribution because it shows how many particles fall within a given size increment.
100

A cumulative distribution shows how much material lies above or below a particular size.

Cumulative (%)

No. of particles in band 75

100

75

50

Cumulative % undersize
50

Cumulative % oversize

25

25

0 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 Particle size [micrometers] 8-9 9-10

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Micrometers

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Incremental? Cumulative? Which to use?

Both are widely used, since various particle size analysis methods lead to one or the other. Examples:

Sieving: sorts out the material which is sufficiently small to fall through one sieve, but too large to fall through a finer one, and so sorts the particles into increments. Plotting this data leads to an incremental distribution. Sedimentation: where all the material larger than a certain size has sedimented at a particular time, naturally leads to a cumulative distribution.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 50

Representing the size distribution: Number, Area & Mass distributions

It is important to realise that, for a particular sample of material, the curves describing the distribution of particle number, area, and mass will not be identical in SHAPE. One million 1 micrometer spherical particles will occupy the same volume as one 100 micrometer (the number/volume relationship) V= 4/3r3

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 51

(1/10)x100 = 10%

30

Area = [(2)2/385]x100 =1%

Total surface area for 10 particles

% per micrometer

2 m

20

Number distribution Area distribution Volume distribution

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Particle size [micrometer]

It is evident from this example that we need to specify which type of distribution we are using. The particular type of distribution obtained depends on the sizing method used. - Sieving and sedimentation: provide the mass of material in a given size band. - Coulter counter: measure the number of particles in a given Dr Ali Nokhodchi 52 band.

Number of particles

Particle size (mm)

Surface area (mm2)

Mass dist. (mm3)

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 81 100

? ? 27 ? ? ? ? 512 ? ?

Total 10 particles F(%) = (no. particles/total)x 100 F (%) = (1/10)x 100 = 10% Total 10 particles F(%) = (no. particles/total)x 100 F (%) = (1/10)x 100 = 10%

Total surface area is 385 F(%) = (surface area of 1st Particle/total)x 100 F (%) = (1/385)x 100 = 0.26% Total surface area is 385 F(%) = (surface area of 1st Particle/total)x 100 53 F (%) = (100/385)x 100 = 26%

Difference between number distribution and mass distribution

Size (cm) Number of objects 7000 17500 3500000 3524500 % by number %by mass

10-1000 1-10 0.1-1 Total

0.2 0.5 99.3 100

99.96 0.03 0.01 100

Number mean diameter =1.6 cm Mass mean diameter = 500 cm So, which one is correct or important?
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 54

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Characterization of particle size distributions

Histograms contain a great amount of data, which may be summarized by statistics to yield a measure of:

Central tendency Dispersion

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 56

Measures of central tendency

Central tendency = the tendency of the particle size to cluster around a particular value. Such values are evident as a peak in the particle size distribution. These values are normally known as averages or means of set of data.

Three different quantities are in common use:

1. 2.

3.

Mode Median Mean

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Median

The median value is the size which splits the distribution into two halves, with 50% of the mass or particle number larger, and 50% of the mass or particle number smaller. It is always given the symbol D50. The easiest way to find the D50 is to construct a cumulative graph, from which the 50% point can be read off directly.
Cumulative (%)

100 75 50 25 0 0 20 40 60
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100 75 50 25 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

16 um

Particle size (um)

Median

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Mode

The value of the peak of the distribution ( The mode of the distribution is the most common value occurring in distribution). If the distribution has two or more peaks, it is said to be bimodal or multimodal.
7 6

Percentage/micron

5 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 Mode 20 30 Particle size

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 60

40

50

60

Unimodal distribution

Number of Particles 3 5 10 20 25 20 10 5 2
1. 2. 3. 4.

particle size (um) 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Frequency (%)

Cumulative under size(%)

Mean diameter

Arithmetic mean? Determine mode and median? Plot Cumulative undersize against particle size? Dr Ali Nokhodchi Plot Frequency against particle size?

61

Span = D90% -D10%/D50%

Span for A= (340-20)/100 Span A= 3.2 Span for B= (340-30)/150 Span B = 2.1
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 62

Model Distributions

Particle size distributions may take many forms, but there are small number of model distributions which are of particular interest. may allow us to infer something about the material or the processes through which it has passed

Normal distribution lognormal distribution

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Incremental
0.2

Cumulative
1 84% 50%

0 3 5 7

16% 0

Mean -

Mean

Mean +

Normal distribution with X=5 and s = 2.

The standard deviation is the difference between the 16% and 50%, or the 50% and 84% points.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Normal distributions

Are of interest largely because they arise when an item is subject to random variation: Normal distributions are commonly found in many natural systems such as:
The

distribution of heights of people is normal. The distribution of tablet weights in a batch is normal.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Positively skewed distribution

a: lognormal distribution with Mode =5 and =2.

Normal

lognormalDr distribution of fig. a. plotted on a Ali Nokhodchi logarithmic x axis.

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Standard deviation = (diameter at 84%/diameter at 50%)

SD = 281.8/223.9 SD= 1.26
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1.5

Cumulative (%)

2.35

2.45 um

log 1.75

2.25

2.5

2.75

3
69

Particle size (um)

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

The lognormal distribution

Examples:

Particles reduced by grinding follow lognormal distribution. Particles grown by crystallisation often show a lognormal distribution of size.

-Emulsion made by valve homogenizer

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Normal and lognormal distributions on linear probability paper.

Normal and lognormal distributions on log- probability paper.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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Number Cumulative of Particle %frequency particle size (%) 3 5 10 3 5 10 50 100 150 3 8 18

20
25 20

20
25 20

200
250 300

38
63 83

10
5 2 Total 100

10
5 2 100

350
400 450

93
97 100

Question? Determine the type of distribution.

Dr Ali Nokhodchi 72

Probability graph
99.99 99.9 99.8

99 98 95

90
80 70

Cumulative (%)

60 50 40 30 20 10 5 2 1 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.01 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 73 1100

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle size diameter (um)

99.99 99.9 99.8

99 98 95 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20

Cumulative (%)

10
5 2 1 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.01 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 500 600 800 1000 700 900 74

Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Particle size diameter (um)

Techniques
Technique Sieving Microscopy Sedimentation Coulter counter Laser light scattering ESD ds dp dst dv dv, da Size Wet / Manual / range dry automatic > 45 m >1 nm Dry / wet Dry / wet Manual Manual Manual Automatic Automatic Speed Slow Slow Medium Fast Fast
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> 0.5 Wet m >0.1 Wet m >1 Wet nm Dr Ali Nokhodchi

Dry sieving

Fill seal agitate weigh

Stacking the sieves in order of ascending aperture size and placing the powder on the top sieve and agitating, the powder is classified into fractions. A closed pan, a receiver, is placed at the bottom of the stack to collect the fines and a lid is placed on top to prevent loss of powder. Agitation may be manual or mechanical.

The results are expressed in the form of a cumulative undersize Dr Ali Nokhodchi percentage distribution.

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What does sieving measure?

The sieve equivalent diameter (ds) is defined as the size of a sphere that will just pass through the aperture of a particular sieve. This is a two-dimensional value.

ds

ds

ds
Dr Ali Nokhodchi

ds
77

Types of dry sieves

Punched sieves:

Usually circular, 1 mm to 10 cm apertures Apertures are square, > ~50 m This type of sieve was originally specified in terms of the mesh number, which is the number of wires to the inch of mesh cloth; e.g. a 120 mesh sieve has 120 wires per inch. Circular, finer sieves ( ~5 mm).

Woven sieves:

Etched sieves:

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It is important to specify the shape of the sieve mesh, i.e. square-meshed or round-hole.
A 100 mm sphere will just pass through the hole of 100 mm square or round-hole sieve, but an irregular particle may pass through one sieve and not the other. The particle would have different sieve diameters (ds) in round or square hole sieves!

Remember!

Example:

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In practice dry sieving is predominant

Sieving times:
It is recommended that sieving be continued until less than 0.2% of material passes a given sieve aperture in any 5-minute interval. The material separated in the sieves is measured on a weight basis providing a mass (or volume distribution). The results are usually presented as a percentage mass against sieve equivalent diameter.
Dr Ali Nokhodchi 80

Sieving time

90%

10

20

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Wet sieving
When?
Fine powder ( <50mm) Light powder Powder that form lumps or ball when dry.

Advantage
Rapid process as the material is carried out through sieves by fluid flow, rather than by gravity and vibration. Dr Ali Nokhodchi
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When to use sieving

Sieving is a basic technique and is employed whenever any of the following conditions, or combination of them, hold: Separates fractions Excellent method for powders with a good flowability (coarse powders) Excellent method for powders that exhibit a range of different densities (causes difficulties for sedimentation techniques) Excellent method for powders that exhibit different refractive indices (causes difficulties for light scattering techniques) Excellent method for water-soluble or conductive powders (causes difficulties for Coulter counter measurements). Dr Ali Nokhodchi 83

Sieving is best avoided when:

Cannot be used when powder is too fine Cannot be used when particles are fragile and may break during sieving Not an appropriate method for particles in the form of elongated needles Cannot be used when powder adheres to the sieve Cannot be used when powder forms clumps Cannot be used when powder easily acquires an electrostatic charge Powder must be Dr relatively robust Ali Nokhodchi

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Sieving errors may arise from

Factors influencing the probability that a particle will correctly present itself at an aperture include:

The particle size distribution of the powder The number of particles on the sieve (load): A good starting point is 50-100g for 100 mm sieves and 200g for 200 mm sieves. The physical properties of the particles (e.g., surface) The method of shaking the sieve The dimension and shape of the particles

Obtaining a correct size distribution during a sieving operation also depends on the following variables:
Duration of sieving Variation of sieve aperture Sieve wear and tear Dr Ali Nokhodchi

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