Abstract

The size distribution of particles is of importance to a wide variety of particulate systems in the chemical process industries. The compacting and sintering behavior of metallurgical powders, flow characteristics of granular materials, hiding power of paint pigments, and the combustion efficiency of coal and sprayed liquids all depend on particle size. The various means of data representation in particle size measurements are defined and sampling procedures are presented. Methods of size measurement ranging from the historical yet still useful sieving, through the use of modern instrumentation such as laser diffraction equipment and optical counters, are discussed.