Particle and particle size analysis is used to evaluate particle size and particle size distribution along with some other parameters. The application of this technique has been expanded to include aerosols, emulsions, suspensions and solid materials.
This analysis technique is a very important quality control tool in various industries where particle size is critical in deciding final applications and results of the product. There are some fields or industries where particle size analysis is very important and these include:
Particle and particle are three-dimensional structures but not very close to spherical shape. Spherical-shaped particles are generally defined in one dimension, that is, their diameter. The particles do not have a perfectly spherical shape and must be converted into the equivalent of a sphere with the diameter as an equivalent size in different shapes instead of the diameter. Various particle size measurement techniques prefer different equivalent concepts. Therefore, these equivalent diameters are not exactly similar to each other.
The following three different methods are generally used in particle and particle size analyses.
Laser diffraction particle size analysis is an indirect, optical technique that measures particle size distributions in liquid and solid samples relative to equivalent spherical diameter.
The strengths of this technique are:
Limitations:
In particle size analysis measurement, an incident laser beam is sent onto particles suspended in solution, each of which refracts photons from the incident beam. Interferences in refracted light create a pattern that is detected by the optical sensor. This diffraction pattern can be created within a second and raw data collection is extremely fast.
Once the pattern is recorded, it is analyzed using optical theories that relate the measured intensity of the refracted light to particle size: larger particles produce narrower diffraction rings.
Dynamic light scattering analysis is an indirect and high-throughput method for measuring the sizes of particles in a solution relative to the hydrodynamic diameter.
The strengths of this technique are:
Limitations:
Particles suspended in a liquid are constantly subjected to random Brownian motion, and their size directly affects their speed: small particles move faster than larger particles.
When a laser light source is applied to an aqueous particle sample in solution, it scatters around them as it passes. The scattered light is detected and recorded at some predefined angle, and the time dependence of the changes in the scattered intensity profiles is related to the speed of the particles and hence to their average size and distribution in the system.
Zeta potential analysis measures the strength of the net charge on particle and solid surfaces. The higher the magnitude of this potential, the stronger the surface interactions (repulsion and attraction) when the sample comes into contact with other charged materials.
The strengths of this technique are:
Limitations:
Zeta potential in particles is measured in solution using electrophoretic light scattering. Electrophoretic light scattering is a different methodology of dynamic light scattering and is used to measure the velocities of dissolved particles in the same way. Standard electrophoretic light scattering, unlike dynamic light scattering, evaluates particle kinetics in response to an oscillating electric field.
In solid (macroscopic) samples, devices instead measure the flow potential to interpolate the zeta potential. In this technique, a solid, electrochemically active material is assembled to form a capillary channel. An electrolytic ion solution is then passed through the channel under the influence of a controlled pressure gradient. As ions flow, they cause electrophoretic effects in the shear plane of the sample surface, causing a rearrangement of the charge carriers in this layer.
Among the numerous testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies provided to businesses by our organization, there are also particle and particle size analysis services.
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