PARTICLE CHARACTERIZATION
Module 1
Prof. A. K. Majumder
Department of Mining Engineering
1
Particle technology is devoted to the understanding of particle-particle and
particle-fluid interactions and using this knowledge to properly design
processes and products.
It is the properties of particle that dictate these interactions.
So, particle characterization is at the heart of particle technology.
Particle characterization presents special challenges that don’t exist for the
measurement of fluid properties:
The discrete nature of a particulate system means that it is heterogeneous
Two particles in the same system don’t have the same properties
Sampling is a major issue
The properties of particulate systems can’t be tabulated like the
thermodynamic properties of fluids can.
The properties of the system depend not only on the chemical composition,
but also the particle morphology.
The surface area of sand cannot be calculated, it has to be measured.
The properties are not always easy to define
The simplest examples of this are particle shape and size
Historically, many particle properties have been difficult and time consuming to
measure
Particle Shape
Particle shape affects flow ability, packing density and particle-fluid
interactions.
Shape is very complicated to define and measure.
Particle size
Size is the single most important property of a particle.
Particle size strongly influences other important particle properties.
One reason for this is that size controls the balance between surface forces and
body forces with the surface forces becoming increasingly dominant as size
becomes small.
For example, fine particles are cohesive because surface forces (Van Der Waals
attractions, etc.) dominate of body forces (inertia and gravity). So knowledge of
the particle size of a system is essential.
What is the size of this particle?
Summary
There is no such thing as a universal particle size, lots of definitions exist.
Be very clear which particle size has been measured in any data you are given.
Where possible, measure the particle size that matches your application.
For example, if you are designing a settling tank, use the Stokes diameter as
measured by a sedimentation technique.