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Abstract
It is shown that the conversion of size distributions measured
with a laser diffractometer or sedimentometer to equivalent sieve
size distribution depends not only on a mean shape factor but
also on the size distribution being measured. An equation is
given for calculating an overall conversion factor when the
1 Introduction
sieve size. Figure 1 illustrates the process and defines the fractions
which fall into the five size intervals as k2 , k1 , k0 , k1 and k2 .
Austin and Shah [2] have shown
p experimentally that these mass
fractions do not depend on the 2 sieve interval chosen, providing
there is no change in the shapes of particles with size. Cho et al. [3]
have shown that the values also do not change significantly
p with
the shape of the size distribution curve from which the 2 sieve
fraction is taken.
2 Theory
p
The first step is to prepare a 2 sieve size fraction from the
material by careful wet screening with standard sieves to ensure
p
that fine particles are not adherent to the particles within the 2
sieve range. Typically, the sample will be the 270 by 400 mesh
(58 38 mm), or the 230 by 35 mesh (63 45 mm) fraction.
This is dispersed and tested in the sub-sieve size analyzer. The
resulting instrumentpsize
distribution will normally spread
Fig. p
1: Illustration of material in a
five 2 instrument size intervals.
p
2 sieve size interval appearing in
109
Kr
>
;
p
Let R be the sieve ratio 1= 2. Then each value of Pxi is related to
the values at two intervals larger and two intervals smaller by
9
Pxi2 R2m Pxj >
>
>
>
>
Pxi1 R1m Pxi >
=
1a
or
Qx KPx Kx=km :
4a
Thus it is proved that Q(x) is also a power function with the same
exponent m but changed in magnitude by a constant factor K.
If the instrument size distribution Q(x) is plotted versus x as a
Schuhmann log-log plot, the slope will be m and the equivalent
sieve size distribution P(x) will be a parallel line, higher if K < 1
and lower if K > 1, over the particle size region where Q(x) is a
straight line. In addition, Px3 1 is known, since the top sieve
size of the tested sieve sample x3 is known. The shift factor K
cannot apply to the top two sieve size intervals or the two size
intervals above the top sieve size. In principle, estimates of Px4 ,
Px5 , etc., can be made by sequential solution down to the x value
where Q(x) versus x becomes a power function, but normally
errors accumulate rapidly in this computation.
It is common [4] to define a mean shape factor as the factor r by
which the instrument size must be multiplied to give the sieve size
at which the same mass percentage less than size is obtained. If the
particle size as measured by the instrument is denoted by X and the
3 Experimental Results
The values of k for irregular particles of quartz and coals as
measured in the Microtrac laser diffractometer instrument [5] have
already been reported [2, 6], and are shown in Table 1. The result
shows that the particle size measured by the instrument is larger
than the geometric mean sieve size, that is, the instrument size
distribution must be moved up (K < 1) to obtain the sieve size
distribution. If the diffractometer size distribution over a
substantial range of size intervals has a slope of 1 the values of
Q(x) must be multiplied by 1.15 ( 1=K1 to obtain the equivalent
sieve size distribution. In terms of sliding the curve in the size
scale, the Microtrac size scale must be multiplied by 0.87. There is
a significant effect of the slope m on K. A diffractometer size
distribution with a flat slope of 0.5 would have to be slid by a factor
110
Table 1:
p
2 sieve interval fractions of crystalline quartz tested in the Microtrac laser diffractometer and the X-ray Sedigraph.
Instrument
k2
k1
Microtrac
170 230}
230 325}
0.03
Sedigraph
270 400
0.01
k0
k1
k2
0.10
0.31
0.37
0.19
0.5
1.0
2.0
0.92
0.87
0.86
0.85
0.87
0.96
0.25
0.55
0.18
0.01
0.5
1.0
2.0
1.02
1.06
1.18
1.04
1.06
1.09
0.5
1.0
2.0
1.11
1.22
1.37
1.24
1.22
1.17
of 0.85 in the size scale, but only 0.96 for a steep slope of m 2.
The Sedigraph [7] results showed that the mean instrument size
(the 50%-passing size) was almost equal to the geometric mean
sieve size. However, the vertical shift factors K were greater than
1, and the horizontal shift factors r were also greater than 1, so that
size measured by the instrument is less than sieve size. The
conversion factors from Microtrac to Sedigraph are quite large and
vary significantly with m.
k0
k2
K
K1
m
n
pi
P(x)
Q(x)
r
r1
R
x
xi
X
p
an integer indexing a 2 size interval ()
the value of x in Px x=km at p
which
Px 1 mm
the mass fraction
pof material in a 2 sieve size which
appears in a 2 instrument size interval two intervals
larger ()
in the same size interval ()
two intervals smaller ()
the vertical shift factor defined by Qx KPx ()
value of K for m 1 ()
the exponent in Px x=km ()
the number of size intervals ()
p
the mass fraction of material in the 2 sieve size interval
indexed by i ()
the cumulative mass fraction of material less than sieve
size x ()
the cumulative mass fraction of material less than size x as
determined by the instrument ()
a size scale shift factor defined by QX PrX ()
a shape
p factor defined by the value of r for m 1 ()
1= 2
particle size (mm) p
the upper size of the 2 interval indexed by i ()
a particle size measured by an instrument corresponding to
a sieve size x, where QX Px (mm)
6 References
[1] K. Leschonski: Sieve Analysis, the Cinderella of Particle Size
Analysis Methods? Powder Technol. 24 (1979) 115124.
[2] L. G. Austin, I. Shah: A Method for Inter-Conversion of Microtrac
and Sieve Size Distributions. Powder Technol. 35 (1983) 27128.
[3] H. Cho, K. Yidilrim, L. G. Austin: The Conversion of Sedigraph
Size Distributions to Equivalent Sub-Sieve Screen Size Distributions. Powder Technol. 95 (1998) 109117.
111
[4] T. Allen: Particle Size Measurement, 4th Ed. Chapman and Hall,
New York 1990, p. 169.
[5] Leeds and Northrup, Microtrac Model 7991-01.
[6] L.G. Austin, O. Trass, T.F. Dumm, V.R. Koka: A Rapid Method for
Determination of Changes in Shape of Comminuted Particles
using a Laser Diffractometer. Part. Part. Syst. Charact. 5 (1988)
1315.
[7] Micromeritics Instrument Corporation, Sedigraph Model 5100.
# WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, D-69451 Weinheim, 1998. Printed in Germany. Editor-in-Chief: Prof Dr.-Ing. Kurt Leschonski, Institut fur Mechanische
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