Characterisation of solid particles

Particle technology

plays a major role in the production of materials in industry.

Characterisation of solid particles

Individual solid particles are characterized by their shape, size, and density.

Particle shape
The shape of an individual particle is expressed in terms of the sphericity s, which is
independent of particle size.

Sphericity is a measure of how spherical (round) an object is.

Defined by Wadell in 1935, the sphericity, of a particle is: the ratio of the surface area of a sphere
(with the same volume as the given particle) to the surface area of the particle:

For a spherical particle of diameter D p,  s =1;

for a non-spherical particle, the sphericity is defined as

Sp: surface area of one particle

vp: volume of one particle
Dp: equivalent diameter of particle

The equivalent diameter is sometimes defined as the diameter of a sphere of equal volume.
For fine particles, Dp is usually taken to be the nominal size based on screen analysis or
microscopic analysis.

For many crushed materials,  s is between 0.6 & 0.8. For particles rounded by abrasion,  s may
be as high as 0.95.

By abrasion of the corners you can increase the roundness

Sphericity
Material
Ottawa sand 0.95
Rounded sand 0.83
Coal dust 0.73
Flint sand 0.65
Crushed glass 0.65
Mica flakes 0.28
Particle size
In general "diameter" may be specified for any equidimensional particles.

Particles that are not equidimensional, i.e. that are longer in one direction than in others, are often
characterised by the second longest major dimension.

For needle like particles, Dp would refer to the thickness of the particle, not their length. Units
used for particle size depend on the size of particles.

Coarse particles: inches or millimetres

Fine particles: screen size

Very fine particles: micrometers or nanometers

Ultra fine particles: surface area per unit mass, m2/g

Surface area is found from adsorption measurements

Mixed particle sizes and size analysis
m
In a sample of uniform particles of diameter Dp, total volume of all the particles is m/p (p = V ¿

Where, m = mass of the sample,  p = density.

Since the volume of one particle is vp, the total number of particle in the sample is

The total surface area of the particles is

m 6 vP
The total surface area of the particles A = N . s P = .
ρP v P φ S D P as we know

To apply the above two equations to mixtures of particles having various size, the mixture is
sorted into fractions, each of constant density and approximately constant size.

Mesh is the number of openings in one linear inch of any sieve or screen.

A 10 mesh sieve will have 10 openings and a 400 mesh sieve will have 400
openings in one linear inch.

Mesh Screen opening Average particle Mass Mass fraction

Dpi, mm __
Retained, mi mi
diameter, Dpi , mm Retained, =¿ xi
m
m1
m2 m2
x 2=
m
m3
m4
.
 .
.
m=m1+m2+m3..

= average diameter, taken as arithmetic average of the smallest and largest particle
diameters in increment.

How to find the average size of particles retained in a particular screen?

For a sample having a mixture of particles of varying size, how to find specific surface area A w?

In the case of mixture

A= A1+A2+A3+………..

6 m1 6 m2 6 m3
+ + +. .. . .. .. . .
φ ρ DP 1 φ S ρ P DP 2 φ S ρ P DP 3
A= S P

Specific surface area Aw = A/m

A 1
AW = = ( )
m m

Specific surface of mixture

If the particle density  p and spericity  s are known, the surface area of particles in each fraction
can be calculated and added to give the specific surface, Aw.
where xi = mass fraction in a given increment, = average diameter, taken as arithmetic average
of the smallest and largest particle diameters in increment.

Average particle size

(1). Volume-surface mean diameter, , defined by

If the number of particles in each fraction Ni is known, then

(2). Arithmetic mean diameter

NT = number of particles in the entire sample

(3). Mass mean diameter

(4). Volume mean diameter

For a sample having a mixture of particles of varying size, how to find Volume mean diameter?

Mesh Screen Average particle Mass Mass fraction xi

3
D pi
 opening __
Retained, Retained, mi =¿ x
Dpi, mm diameter, Dpi , mi m
i

mm

m=∑ mi N
x
∑ D3i
i=1 pi

Number of particles in mixture

The volume of any particle is proportional to its "diameter" cubed.

a = volume shape factor

Assuming that a is independent of size

mi
ρP v P
Ni = i where, mi is mass retained on a particular screen

For a sample having a mixture of particles of varying size, how to find specific number of particles Nw?

NW means no of particles per unit mass of sample

Nw =
1 m1
{ +
m2 m m
+ 3 + 4 .. .. . .. .. . . }
m ρ P v P ρ P v P ρ P v P ρP v P
1 2 3 4

Nw= so

{
x1 x2 x3 x4
__
+ __
+ __
+ __
. . .. .. . .. .. }
ρ P a DP 3 ρP a D P 3 ρP a DP 3 ρ P a DP 3
1 2 3 4

[using eqn and Vol mean dia equation

Volume mean diameter

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