CHARACTERIZATION OF BIMODAL PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS (PSDs) BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM) AND Laser Diffraction (LD

GALLARDO, ANALÍA; CABRERA, FERNANDA; VILLAR, MARCELO; BUCALA, VERONICA; YAÑEZ, MARÍA JULIA

Praga

Congreso; 18 Th International Microscopy Congress; 2014

International Federation of Societies for Microscopy

Abstract  Among the more popular techniques for PSDs measurement, the SEM images analysis (IA) and laser diffraction (LD) are used alone or combined. In this work, lactose and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) resin particles were mixed to obtain a bimodal PSD.  The information provided by LD (which handles thousand of particles) allowed improving the method of mounting particles on the SEM stub.  The Nl:Npvc and Vl:Vpvc ratios obtained from LD and IA PSDs were compared with theoretical relationships based on lactose and PVC mean sizes, densities and mass ratio.  The number and volume cumulative passing distributions obtained by IA and LD were compared.