Particle Size Testing

The classical cyclone cut size model assumes discrete, non-agglomerating particles. Cohesive or moisture-sensitive fines can travel through a cyclone as agglomerates instead, which changes what a PSD result actually tells you about classifier performance.

Jet milling micronization reduces particle size through particle-particle impact controlled by classifier wheel speed and feed rate. Pushing the cut point lower can raise amorphous surface content and hygroscopicity in ways a passing PSD result will not reveal. This guide covers the mechanism and the tests that actually diagnose a changed lot.

Cold spray coatings form only when particles clear a critical impact velocity, a threshold set by material properties, particle size and morphology, and native oxide condition. This article looks at what powder-side QC can flag before a spray trial, and where it stops short of predicting deposition efficiency.

Pairing laser diffraction with dynamic image analysis adds per-particle shape descriptors, aspect ratio, circularity, convexity, that help explain an anomalous D50 or D90 and show where the combined result still cannot replace a dedicated particle morphology study.

As aerospace metal additive manufacturing capacity expands, more reused powder is going back into qualified builds. The virgin-to-reused blend ratio decision depends on PSD shift, satellite formation, and morphology drift, and cannot be settled by a single powder check disconnected from the part's stress state.

Talc's expected EU restriction is forcing cosmetic formulators toward mica, kaolin, silica, and starch. None of them reproduce talc's platelet slip, oil absorption, and low dustiness at the same time, and each substitution changes flow and compaction behavior in pressed powder products differently.

Process analytical technology combined with machine learning is changing residual moisture control and yield prediction in pharmaceutical and food spray drying. The gains are real but bounded, and the off-line test panel has not been replaced.

Sintered contacts, additive manufactured heat exchangers, EV motor components, and conductive pastes each require a different copper powder. This article explains why morphology, particle size distribution, oxygen content, and packing density are engineering variables, and how to specify them correctly for electrification applications.

Poorly soluble APIs now represent the majority of the pharmaceutical development pipeline. Dissolution and oral bioavailability are determined by molecular solubility, surface wetting behavior, solid-state stability, and how the formulation interacts with the GI environment from first contact onward. Amorphous dispersions, lipid systems, nanocrystals, and co-crystals each rely on different surface mechanisms to deliver their intended advantage.

Real-time particle characterization is moving powder processing from delayed laboratory checks toward [...]

Fine powder fluidization can support controlled pneumatic conveying, especially in dense phase [...]

Fines in powder behavior matter because fine particles add surface area, contact [...]