In addition to particle size, particle shape can also have a significant impact upon the performance and process handling of many particulate materials.
Malvern Panalytical’s image analysis range of particle characterization systems measure particle shape for both wet and dry dispersed samples from 0.5 microns up to several millimeters.
Applications
Applications where particle shape measurements can be used to improve product performance include:
- Bioavailability of drug particles in tablets and suspensions
- Material strength in metal and ceramic sintered components
- Printing quality of toners and solder pastes
- Packing behavior of chromatography columns
- Quality of finish in mineral-based coatings
- Cutting performance of SiC abrasives for solar panel manufacture
Nano-sized particles
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements can be used to investigate the shape of nano-sized particles.
This measurement type determines the (low-resolution) envelope shape of biological macromolecules. A SAXS signal is observed whenever a material contains structural features on the length scale of nanometers (typically in the range of 1-100 nm).
SAXS is one of the most versatile techniques for the structural characterization of nanomaterials.
Dynamic imaging
Want to combine laser diffraction with dynamic imaging?
Discover the Hydro Insight, the dynamic imaging accessory for the Mastersizer range.
The Hydro Insight is a dynamic imaging accessory that provides insights beyond particle size distribution to particle images and quantitative particle shape data.
