Standard Test Method for Wire-Cloth Sieve Analysis of Nonplastic Ceramic Powders

Abstract

3.1 Sieve analyses are carried out to determine the particle size distribution of powders which, in turn, are used to qualify those materials as to their usefulness in the process under consideration. Since particle size analyses have only relative significance, the results should be considered only where they correlate with process characteristics. The parameter that is being measured in this test is the amount of material that will pass through a cloth having theoretically square openings. It must be remembered that all the holes are not square, nor uniform in size, and the question of whether a given particle will go through is a statistical one. Since each particle size analysis method measures a unique physical parameter, the results from one method may not agree with those from another. Particle size distributions play a role in such properties as bulk density, dustiness, and handling characteristics. Care should be taken, however, when interpretations are made from one or two points (sieves) on the distribution curve.