Particle Counting is useful for finding the particle size distribution and concentration of clean liquids such as waters, diesels and other solutions.
The instrument used is a HIAC ROYCO Liquid Particle Counting System 9703 and utilises light extinction to count the number and size of each particle individually. The instruments can be fitted with a variety of detectors operating over a range of sizes and concentrations.
Samples that are too heavily loaded (> 18,000 particles/mL) with particles will saturate our detectors (HRLD400). In this case, the sample must be diluted with the appropriate solvent.
Any material greater than 400 µm must be sieved out otherwise it may block the detector.
All samples must be homogenised before any subsampling occurs, and as the instrument takes measurements. This requires the use of a magnetic stirring rod. This will cause any magnetically active materials to attract to the magnetic stirrer.
Our Particle Counters are set up to do 5 runs of 5 mL. With waste and rinse runs it is advised that at least 75 mL is supplied for analysis. We can analyse as little as 5 mL of sample.
Samples can be analysed adhering to the ISO 4406 standard, the NAS 1638 standard, SAE Classification AS4059 or a general report outlining the particle size distribution, counts per mL, volume % at each interval, calculated TSS and much more.
