Evaluation of instruments used in particle size analysis by using the sedimentation technique

This study is carried out to evaluate the performance of some instruments in which the sedimentation technique is used for the determination of particle size distribution using Stoke's law. A mathematical formula has been developed to calculate the particle size distribution for different cases and the results were compared to the real ones. The results revealed unsatisfactory agreement between the calculated and the measured values. In addition, illogic results were obtained indicating that the instruments in which the sedimentation technique is used are not the proper ones to provide accurate measurements except for mono particle size cases. More above, the results obtained represent the sedimentation rate but not the particle size distribution.