Particle Characterization
Greetings from your friends at HORIBA Instruments!
Our February newsletter welcomes you to download the new technical note on Understanding and Interpreting Particle Size Distribution Calculations and a new application note discussing how instrument manufacturers and users reduce the amount of sample for analysis. We will also have two additions to our 2009 Webinar Series on March 5th and April 1st. Read on to see the topics for each.
Understanding and Interpreting Particle Size Distribution Calculations
Once a particle size analysis is completed the user sees a variety of values used to describe the both the central point and width of the distribution. Although it may be tempting to express the result with a single number, it is typically better to report more than one number to summarize the result. Calculations to express distribution width include span, standard deviation, variance, and COV. This technical note defines these various calculations and suggests accepted procedures for expressing and interpreting results.
Technical Note TN156 on Understanding and Interpreting Particle Size Distribution Calculations (You need to be logged in).
Reducing the Material Costs of Particle Size Analysis
Particle size analysis is only one of several required analytical tests for R&D formulators. New product formulations can often cost thousands of dollars per gram to manufacture. Considering that many tests destroy the sample material, formulators greatly benefit from minimizing the amount of sample required. This practice reduces material and labor costs and ideally produces the same accurate results of larger sample quantities. With the most popular particle sizing technique (laser diffraction) also being a destructive technique, there is motivation for instrument manufacturers to provide the best size results with the least sample and dollar costs.
Application Note AN176 on Minimizing Sample Quantity for Particle Size Analysis (You need to be logged in).
2009 Webinar Series
Please join us for our second web-based seminar (or Webinar) Thursday, March 5th when we'll broadcast the first part of our popular "Boot Camp" training courses for laser diffraction instruments. The first lecture in the series is an introduction to basic concepts including the following topics:
- What is a particle size distribution?
- Laser diffraction theory
- Refractive index theory
- System verification
- Good sampling practices
- Sample dispersion
- Wet analysis method development
- Dry analysis method development
And then on Wednesday, April 1st (no, it's not a joke!) please join us for a talk on defining and testing laser diffraction performance. The HORIBA LA-950 has been thoroughly tested both within the company and by customers. This presentation summarizes the results from this extensive testing. Topics covered include:
- Small particle size sensitivity
- Accuracy
- Precision
- Reproducibility between instruments and operators
- System verification
Attending Webinars is easy and free of charge. We will be glad to help you understand how to attend. Please direct your questions and comments to labinfo@horiba.com.
Invitation to the "Boot Camp" Part 1 Webinar on Thursday, March 5th.
Invitation to the Webinar on Laser Diffraction Performance for Thursday, April 1st.
These webinars are recorded and posted at our website - simply click on the "Members Area Login" button in the top-right corner, sign in (or complete a quick registration) and click on the "Webinars" link of the Members Area homepage.
HORIBA at Pittcon
If you're attending Pittcon in Chicago March 9-13, make sure you visit us at booth #1608 and attend the following oral presentations by HORIBA employees:
"Particle Characterization Using Image Analysis in the Pharmaceutical Industry" by Mark Bumiller, Monday, March 9 at 1:50 PM in room S504bc.
"X-ray Fluorescence" by Dr. Michael C. Pohl, Tuesday, March 10 at 3:25 PM in room S503b.
"A New Approach to Measuring the Size and Shape of Non-spherical Particles" by Shigemi Tochino, Makoto Umezawa, Tetsuji Yamaguchi and Tatsuo Igushi, Thursday, March 12 at 9:10 AM in room N426b.
This year the HORIBA booth will be located next to the Registration area.
Upcoming Customer Training Course
The HORIBA Particle Characterization Group has been steadily expanding our offering of customer training courses. The next laser diffraction (LA-series instruments) training course will be held in:
- Edison, NJ on April 28 & 29 (LA-950 users only)
- Irvine, CA on June 9-10 (All LA-series instruments)
Information on "Boot Camp" customer training course registration.
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