On-Line Particle Size Analysis Using Ultrasonic Velocity Spectrometry

A new method is described for the determination of particle size distribution of slurries based on ultrasonic velocity spectrometry combined with gamma-ray transmission. This method shares the advantages of ultrasonic attenuation spectroscopy of being capable of analyzing highly concentrated samples without dilution. However the ultrasonic velocity method is better suited to fine particles of diameter from about 0.1 to 30 μm, a greater volume of slurry is analysed and therefore sampling errors are reduced, and precise theoretical models are readily available to permit the accurate determination of size distribution by inversion of ultrasonic velocity measurements. The method can also be used to accurately determine particle size cut points by linear correlation. Using either inversion or correlation methods, the accuracy of particle size information from ultrasonic velocity spectroscopy is significantly enhanced by the independent measurement of solids loading by gamma-ray transmission. In addition, larger sizes can be measured by combining the ultrasonic velocity method with ultrasonic attenuation measurements. The method has been tested in the laboratory on a wide variety of mineral and paint slurries. The method determined the size distribution of single component silica and alumina samples in water in agreement with laser diffraction measurements and the method successfully distinguished well and poorly dispersed TiO₂ suspensions. For composite samples the method discriminated separate TiO₂ and CaCO₃, components and determined their proportions to within 0.25% volume. In addition the method, in combination with ultrasonic attenuation measurements, determined the size fractions of iron ore slurries below 10 and 30 μm to within 1.3% and 1.0% relative respectively, when compared with laser diffraction measurement of particle size. The CSIRO is presently designing an industrial gauge which will be manufactured and installed in an industrial slurry stream in 1997.     

Ultrasonic wave propagation in concentrated slurries – The modelling problem

The suspended particle size distribution in slurries can, in principle, be estimated from measured ultrasonic wave attenuation across a frequency band in the 10s of MHz range. The procedure requires a computational model of wave propagation which incorporates scattering phenomena. These models fail at high particle concentrations due to hydrodynamic effects which they do not incorporate. This work seeks an effective viscosity and density for the medium surrounding the particles, which would enable the scattering model predictions to match experimental data for high solids loading. It is found that the required viscosity model has unphysical characteristics leading to the conclusion that a simple effective medium modification to the ECAH/LB is not possible. The paper confirms the successful results which can be obtained using core–shell scattering models, for smaller particles than had previously been studied, and outlines modifications to these which would permit rapid computation of sufficient stability to support fast particle sizing procedures.     

Particle Size Distribution Analysis of Industrial Colloidal Slurries using ultrasonic spectroscopy

Several solid-liquid suspensions containing submicron particles at moderate to high concentrations (5 to 50 volume percent) are encountered in industrial slurry processing. Measurements of ultrasonic attenuation spectra are used in a newly developed AcoustoPhor particle analysis system to get particle size distributions of such colloidal suspensions. This paper deals with the performance evaluation of the AcoustoPhor system. The automated ultrasonic spectrometer component of the AcoustoPhor system was tested using a reference silicone liquid for its accuracy and precision. The particle size distribution (PSD) estimation capabilities were evaluated using a set of well-dispersed slurries covering a wide range of particle concentrations. Sensitivity to process variations was evaluated in field tests at a pigment manufacturing plant. The AcoustoPhor system appears to be capable of providing reliable PSD data for inorganic pigment slurries with particle diameters ranging from 0.01 to 100 micrometers at particle concentrations as high as 50 volume percent.     

微纳粒子光学散射分析

为实现利用光学方式对微纳尺度粒子性质的研究,探讨了亚微米线及亚微米球对光电磁波的散射效应.微纳米尺度粒子的光学散射,散射粒子尺寸与入射光波长尺寸可满足米氏(Mie)散射条件.利用Matlab数值模拟的方式,将分析结果以模拟图的形式清晰地展现出来.满足尺寸条件的层状粒子以及任意多个散射粒子存在时对电磁波的散射都可采用Mie散射分析方法,并且针对多粒子散射,分析了散射体位于不同位置时对散射造成的影响.通过分析光学散射光场相关的微分散射截面及近场散射电磁场分布,可得出散射光场随散射角度的变化趋势,以及散射光场受各类因素的影响,包括入射光偏振态、散射粒子尺寸、散射粒子结构及粒子构成层数、散射粒子数量等的影响,也包括一些隐含因素对散射光场的影响,如散射粒子与周围介质的相对折射率.本文的科学意义体现在:与入射光波长尺寸可比的亚微米尺度的粒子,可用作传感器,对于其位移的探测可通过光学方式来实现,而由于粒子本身特性对散射光的影响具有一定的参考价值,从而使通过光学方式对机械位移的读出具有更高准确度.研究结果对于光学方式探测亚微米线机械振动具有指导意义.     

高密度超细颗粒高浓度悬浊液超声衰减的数值模拟分析

以拓展耦合相ECP理论模型为基础,通过对高浓度超细二氧化钛-水悬浊液和玻璃微珠-水悬浊液中超声衰减的数值计算分析,讨论了高密度差异颗粒两相介质在高浓度情况下,超声频率、颗粒粒径大小、颗粒浓度对超声波衰减的影响,为高密度超细颗粒在高浓度悬浊液中颗粒粒度和浓度的超声波测量提供理论支持。     

Simulation of ultrasonic attenuation in theelastic mixing particle system

For the study of predicting ultrasonic attenuation of elastic, spherical mixing particles in the liquid-solid two-phase system, the Monte Carlo method(MCM) is introduced,serving as a probability and statistics technique to evaluate the inside ultrasonic events during the ultrasound propagation. On the basis of ultrasonic scattering and aborption, the continuous ultrasonic waves are represented as discrete and independent phonons. By recording the scattering events, tracing the trajectory of a moving phonon and calculating the number of phonons that finally reach the receiving transducer, the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient is obtained to be a frequence-dependent spectrum. Numerical investigations have been carried out to predict and compare the ultrasonic attenuation for a solid-liquid two-phase system with a single type particle. After verifing its feasibility, such a method is then appalied into mixing particle system, where the mixing iron particles and glass beads with various ratios are set as examples for the purpose of predicting ultrasonic attenuation for the monodisperse and polydisperse mixing particle systems. The results of MCM, the ECAH model, the Lloyd Berry(LB) model and the Waterman model match well when the particle volume concentration is lower than 10%,corresponding to iron particles and glass beads respectively. In the case of two-phase system with mixing particles, it is shown that as the particle volume concentration increases to 10%, the variation of the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient with mixing ratio yields a nonlinear tendency.The physical properties of particles can also influence ultrasonic attenuation significantly.     

基于超声衰减谱的纳米颗粒粒度分布测量研究

利用变声程方式测量纳米颗粒悬浮液的超声衰减谱,以McClements模型和BLBL模型为理论基础,采用最优正则化(ORT)算法,反演得到纳米颗粒的粒度分布。运用该方法,对体积浓度1%的纳米二氧化钛-水悬浊液进行测量,与透射电镜(TEM)图像以及离心沉降纳米粒度分析仪检测结果对比,测量结果吻合较好,表明了利用超声衰减谱方法测量纳米颗粒粒度分布的可行性与可靠性。      

降雨粒子的无线紫外光散射特性

紫外光与降雨粒子相互作用发生散射,散射光特性改变能够反映降雨粒子的相关物理特性（如粒子尺寸参数、浓度、形态）,因此研究粒子的物理参数对散射光特性的影响对有效提高光谱法定量探测降水的精度有很大意义。由于雨滴在非球形降水粒子中具有代表性,以群雨滴粒子为例,采用T矩阵理论,利用紫外光直视和非直视单次散射模型,分析了入射光波长、群雨滴粒子形态、降雨强度、粒径大小与散射光强之间的关系。并用蒙特卡洛方法仿真分析了非球形群雨滴粒子在不同降雨强度和粒径下散射角与散射光强之间的关系,以及降雨环境中的风切变对紫外光散射特性的影响。通过理论及仿真分析,得到了不同群雨滴粒子形态下的路径损耗,不同降雨强度、风切变率和粒径下的散射光强分布。仿真结果表明：在紫外光直视与非直视通信方式下,降雨环境中的通信质量比晴天条件下的通信质量差,即路径损耗增大。当粒径分布已知时,随着降雨强度的增大,衰减系数增大,路径损耗增加,且直视通信方式的路径损耗比非直视降低7 dB左右。随着降雨强度、风切变率和粒子粒径的增大,散射光强曲线整体呈下降趋势,其中,降雨强度的变化对散射光强分布影响程度最大。相同通信距离时,不同降雨强度下的紫外光散射光强分布均随着散射角的增大而减小,当散射角继续增大到90°时,有效散射体体积逐渐减小,接收到的光子能量减小,暴雨中的散射光强衰减程度最大。相同降雨强度下考虑风切变时,相比较无风时的路径损耗增大5 dB左右。除此之外,还研究了椭球形和切比雪夫形粒子对紫外光散射光强的影响,结果表明当粒子粒径分布相同时,椭球形粒子的散射光强衰减较广义切比雪夫形粒子大。根据散射粒子的散射光强分布以及路径损耗能够区分雨滴粒子是否由相同粒径及形态组成,为粒子测量提供理论基础。分析降水中群雨滴粒子的光散射特性,为提高光谱法评估降水衰减的数值模拟方面提供理论依据,为光学技术在探测识别降水现象等气象领域的广泛应用提供了设计参考。     

Polydisperse particle size characterization by ultrasonic attenuation spectroscopy in the micrometer range

The theoretical advantages of ultrasonic attenuation spectroscopy for particle size are currently not fully utilized. Especially in the region of larger particles, there is a lack of experimental confirmation of applicable models which may be used to infer particle sizes from measured attenuation spectra. With the present work, an attempt is made to supply experimental data, obtained with a commercially available ultrasonic attenuation spectrometer, and model calculations, which are based on the resonant scattering theory. It is shown that measured attenuation results for various combinations of disperse and continuous phase for both polydisperse emulsions and suspensions are reproducible by calculation. The approach is further examined for suspensions of porous particles. Here, the resonant scattering approach is combined with the Biot model for poroelasticity to obtain attenuation results with several fractions of titania aggregates, differing in particle size and pore diameter. The results indicate that the theory of resonant scattering is a valid approach if applied to particle size characterization in the large particle limit.     

混合弹性颗粒体系声衰减数值模拟

采用概率统计方法——蒙特卡罗方法,建立一种预测液固两相体系中混合弹性球形颗粒声衰减的理论模型。在单颗粒声散射和吸收的基础上,将连续超声波抽象离散化为大量独立的声子,追踪声散射过程,通过统计接收器探测声子数最终确定声衰减系数。采用数值方法对单一球形颗粒的液固两相体系中声衰减进行预测和比较,确定了该方法的可行性后将该方法推广到混合颗粒体系中,对玻璃微珠/铁粉构成的混合颗粒及多分散混合颗粒体系进行数值研究。结果表明:在体积浓度低于10%时,蒙特卡罗法预测得玻璃微珠或铁粉颗粒声衰减和ECAH,Lloyd和Berry,Waterman等建立的模型结果吻合。对于混合颗粒构成的两相体系,算例中,随着体积浓度增大到10%,声衰减系数随混合颗粒数目比的变化呈现出了非线性的变化,同时颗粒物性也会影响不同组分颗粒对声衰减的贡献,算例中铁粉颗粒比玻璃微珠对声衰减的影响更大。      

雾霾粒子的紫外光散射特性研究

紫外光与雾霾粒子发生散射后,其散射信道特性能够反映雾霾粒子的相关物理信息,利用无线紫外光单次和多次散射信道模型,采用Mie散射和T矩阵理论分析了霾粒子在不同形态和浓度下的紫外光散射信道特性,以及散射角对散射光强的影响,并完成了紫外光在雾霾环境下的实测。通过理论及仿真分析,得到了不同霾粒子形态下的紫外光通信路径损耗以及光强分布。结果表明：紫外光直视通信方式下,路径损耗随着霾粒子浓度的增大而增大,且通信质量差于晴朗天。非直视通信方式中,在短距离通信时,高霾浓度下的路径损耗小于中低霾浓度,然而随着通信距离的继续增大,高雾霾浓度下的通信质量急剧下降,低霾浓度下通信质量最终达到最优,且距离为200 m时通信质量能优于晴朗环境。当通信距离相同时,三种雾霾浓度下的紫外光散射光强分布均随着散射角的增大而减小,当散射角继续增大并超过90°时,低霾浓度下的散射光强最大。主要原因是虽然散射角继续增大,但是有效散射体体积逐渐减小,因此低霾浓度下的散射光强较大。且当粒子粒径相同时,球形粒子的衰减较非球形粒子大。雾霾环境下实测结果与仿真结果相类似,证明了仿真结果的正确性,并在一定程度上证明了实际大气中雾霾非球形粒子多于球形粒子。     

Structuring from nanoparticles in oil-based ferrofluids

The effect of magnetic field on the structure formation in an oil-based magnetic fluid with various concentrations of magnetite particles was studied. The evaluation of the experimental data obtained from small-angle X-ray scattering and ultrasonic attenuation indicates the formation of chain-like aggregates composed of magnetite particles. The experimental data obtained from ultrasonic spectroscopy fit well with the recent theoretical model by Shliomis, Mond and Morozov but only for a diluted magnetic fluid. In this model it is assumed that a dimer is the main building block of a B -field-induced chain-like structure, thus the estimation of the nematic order parameter does not depend on the actual length of the structure. The scattering method used reveals information about the aggregated structure size and relative changes in the degree of anisotropy in qualitative terms. The coupling constant l \lambda , concentrations f \phi , average particle size d and its polydispersity s \sigma were initially obtained using the vibrating sample magnetometry and these results were further confirmed by rheometry and scattering methods. Both the particles’ orientational distribution and the nematic order parameter S were inferred from the ultrasonic measurements. The investigation of SAXS patterns reveals the orientation and sizes of aggregated structures under application of different magnetic-field strengths. In addition, the magnetic-field-dependent yield stress was measured, and a relationship between the yield stress and magnetic-field strength up to 0.5T was established.     

Particle Manipulation by Ultrasonic Standing Wave Fields to complement dynamic light scattering experiments

Dynamic light scattering is a widely used technique for the sizing of colloidal suspensions. It is capable of measuring particles across the size range from approximately 1 nm to several microns. However the larger particle sizes tend to pose problems for the interpretation of the scattered light signal either by virtue of their light scattering efficiency relative to the smaller species present or the departure of the scattered light signal from Gaussian statistics. Rapid removal of such particles in-situ could extend the use of dynamic light scattering particularly in on-line analysis or laboratory automated measurement. In this paper a method is demonstrated for the in-situ removal of larger particles in suspension by means of ultrasonic standing waves and concurrent dynamic light scattering measurement. The theory behind ultrasonic particle manipulation and its effect on the motion of the particles is discussed. Data from a scattering cell designed to incorporate the ultrasonic technology is presented showing that dynamic light scattering measurements may be carried out under such conditions. Varying the energy density of the ultrasonic field allows particles greater than a defined cut-off diameter to be removed from the measurement region. Theory shows that the minimum cut-off size may be as small as 100 nm. Results presented here demonstrate complete removal at a lower diameter threshold of approximately 2000 nm.     

透过率起伏光谱分析法测粒技术

提出的透过率起伏光谱分析法是一种新的颗粒测量方法。采用一细小光束照射匀速流动的颗粒系统,通过采集透射光起伏信号,经统计处理得到透过率的平均值与起伏谱。通过求解逆问题,从透过率的起伏谱中得到颗粒粒径分布信息,再结合透过率的平均值得到颗粒的体积分数信息。给出了关于单层颗粒透过率的平均值与起伏谱的理论表达式,并推广到三维单分散和多分散的颗粒系统。对粒径在32~425μm内的稀薄颗粒系进行了部分实验测试和模拟计算,结果表明该方法可同时对颗粒粒径分布和体积分数进行有效测量。     

Intercomparison of Inversion Algorithms for Particle‐Sizing Using Mie Scattering

The applicability of different inversion algorithms to retrieve a size distribution of particles in air from light scattering is examined. The investigation is focused on an optical measurement setup with an elliptical mirror as the main optical element. In order to evaluate the capabilities of the individual inversion methods, light scattering by spherical particles is simulated in the size ranges of 0.1 – 10 μm and 0.05 – 1 μm. The distribution of the particle diameters is modeled with three different parametric functions, i.e., RRSB, logarithmic‐normal and a more specific distribution from an ultrasonic nebulizer. Different kinds of noise, e.g., additive and/or multiplicative, are applied in different levels to the simulated scattering measurement to include real physical measurement conditions. The convergence properties of the scattering simulation are investigated with respect to the number of size classes, and thus, information concerning the size resolution required to simulate a measurement for a given particle size distribution is obtained. Further parameters of interest are the minimum angular resolution of the measurements, the number of size classes of the retrieved particle size distribution and the measured polarization of the scattered light.     

A study on measuring distribution of nanoparticle size based on ultrasonic attenuation spectrum

Through varying the ultrasonic path length,the ultrasonic attenuation spectrum of the nanometer particle suspensions is measured.Based on the McClements and BLBL model, the Optimum Regularization Technique is employed to inverse the distribution of particle size for nanometer particles.Experiments are carried out to measure the distribution of particle size of aqueous nanometer titanium dioxide suspension with volume fraction of 1%.The ultrasonic measurement results show good consistence with those from TEM(Transmission Electron Microscope) and centrifugal sedimentation particle size analyzers,which indicate that measuring distribution of the particle size of nanometer particles with the ultrasonic attenuation spectrum is feasible and reliable.     

超声衰减和速度谱测量亚微米乳液的粒径

研究了超声衰减谱法和相速度测量高浓度多分散脂肪两相乳浊液的粒径分布问题.在理论分析基础上,实验测量了多个浓度(2%～20%)脂肪乳试样在2～13 MHz频带下超声衰减和相速度谱,结合反演算法由实验数据计算出乳浊液颗粒的粒径分布,并讨论了相速度法的意义和特点.将原始浓度(20%)下测得粒径分布与消光法在稀释条件下相同试样测量结果作对比,二者比较吻合,表明超声谱法可在无稀释的高浓度条件下作乳浊液粒径分布的表征.     

Acoustic wave in a suspension of magnetic nanoparticle with sodium oleate coating

The ultrasonic propagation in the water-based magnetic fluid with doubled layered surfactant shell was studied. The measurements were carried out both in the presence as well as in the absence of the external magnetic field. The thickness of the surfactant shell was evaluated by comparing the mean size of magnetic grain extracted from magnetization curve with the mean hydrodynamic diameter obtained from differential centrifugal sedimentation method. The thickness of surfactant shell was used to estimate volume fraction of the particle aggregates consisted of magnetite grain and surfactant layer. From the ultrasonic velocity measurements in the absence of the applied magnetic field, the adiabatic compressibility of the particle aggregates was determined. In the external magnetic field, the magnetic fluid studied in this article becomes acoustically anisotropic, i.e., velocity and attenuation of the ultrasonic wave depend on the angle between the wave vector and the direction of the magnetic field. The results of the ultrasonic measurements in the external magnetic field were compared with the hydrodynamic theory of Ovchinnikov and Sokolov (velocity) and with the internal chain dynamics model of Shliomis, Mond and Morozov (attenuation).     

Acoustic measurement of suspensions of clay and silt particles using single frequency attenuation and backscatter

The use of ultrasonic acoustic technology to measure the concentration of fine suspended sediments has the potential to greatly increase the temporal and spatial resolution of sediment measurements while reducing the need for personnel to be present at gauging stations during storm events. The conversion of high-frequency attenuation and backscatter amplitudes to suspended silt and clay concentration has received relatively little attention in the literature. In order to improve the state of knowledge, a laboratory investigation was undertaken by the National Center for Physical Acoustics in cooperation with the USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory. In these experiments, two immersion transducers were used to measure attenuation and backscatter from 20 MHz acoustic signals propagated through suspended clay (smectite and kaolinite) and silt particles. The resulting data includes attenuation values for a wide range of concentrations (0.3–14 g/L) and particle sizes (0.03–14 μm diameter). Attenuation curves for each particle were compared to the theoretical attenuation curves developed by Urick (1948) and Sheng and Hay (1988) for scattering as presented by Landers (2010) [5,11,12]. In addition, it was found that the backscatter signal could be used to discriminate between suspensions dominated by clay or silt.