Determination of the Disperse Composition of a PbO Suspension Containing Aggregates of Particles of Lamellar Shape by the Laser-Polarimetry Method

The results of measurements of the scattering matrix at a wavelength of 0.63 μm in the range of scattering angles of 10°–155° are presented for an aqueous suspension of lead oxide containing particles of plate form and their aggregates of monomers with dimensions of ~5 nm. The results of the measurements are compared with the results of calculations for axially symmetric scatterers (ellipsoids of rotation, cylinders). It is shown that the presence of aggregates affects the scattering properties of such a medium. The results of reconstructing the distribution of particles of a disperse medium in sizes from the measurements data of the scattering matrix are presented. The reconstruction of the distributions was carried out by solving the problem of optimizing the sum of the squared deviations of the experimental and calculated values of matrix elements in the framework of the model of axially symmetric scatterers. It is shown that the distribution of particles by sizes is more accurately reconstructed by minimizing the sum of the squares of the deviations for the sum of the diagonal elements. The obtained distribution is compared with the distribution measured by the method of dynamic light scattering.