Delft Solids Solutions B.V.

“Are you nanoproof?”

Nano particles have different properties compared to larger particles of the same material. This also means that they have different effects to the wellbeing of people and to the environment. The risks that nano materials possess have not been sufficiently researched.

Although laws and regulations concerning nano materials are not yet established, some new ordinances about nano particles will be executed in 2013 and especially the properties of new products have to be carefully investigated.
In case of e.g. food products, labeling requirements are given in which the (possible) presence of nano particles should be mentioned on the label of the product.
New cosmetic products with nano materials must be registered six months before the product will be placed on the consumers market. Specific information has to be given about the nano material such as particle size, physical and chemical properties and toxicological profile.
In some countries, even mandatory reporting of nano materials has been announced for 2013.

Are you a producer and do you need to know if your product or the used raw materials contain nano particles? Delft Solids Solutions can help you to determine if your product contains nano particles and therefore must be classified as such.

Analysis of dust and dustiness

in the Delft Solids Solutions laboratory

Dust is an important feature of powders that can highly determine the characteristics and application of the respective material but simultaneously it also affects human health and the environment. Obviously, handling of powders can easily liberate a certain amount of dust. Besides powders, also larger solid pieces can be responsible for dust production. Due to e.g. attrition, abrasion, fragmentation, and chipping, large particles can release smaller particles that will contribute to the dustiness.

Our laboratory employs the Heubach dust meter for the quantification of the dustiness of powders and granules, which is typically expressed in ppm (mg per kg). This method is based on a rotating drum in which a known amount of material under investigation is being rotated to release the dust particles. The dust is being transported by a calibrated air flow to a collector with a filter. The collected dust is weighed and related to the weight of sample used. The analyses are executed in accordance with DIN 55992 and NEN-EN 15051 standards. Besides quantification of the amount of dust, the collected dust can be analyzed on particle size, morphology and chemical composition by dedicated particle sizing techniques, electron microscopy and X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) or neutron activation analysis (NAA).

Analysis and quantification of dust can help your company to develop low dusting formulations and ensure healthy working conditions.

Improving (the understanding of) powder behavior, flow and transport

The behavior of fine powders and particles during handling, storage, and transport is influenced by a wide variety of physical properties. Unwanted phenomena such as clogging of products in big bags and bridging and poor flow in hoppers are often related to (altered) products properties. Products which are somehow sensitive for e.g. moisture, consolidation, cohesion, attrition will behave differently as compared to their more inert counterparts. Predicting the powder behavior is however not an easy task.
Delft Solids Solutions uses a combination of different tests rigs to mimic industrial behavior of powders and solids allowing an adequate description of their anticipated flow and transport behavior. Such studies can be used in hopper and silo design but also for a comparative investigation on poor and optimal product properties and of course in product formulation.
Typical characteristics that are included in such study are shear properties under well defined conditions, powder flowability, attrition behavior, segregation tendency,  and others…

Particle size and particle shape analysis

in the Delft Solids Solutions laboratory

Particle size and size distribution are important physical characteristics for the quality of products and highly influence the behavior during processing and handling of powders, like flowability, transport and storage. Laboratory particle sizing analysis by characterization of size distribution and shape is a strong tool in R&D and Quality Control environment.

Closely related to particle sizing analysis is the droplet size distribution of sprays, nebulizers and other aerosols. Droplet size analysis is mainly used to optimize nozzle design, enhance inkjet printing technology, restrict excessive use of pesticides and increase medicine effectiveness.

Obviously, sieving is the best-known classical approach to fractionate materials and determine particle size distributions. Currently, various modern techniques such as Laser Diffraction (light scattering or laser scattering), Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS), Electrical Sensing Zone, Image Analysis, Laser Doppler Velocimetry and Microscopy (electron microscopy and optical microscopy) are available for sizing analysis. These techniques are offered in our laboratory, besides more conventional particle sizing methods such as Andreasen (Sedimentation) and Sieve Analysis.

Our laboratory uses equipment from the following manufacturers for particle size analysis: Malvern, Beckman Coulter, and Micromeritics.

Porosity, surface area and density analysis

in the Delft Solids Solutions laboratory

Porosity and surface area are important characteristics of solid materials and powders that highly determine the properties and performance such as density, flowability, compaction and cohesion. High surface area materials typically consist of powders with small particles or porous particles. These properties can be analyzed in our contract laboratory with a variety of physical and analytical techniques. In our contract analysis laboratory we use physical gas adsorption (physisorption) for the analysis of the specific surface area (BET area), pore size and pore volume in the range of pores up to 0.1 micrometer. Mostly nitrogen (N2) adsorption is used, but for lower surface areas krypton can be applied, while for small pores argon or carbon dioxide is being additionally used.

For porous materials with larger pores, mercury intrusion porosimetry can be applied, which is capable of measuring pores starting from 0.004 micrometer even up to 900 micrometers. These pores typically exist in agglomerated materials, granules, beads, pellets, etc. The real density of powders and solid materials can be measured by helium pycnometry. Ths value is useful for calculating maximum loadings of reactors and silos. For bulk solids characterization also the tapped density, bulk density, aerated density, pour density, and pack density can be analyzed. The Delft Solids Solutions laboratory uses equipment of the following manufacturers for porosity measurements: Micromeritics, Quantachrome and Thermo Scientific. All analyses are carried out following international standards such as ISO, DIN and ASTM, but can also be executed following customers’ requirements.