Particle Shape Analyzer

The Analysette 22 NanoTec is the first Particle Size Analyzer that combines Particle Shape Analysis by laser diffraction.

Shape recognition of particles with the Analysette 22 NanoTec

• The recognition of the shape of particles is possible on the basis of diffraction structures.
• The diffraction pattern created by the particles in the laser contains information about the shape of the particles.
• Different shapes of particles create different diffraction patterns in the laser beam.
• Information on the shape can be extracted from appropriate methods of signal processing.

Figure 1: diffraction pattern of a sphere-shaped particle	Figure 2: diffraction pattern of an ellipsoid particle

For real measurement, however, there are several particles in the volume to be measured - with arbitrary alignment in the room and with varying particle sizes.
The resulting diffraction pattern now contains combined information about the particle size, spatial arrangement and particle shape (figure 3).

Figure 3: diffraction pattern of a particle collective

Using a new type of sensor (figure 4) it is possible to record the areas of the diffraction pattern in which the information about the shape of the particles is contained.

Figure 4: Drawing of the sensor arrangement

To evaluate the sensor data, a simulated neuronal back propagation network was trained and used.
With this, a calibration of shape is received which is to a large degree independent of the material which is displayed in the diagram (figure 5).
Investigations have shown that the values measured, averaged over a certain number of measurements agree to a large extent with the desired values.

Sensor Data