There are many things around us that are made of powder-plastic, foodstuffs, cosmetics, medicines, ceramics (pottery), to name a few. It is not widely known that the size of powder particles is a very important factor when products are made.
Take ceramics, for example, which are made by baking and solidifying mineral powders such as stone. In addition to familiar products such as ceramic knives and scissors, the body of the space shuttle is also made of ceramics. To make many different ceramics with different purposes and strengths, the particle sizes of ingredients play a very important role.
Think of particles as tennis balls. There will be gaps between balls when several of them are lined up vertically and horizontally. If you were to bake and solidify them in this way, you would end up with a fragile ceramic material, with a lot of gaps between particles. Now, the gaps between the tennis balls would become smaller if you were to put ball bearings between them. There would still be gaps between the tennis balls and the ball bearings, however, so you could include even smaller balls in theses gaps. By doing so, the gaps become smaller and smaller, and nearly disappear. You will have a very strong ceramic with very few gaps if you bake and solidify particles in this way.
A device known as a particle size and distribution analyzer measures the size of particles contained in powder. This device helps users to see how many particles of what size are contained in the ingredients. Take milk, which is a very familiar substance. The taste and richness of milk depend on the particle size of fat. In this way, the combinations of the particle sizes of ingredients determine the quality and characteristics of final products. This is why the particle size and distribution analyzer is widely used in various fields where powder is used to make things, such as ceramics, cosmetics, and foods.
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