During the Easyfairs SOLIDS 2011 exhibition (Rotterdam, 5-6 October 2011), Delft Solids Solutions will for the first time showcase her newly acquired dust measurement equipment fully working in accordance with the EN 15051 standard “Workplace atmospheres – Measurement of the dustiness of bulk materials”. This method is more and more often used in the quantification of dustiness of existing but especially newly-introduced powder materials. It is also a required method by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA. In view of workplace safety and healthiness, more and more attention is paid to the formation of dust during conveying of powder-containing or powder-releasing products. The harmfulness of airborne dust particles is classified in so-called inhalable, thoracic, and respirable dust fractions. This classification corresponds to the size of the particles, the degree of penetration in the human respiratory system and thus the health hazard. The…

Delft Solids Solutions, a contract research laboratory focused on the physical characterization of mostly solid materials, expands its activities in the field of solid and catalyst characterization by the acquisition of a Hiden IGA-003 analyzer. The IGA-003 is a gravimetric analyzer specifically designed for multi-component gas sorption analysis. Analysis temperatures from -196°C to 1000°C can be applied at pressures ranging from ultra-high vacuum to 20 bars. A close-coupled mass spectrometer allows the performance of product desorption and standard TG/MS experiments. The IGA-003 has been widely used in catalyst characterization, as well for the study of sorption on pharmaceuticals, carbons, zeolites and polymers. The Delft Solids Solutions’ set-up is one of the few instruments available in the Benelux. The staff of Delft Solids Solutions is very glad with the expansion of her capabilities and happy to discuss your interest, request, or application. More…

Delft Solids Solutions now offers testing the tendency of powders towards segregation Considerable efforts are often devoted to the mixing of several different species of powders (of various sizes, shapes and densities) in order to have a homogeneous mixture of the intermediate or final product. Nevertheless, a well-mixed system may segregate during handling, e.g. when discharging into a bin or big-bag, transportation in a truck or pipe-line, but this could also occur when loading the powder in e.g. a tablet press for production of pharmaceutical tablets. Surprisingly, this phenomenon is often overlooked or not adequately tackled. Prediction and quantification of this segregation phenomenon can now be executed in the Delft Solids Solutions laboratory. The fluidization segregation tendency of powders is assessed in accordance with ASTM D 6941 standard. In this segregation test, a fixed volume of a representative powder sample is fluidized and collected in different fractions. Subsequently, typical characteristics (e.g. particle size or density) of the…

Analysing flowability of bulk solids Is dosing and flow of powders important to you and are variations in quality and quantity of your product problems that keep you awake at night? Delft Solids Solutions now offers – besides the regular characterisation of powders for parameters such as particle size, porosity and density - the possibility of executing Hosokawa powder tests on your solids and powders to investigate powder flow properties. The Hosokawa powder tester makes use of empirical methods that mimic the behaviour of powders during handling and transport. The powder tests can be executed according to the ASTM D 6393 standard and provide insight into a number of parameters forming the basis of the so-called Carr indices. The Hosokawa powder tester has previously successfully been used by Delft Solids Solutions in close cooperation with partners from the food and pharmaceutical sector to elucidate flow problems in the production and storage of powders. The principles, use, and application…

Delft Solids Solutions has broadened her capability for particle sizing by investment in a new laser diffraction instrument with an extended minimum particle size range down to 0.02 micrometer. The instrument is suitable for dry dispersions by the Venturi effect, is capable of handling small (valuable) samples that require dispersion in aqueous or organic media, and features more advanced optical Mie modeling for smaller particles. Delft Solids Solutions (DSS) is a fully independent contract research laboratory that primarily focuses on the physical characterisation of solids. Core activities comprise research and non-transactional characterisation of solid materials from the micro to the macro level, in particular particle size, porosity, flow behaviour, and composition of a wide variety of materials.

Delft Solids Solutions has expanded its primary characterisation activities in the field of solids characterization. Delft Solids Solutions is now capable of determining an additional set of variables responsible for flow and mobility characteristics of powders. Parameters such as compressibility, cohesion, aerated and tapped bulk density, angles of spatula and fall can be quantitatively determined and correlated with the particle behaviour. In turn these results can be correlated with primary variables such as true density, particle size, surface area and porosity. This information should lead to a better understanding of the flow and storage behaviour and quality of powders and is relevant for manufacturers, suppliers and users of bulk solids.