Development of a New Software for an Interactive Analysis of Particle Size

Abstract

The aim of this work is to propose a new software for a more precise evaluation, computation, and visualization of characteristic parameters of particle size distribution. The software is created upon the building block concept, the outputs of each block being automatically connected to the other blocks, allowing a great level of interactivity. The principal characteristics printed or plotted are: (a) analysis menu (calculated outputs): summary tables of the aperture size of the sieves and their individual and cumulative associated percentage and corrected percentage, when a loss of powder occurs during the weighing of the different sieves; (b) graphic menu (calculated and plotted outputs): (i) bar chart of the individual percentages against the size of the sieves, (ii) Polygon of the cumulative percentages against the size of the sieves, (iii) Histograms and cumulative percentage polygon together, (iv) observed points evaluating the probit of the cumulative weight percentage against the logarithm of the aperture size of the sieves, (v) regression lines and their equation coefficients, (vi) the results of the chi-square test, associated to the calculation of the chosen regression equation, with its probability level and the interpretation of the test (linearity reject or linearity no reject), (vii) the mean diameter or diameter corresponding to any fractile and their confidence intervals, (viii) comparison between several regression lines, and (ix) friability test.