Sieve Calibration

 

A way to determine if changes have occurred is to compare the sieve’s performance against a known standard, This is sieve calibration.

Sieve calibration is the process of checking a working sieve’s performance. - A working sieve is a test sieve that is used regularly to perform a particle size analysis-.

 

Why Calibrate a Working Sieve?

 

Quality control of the sieving process is essential, and for people involved in material processing and particle characterization.

Since working sieves are used daily for tests, they are also cleaned regularly.

Although frequent use in itself can cause changes in mesh openings, much of the damage sustained to working sieves occurs during cleaning.

Often, the operator hurries to clear the mesh of residual particles by strongly tapping the frame, This tapping can distort the mesh.

Operators also use brushes to remove residual particles after a test, This process often distorts sections of the sieve mesh.

These alterations of the sieve will change the results obtained in subsequent tests, hence the need for calibration.

 

NIST Reference Materials

Standard Reference Materials, (SRM's) issued by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Glass beads and mineral powders produced by NIST used to calibrate sieves and cement testing instruments like the Wagner Turbidimeter and Blaine Fineness Apparatus.

 

Glass Beads for Sieve Calibration -Testing Sieve Standards-

NIST Particle Size (powder and solid forms)

 

These SRMs are for evaluating and calibrating specific types of particle size measuring instruments, including light scattering, electrical zone flow-through counters, optical and scanning electron microscopes, sedimentation systems, and wire cloth sieving devices.

 

SRMs 1003c, 1004b, 1017b, 1018b and 1019b each consist of soda-lime glass beads covering a particular size distribution (PSD) range. RM 8010 is a three bottle set of different sands (A, C and D), intended for use in sieving only, and covers the sieve size range from 30 mesh to 325 mesh.

 

SRM 659 consists of equiaxed silicon nitride particles measured using sedimentation. SRM 1978 consists of granular, irregular shaped zirconium oxide particles measured using sedimentation. SRM 1982 consists of spheroidal particles measured using scanning electron microscopy, laser scattering, and sieving.

 

 

Single-shot glass microsphere standards

 

Each Sieve Standard comes as five single-use vials of glass beads for use with a single sieve size.

A single vial is used for 8in or 200mm sieves, while two to five vials are used for sieves up to 18in or 450mm in diameter.

NIST traceability and are optimal for performance testing and establishing effective openings of sieves from No. 6 to No. 635 (3.35mm to 20µm).

 

While sieve standards do not take the place of Verification, periodic checks serve as an indicator of when to replace sieves, and these calibrations can be performed in minutes with no need to ship the sieves back or take them out of service.

Highly spherical beads made from 2.45 specific gravity soda-lime glass are certified for size using precision electroformed sieves with checks using microscopy and image analysis. After processing on a sieve, the average aperture size is quickly read from the provided calibration graph.

 

Sieve Standard has been selected by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) to produce standards for the European Community. This Sieve Standards are traceable to NIST, NPL and BCR.

 

Supplied in sets of 5 single shot bottles, each shot is suitable for one calibration test, thereby avoiding operator error.

These provide a quick and economical method of calibrating sieves.

 

The references, nearly all NIST traceable range in size from 0.1µm to 5.0mm and are available as single sizes or broad distribution standards.

 

Recommended number of bottles per sieve

200mm Diameter Sieve 1 bottle

300mm Diameter Sieve 2 bottles

450mm Diameter Sieve 5 bottles

*For  a  1000mm  sieve & 2000mm please contact us

 

These Sieve Calibration Beads are manufactured from soda-lime glass and certified using NIST & NPL traceable electroformed sieves. They are accurate to 1 micron for the smaller aperture sieves and are supplied with a certificate of analysis.

For ordering/more information, please contact us.