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Ceramics-Lab Report 1 SIEVE ANALYSIS Group 5 MAT-13A
Ceramics-Lab Report 1 SIEVE ANALYSIS Group 5 MAT-13A
Summary:
In this analysis, we start by taking certain amount of sand and place it on the top of the nested sieve
(the top sieve is placed in a such a way that it contains the largest screen opening and as we move
down the screen opening size decreases so the bottom sieve will have the smallest screen opening
size ) then it is shaken by some mechanical means for a fixed time, after this we weight each sieve
one by one and check the weight of retained material in the respective sieves. After that, we check
the weight of the material in the first sieve and then add the material in a pan then we check the
weight the material retained in second sieve and again add the material in pan. This process is
repeated until all the sieves are ended and at the end, we weight the total material which is present
in the pan (it should be equal to the amount of material we took initially).
Introduction:
Sieve analysis is a technique for assessing a material's particle size distribution. The process
separates fine particles from coarse particles by passing the material through a succession of sieves
with different mesh sizes. This allows for the determination of the mass fraction of particles within
each size range as well as the building of a cumulative mass distribution. The substance under
horizontal, vertical, or rotational motion. Particles in motion will eventually organize themselves
to provide the mesh aperture of the sieve their two smallest dimensions and pass to the next sieve
with a smaller nominal opening. Following the completion of the sieving method, the weight of
the sieves is analyzed and compared to the weight of the sieves prior to the addition of the sample.
This indicates how much material is on each filter. By accumulating the mass fraction on each
sieve, from the smallest to the largest sieve size, a cumulative mass distribution of the test sample
There are several methods for determining the particle size distribution of powders. A single
measuring methodology cannot be applied to the large size range covered, which ranges from
nanometers to millimeters. This is in addition to the normal limits of capital expenditures against
operating expenses, speed of operation, degree of expertise required, and, most importantly, end-
use requirement. The measured results should be equal if the particle-size distribution of a powder
made of hard, smooth spheres is tested using any of the approaches. However, for any powder
composed of non-spherical particles, there are several size distributions that may be specified.
There are other methods such as Laser Diffraction, Dynamic Light Scattering, and other advanced
methods for determining the particle size distribution, yet the sieve analysis is the simplest
technique applied.[2]
Experimental Procedure:
In this experiment we are taking a sample of sand which is weighted and found to be 500g, now
prepare a group of sieves of different screen opening sizes to separate particles of different sizes
then stack the test sieves in a correct order(the largest opening size at the top and smallest size at
the bottom sieve) after that pour the sample into the top sieve and fix the timer of the machine to
5 min and switch on the shaker which will consequently result in hitting the particles with some
mechanical means which would cause different particles of different sizes to separate from each
other and collect in their respective screen opening size sieve, after this phenomena the total
particles are collected in a small pan which could weighted easily and you can measure the mass
of each shaker and retained material, the minimum sized sieve is 100-mesh, and the maximum
After performing the experiment, we have obtained the following set of data.
Table of Observations:
Retained (%) %
approx.
Graph:
Percent Finer
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 0.1 0.01
Particle Size
Discussions:
According to the graph plotted above, as the sieve opening decreases, the percentage of particles
passing the sieves decreases. As the sieves are nested in ascending order, the particles passing
them become finer and because of that the slope of the graph is moving continuously downward.
The higher is the sieve number, the lower is the percent finer and so the smaller particle size.
Also, here we are using log scale for representing the particle size because we know that in sieve
analysis, we are taking data from the powder particles which are refined step by step and there is
a great dispersion in the gathered data and hence to avoid skewness we are using log scale.
Uncertainty:
We have 500g sample in weight which we use for particle size distribution. There are some
uncertainties which could lead us to error. When we determine weight for 500g, we are not sure
whether it will be the same as it is in powder form, and we can have either 499g or 501g. When
we put sample in sieves, some particles will stick into its holes which reduces mass. During
shaking, particles collide with each other which could cause particles size reduction, and this leads
to errors in estimation. Sometimes, the person can use brushes in order to save time, but this can
force some big particles to pass the sieve. And this also leads to uncertainty in the final results.
Sieve analysis may not be able to provide sufficient good resolution for a sample with a narrow
distribution due to the limited range of mesh sizes available. Through sieve analysis, no more
particle shape information is available until the particles are subsequently studied using other
measurement methods.[4]
Conclusion:
Sieve analysis is also known as grain size analysis because it is used to differentiate between
particles of different sizes, and it usually classifies particles into different groups with different
because they are usually manufactured by powder processing techniques. The differences in the
particle size can lead to higher porosity, poor compaction etc., and this has the direct impact on
the properties of ceramics. For example, if we are working in a construction site then small sand
particles and gravels are used for different applications because they have different mechanical
properties and bigger sand particles are used for different applications like strength wear-resistance
etc.
We have learnt to separate coarse and fine particles with the help of this technique and we can
relate the behavior of different size particles by plotting the appropriate graph using the data
collected, this method is an old method but it is still used in many laboratories because of its
efficiency, we can apply this method in the field of engineering whenever we are needed to
separate particle sizes especially while manufacturing of ceramics and can also be helpful in
References:
[4]Editor, “Sieve Analysis – Particle size analysis procedure - Basic Civil Engineering,” Basic
Civil Engineering, May 22, 2017. https://basiccivilengineering.com/2017/06/sieve-analysis-
test.html (accessed Mar. 13, 2022).