Quasi-monodisperse Particles Research Articles

Particle organization after viscous sedimentation in tilted containers

A series of sedimentation experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to understand the factors that control the final angle of a static sediment layer formed by quasi-monodisperse particles settling in an inclined container. The set of experiments includes several combinations of fluid viscosity, container angle, and solids concentration. A comparison between the experiments and a set of two-dimensional numerical simulations shows that the physical mechanism responsible for the energy dissipation in the system is the collision between the particles. The results provide new insights into the mechanism that sets the morphology of the sediment layer formed by the settling of quasi-monodisperse particles onto the bottom of an inclined container. Tracking the interface between the suspension solids and the clear fluid zone reveals that the final angle adopted by the sediment layer shows strong dependencies on the initial particle concentration and the container inclination, but not the fluid viscosity. It is concluded that (1) the hindrance function plays an important role on the sediment bed angle, (2) the relation between the friction effect and the slope may be explained as a quasi-linear function of the projected velocity along the container bottom, and (3) prior to the end of settling there is a significant interparticle interaction through the fluid affecting to the final bed organization. We can express the sediment bed slope as a function of two dimensionless numbers, a version of the inertial number and the particle concentration. The present experiments confirm some previous results on the role of the interstitial fluid on low Stokes number flows of particulate matter.

Theoretical calculation of uncertainty region for spherical particles based on a picket fence, quasi-monodisperse particles

In order to confirm the reliability of particle size measurement technique and to prepare standard reference particles for calibrating particle size measurement devices, experimental and theoretical studies have been conducted about the uncertainty region of particle size measurement for the picket fence and quasi mono-disperse particles. The vertical and horizontal uncertainty regions based on Tschebyscheff theory are calculated to the picket fence distribution composed of two kinds of nearly mono-disperse particles. The uncertainty region increases around the intermediate particle diameters between the two kinds of particles.Because the original particle size distribution is nearly mono-disperse, the uncertainty regions around the minimum and maximum particle diameter are small compared to the intermediate particle diameters between the two kinds of particles.The uncertainty region in vertical and horizontal direction changes to decrease with the increase of sample size. For the picket fence distribution composed of two kinds of nearly mono-disperse particles, the sample size about more than 10,000 is necessary to obtain the reliable results in particle size counting process.

Experimental study of the role of physicochemical surface processing on the IN ability of mineral dust particles

Abstract. During the measurement campaign FROST 2 (FReezing Of duST 2), the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS) was used to investigate the influence of various surface modifications on the ice nucleating ability of Arizona Test Dust (ATD) particles in the immersion freezing mode. The dust particles were exposed to sulfuric acid vapor, to water vapor with and without the addition of ammonia gas, and heat using a thermodenuder operating at 250 °C. Size selected, quasi monodisperse particles with a mobility diameter of 300 nm were fed into LACIS and droplets grew on these particles such that each droplet contained a single particle. Temperature dependent frozen fractions of these droplets were determined in a temperature range between −40 °C ≤T≤−28 °C. The pure ATD particles nucleated ice over a broad temperature range with their freezing behavior being separated into two freezing branches characterized through different slopes in the frozen fraction vs. temperature curves. Coating the ATD particles with sulfuric acid resulted in the particles' IN potential significantly decreasing in the first freezing branch (T>−35 °C) and a slight increase in the second branch (T≤−35 °C). The addition of water vapor after the sulfuric acid coating caused the disappearance of the first freezing branch and a strong reduction of the IN ability in the second freezing branch. The presence of ammonia gas during water vapor exposure had a negligible effect on the particles' IN ability compared to the effect of water vapor. Heating in the thermodenuder led to a decreased IN ability of the sulfuric acid coated particles for both branches but the additional heat did not or only slightly change the IN ability of the pure ATD and the water vapor exposed sulfuric acid coated particles. In other words, the combination of both sulfuric acid and water vapor being present is a main cause for the ice active surface features of the ATD particles being destroyed. A possible explanation could be the chemical transformation of ice active metal silicates to metal sulfates. The strongly enhanced reaction between sulfuric acid and dust in the presence of water vapor and the resulting significant reductions in IN potential are of importance for atmospheric ice cloud formation. Our findings suggest that the IN concentration can decrease by up to one order of magnitude for the conditions investigated.

Water interaction with hydrophobic and hydrophilic soot particles

The interaction of water with laboratory soots possessing a range of properties relevant for atmospheric studies is examined by two complementary methods: gravimetrical measurement of water uptake coupled with chemical composition and porosity analysis and HTDMA (humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer) inference of water uptake accompanied by separate TEM (transmission electron microscopy) analysis of single particles. The first method clarifies the mechanism of water uptake for bulk soot and allows the classification of soot with respect to its hygroscopicity. The second method highlights the dependence of the soot aerosol growth factor on relative humidity (RH) for quasi-monodisperse particles. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic soot are qualitatively defined by their water uptake and surface polarity: laboratory soot particles are thus classified from very hydrophobic to very hydrophilic. Thermal soot particles produced from natural gas combustion are classified as hydrophobic with a surface of low polarity since water is found to cover only half of the surface. Graphitized thermal soot particles are proposed for comparison as extremely hydrophobic and of very low surface polarity. Soot particles produced from laboratory flame of TC1 aviation kerosene are less hydrophobic, with their entire surface being available for statistical monolayer water coverage at RH approximately 10%. Porosity measurements suggest that, initially, much of this surface water resides within micropores. Consequently, the growth factor increase of these particles to 1.07 at RH > 80% is attributed to irreversible swelling that accompanies water uptake. Hysteresis of adsorption/desorption cycles strongly supports this conclusion. In contrast, aircraft engine soot, produced from burning TC1 kerosene in a gas turbine engine combustor, has an extremely hydrophilic surface of high polarity. Due to the presence of water soluble organic and inorganic material it can be covered by many water layers even below water saturation conditions. This soot demonstrates a gradual diameter growth factor (D(wet)/D(dry)) increase up to 1.22 at 93% relative humidity, most likely due to the presence of single particles with water soluble material heterogeneously distributed over their surface.

Generation of Nanoparticles of Lubricating Motor Oil for Inhalation Studies

Recent studies suggest that most 20–30 nm nanoparticles measured at roadsides are composed mainly of organic carbon derived from lubricating motor oil. Therefore, a simple particle generation system has been developed for controlled production of 20–30 nm nanoparticles of lubricating motor oil for inhalation toxicology studies by means of vapor condensation without addition of nuclei. Quasi-monodisperse particles with a modal diameter located at 20 nm and total number concentrations above 10 6 cm −3 were generated. Ten 2-h particle generation reproducibility tests were conducted, in which stability and repeatability of particle size and total number concentration were good. Organic carbon is a major component of oil particles, and organic analysis showed that the compositions of oil particles were not subjected to distillation of organic compounds through evaporation to condensation. Using the nose-exposure system connected to the particle generation system, toxicity of 20-nm particle organic compounds of...

Measurements of non-volatile fractions of pollution aerosols with an eight-tube volatility tandem differential mobility analyzer (VTDMA-8)

A volatility tandem differential mobility analyzer (VTDMA) was developed that offers high size resolution with high temporal resolution: the eight heating columns of the VTDMA-8 allow rapid measurement of the non-volatile component of aerosol particles within a narrow particle size range in about 15 min . The non-volatile composition of these quasi-monodisperse particles is described in terms of number fraction Φ N and volume fraction Φ V of the non-volatile material. Laboratory studies were made to determine the transfer efficiency and the volatile behavior of sulfate particles in the VTDMA-8. Its applicability to atmospheric aerosols was confirmed during three field measurements. Since the distribution of carbonaceous material depends on the distance to combustion sources and varies with region (i.e., urban or rural) and with time, we made continuous surface measurements in air masses polluted to different levels: (a) in Falkenberg, a moderately polluted, rural region in north-eastern Germany, (b) in the city of Leipzig, a strongly polluted environment, and (c) directly at a combustion source in the exhaust of a diesel-fueled vehicle. The results show that the refractory material contained in 150 nm atmospheric particles (at Falkenberg and Leipzig) ranged between 8% and 25% in volume and represents an external mixture of particles containing various amounts of non-volatile material. However, the vehicle-emitted 50 nm particles at a single combustion source were internally mixed, and that non-volatile fraction ranged between 75% and 98% in volume, depending on the operating conditions of the vehicle (speed, engine revolution). The results show that throughout all measurements the total number of particles remained unchanged after evaporation of the volatile material. Our results demonstrate that the VTDMA-8 can rapidly measure the non-volatile fractions of size-segregated pollution aerosols and that it is applicable to study the mixing state of aerosols and the effect of carbonaceous material on aerosol aging processes.

Determination of Coagulation Coefficients and Aggregation Kinetics for Charged Aerosols

A new method has been developed which allows determination of the coagulation coefficient of two oppositely charged particles experimentally. For this purpose, quasi-monodisperse particles of different sizes and morphology were used to study the influence of different parameters on the coagulation coefficient. A good agreement between experimental results and the classic Fuchs' theory was obtained when including a method accounting for particle nonsphericity. In experiments with polydisperse bipolarly charged aerosols, no principal differences to uncharged aerosols were found when a dimensionless representation was used. Changes in particle number concentration and geometric mean diameter can be described by simple empirical expressions.