Sieving is the most traditional approach to separate a solid or powder into specified particle size fractions (fractionation). Sieving can be used to fractionate a heterogeneous sample into size fractions and proceed with those specific fractions or to analyse the particle size distribution in view of particle characterization. Many different procedures and standards still make use of sieving. Besides, it is often referred to as the reference method for other particle characterization techniques.

Both mechanical sieves and sonic sieves are available in our laboratory. The particle size distribution working range is from approx. 37 µm to 10 mm. The measurements are performed on ATM, Retsch or Stork Veco sieves. For the ATM sieves, the ATM sonic sifter module is being used, whereas the Retsch and Stork Veco sieves are applied in a mechanically operating sieving machine with variable amplitude and sieving duration.

Particle characterization results obtained from the sieve analysis are given in sieve fractions and cumulative mass-derived particle size distributions.