Measures of the number concentration of particles in liquids for the purpose of metrological traceability in the field of ultrahigh concentrations

Measurements of the granulometric composition of aerosols, suspensions and powdery materials in the field of ultrahigh concentrations are in demand in the chemical, gas, and oil industries, where concentrated suspensions of solid particles are used. The existing measuring instruments for particle number concentration in liquids are characterized by an upper limit of the reproduction range of particle number concentration of 10¹² m⁻³. However, for metrological support of photometric high-precision measuring instruments for the number concentration of particles in a liquid, it is necessary to expand this range to 10⁸‒10¹⁸ m⁻³. As part of the development of measures for calculating the concentration of particles in the liquid MSK-V, a technology for producing highly concentrated suspensions of monodisperse polystyrene latex spheres has been proposed. The high concentration of the suspension was achieved as a result of an increase in the amount of styrene in the seeded emulsion and, consequently, an increase in the amount of coagulate during synthesis. An algorithm for indirect measurements of the particle number concentration in aqueous suspensions of monodisperse polystyrene latex spheres is described. During the research, equipment from the State primary standard of units of dispersed parameters of aerosols, suspensions and powdery materials GET 163-2020 was used. The particle number concentrations and metrological characteristics of the created measures are determined. The levels of confidence of the error of indirect measurement of the number concentration of particles in water are calculated. It is established that the limits of the relative error of indirect measurements of the number concentration of particles in water are ±4 %. The developed measures of number concentrations of particles in a liquid (MSK-V) will partially cover the need of the domestic market for measures and standard samples for determining the size and number concentration of particles while ensuring the uniformity of measurements of the granulometric composition of aerosols, suspensions, and powdery materials.

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