Course Information
Course Title: Sampling for Particle Size Analysis
Categories: 1 - Life Sciences
2 - Pharmaceutical Sciences
3 - Quality/Regulatory/Compliance
4 - Environmental Analysis
5 - Sample Preparation
6 - Statistics
Instructor(s): Alan Rawle Course Number: 19
Affiliation: Malvern Instruments Inc.
Course Date: 03/13/2012 - Tuesday Course Length: 1/2 Day Course
Start Time: 08:30 AM End Time: 12:30 PM
Fee: $235 ($335 after 2/13/12) Textbook Fee:

Course Description
A half-day course that will bring personnel in the particle sizing field up to speed on the basics and importance of sampling for particle size analysis. The course will deal with 2 main objectives – determination of the minimum mass required for any required precision and the calculation of the best fundamental sampling error (FSE) based on the mass used in any particle size determination. We will point out the major issues with sampling including delimitation errors and provide limited advice as to the recommended routes to take a reasonable sample and the dangers of taking limited or unrepresentative samples. The course is suited to users of all particle size analysis techniques from sieves to light scattering.

Target Audience
Those with some practical experience of particle sizing techniques who want to isolate the issues associated with representative and non-representative sampling.

Course Outline
8:30am-9:00am  Introduction & Course Objectives; history from Vezin through Gy to Pitard; garbage in = garbage out
9:00am-9:30am  Minimum mass and precision (standard error/fundamental sampling error, FSE)
9:30am-10:00am   Calculation of the FSE
10:00am-10:30am  Sampling devices and delimitation errors 10:30am -
11:00am Break
11:00am - 12:00pm Sampling from dry powders and slurries – pitfalls to avoid
12:00pm-12:30pm Question and answer session 

Course Instructor's Biography
Alan Rawle Ph.D in catalysis, Brunel University, England. Dr. Rawle is Applications Manager for Malvern Instruments. He is active in international standardization committees working with ISO (SAXS Convener for WG 10 TC 24/SC4 Particle Characterization) and ASTM (E56.02 CoChair Characterization SubCommittee of E56 Committee on Nanotechnology). He has extensive experience of sampling techniques when applied to particle size analysis and has lectured extensively on the subject since 2001.