Porosimetry of fractal surfaces

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1006/jcis.1993.1388· OSTI ID:5819731

Friesen, W I ^[1]; Laidlaw, W G ^[2]

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1. CANMET, Devon, Alberta (Canada). Western Research Centre
2. Univ. of Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Dept. of Chemistry

Many naturally occurring types of particles are known to have surfaces that can be described by fractal dimensions. Although these results have been obtained almost exclusively from molecular adsorption measurements, mercury porosimetry is another technique that has been used to determine the dimensions of fractal surfaces. In this paper, the authors first examine and compare two methods for extracting the fractal dimension from the derivative of an intrusion curve: by fitting to a power law and by calculating the local dimension from the derivative. These methods are than applied to simulated inhomogeneous surfaces containing cylindrical pores with radii belonging to a distribution which is a sum of two power law functions. Potentially, the local fractal dimension yields the ratio of the component pore volumes of a mixture, as well as more accurate fractal dimensions. However, this technique is very sensitive to uncertainties in the porosimetry data, as is illustrated by results for two coal samples.

• OSTI ID: 5819731
• Journal Information: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States) Vol. 160:1; ISSN 0021-9797; ISSN JCISA5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010600* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Properties & Composition
ADSORPTION
CALCULATION METHODS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTALS
FUELS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
POROSIMETERS
POROSITY
SORPTION
SURFACE AREA
SURFACE PROPERTIES