Designation:E1260−03(Reapproved2015)StandardTestMethodforDeterminingLiquidDropSizeCharacteristicsinaSprayUsingOpticalNonimagingLight-ScatteringInstruments1ThisstandardisissuedunderthefixeddesignationE1260;thenumberimmediatelyfollowingthedesignationindicatestheyearoforiginaladoptionor,inthecaseofrevision,theyearoflastrevision.Anumberinparenthesesindicatestheyearoflastreapproval.Asuperscriptepsilon(´)indicatesaneditorialchangesincethelastrevisionorreapproval.INTRODUCTIONThisstandardisoneofseveraldescribingadifferentclassoftestmethodsfordeterminingliquiddropsizecharacteristicsinaspray.Thesetestmethodscanbebroadlydistinguishedas“optical”or“non-optical.”Intheopticalcategorytherearetestmethodsthatessentiallymakeimages(suchasphotographs)ofdropsthatcanbemeasuredeithermanuallyorautomatically,andtestmethodsthatdonotmakeimagesbutuseopticalphenomenaexhibitedbysingledropsorensemblesofdropswhichcanberecordedandusedtocalculateeitherindividualdropsizesorthedistributionofdropsizesinanensemble.Thistestmethoddealswiththelatterclass,andhence,isdescribedas“nonimaging.”Thevariousopticalphenomenainvolvedarecommonlydescribedas“light-scattering.”Usinganyofthesetestmethods,thesprayisobservedforaperiodoftimeduringwhichalargenumberofdropsisexamined,andthedataaretreatedsoastoderivedrop-sizestatisticsforthesampleinvestigated.1.Scope1.1Thepurposeofthistestmethodistoobtaindatawhichcharacterizethesizesofliquidparticlesordropssuchasareproducedbyaspraynozzleorsimilardeviceunderspecifiedconditionsusingaspecifiedliquid.Thedropswillgenerallybeinthesizerangefrom5-µmtotheorderof1000-µmdiameter;theywilloccurinsprayswhichmaybeassmallasafewcubiccentimetresoraslargeasseveralcubicmetres.Typicallythenumberdensityoftheparticlescanvarysignificantlyfromonepointtoanother.1.2Thistestmethodisintendedprimarilyforuseinstandardizingmeasurementsoftheperformanceofspraypro-ducingdevices.Itislimitedtothosetechniquesandinstru-mentsthatoperatebypassingabeamoflightthroughthesprayandanalyzingthelightscatteredbyth...
