ASTM International

Standard Practices for Sampling Metal Powders
 N B215

Annotation

These practices cover sampling methods used to collect a small quantity of metal powder that is as representative of the entire starting material as possible, and details the procedures that are recommended for reducing this quantity into smaller test portions on which chemical, physical, and mechanical property data may be determined.

Several sampling practices are described, depending on their applicability to the conditions of storage and transport of the sampled powders:

Practice 1A (Described in Section 6)—Applicable to sampling moving powders, as when being transferred from one container to another or to a process stream; or when falling from a conveyor; or in a moving process stream. This is the preferred practice for obtaining the several increments that are combined to form the gross sample.

Practice 1B (Described in Section 7)—Applicable to sampling powders that have already been packaged for transport, as in a bag or drum. A hollow tubular slot sampler is the recommended way to sample these packaged powders to obtain the increments (7.1.1). Alternatively, when other methods are not possible or available, a procedure specified here (7.1.2) may be used to randomly scoop samples from the powder, using a scoop of specified material and configuration.

Practice 2 (Described in Section 8)—Applicable to obtaining test portions from the composite sample. For larger quantities of powder, a chute splitter is generally used, while a spinning riffler is used for smaller quantities.

These practices apply to particulate materials or mixtures of particulates with particle sizes generally less than one millimetre and include mixtures containing lubricant, with or without other non-metallic additives, that are ready for compacting.