Abstract:
When electromagnetic radiation is passed through a heterogeneous material such as a slurry or suspension, part of the radiation will be scattered by the suspending medium and part by the solid particles contained in said medium. If, for example, the radiation used is X-radiation, and if the suspending medium consists of a relatively low atomic number material while the particles consist of a relatively high atomic number material, then due to the fundamental properties of scattered X-rays the bulk of the Compton or modified scattered X-rays will come from the suspending medium, and the Rayleigh or unmodified scattering will come both from the particles and the suspending medium. If the X-ray energy is suitable, the Rayleigh scattering will be independent of the size of the particles, but the Compton scattering will be markedly dependent on the size of the particles. Comparison of the Compton scattering or of the Rayleigh and Compton scattering provides a measure of the size of the solid particles.