Traditionally, the physical analysis of particles suspended in fluids has relied exclusively on particle size and/or particle concentration measurements by light scattering, light obscuration, size exclusion chromatography or some other indirect method. If additional information on particle morphology or shape was desired, filtering and inspection by manual microscopy was performed. However, for many samples, the preparation of the sample for microscopic examination destroyed and/or altered the particles or interest.
MFI goes beyond simply counting and sizing particles. With MFI, particle morphology can now be measured “in situ”. Measuring particle shape in addition to size and concentration provides many advantages in terms of understanding the source of the particles, their physical structure and the isolation of different sub-populations which may be of interest.
There is a long list of potential morphology parameters which can be measured with the most popular and useful being:
An imaging system will also encounter edge particles. MFI provides users the option to include or exclude edge particles.
Occasionally particles may appear with a hollow middle. MFI provides users the option to fill hollow particles.
The MFI View Analysis Suite software also provides users with the ability to create derivative parameters. A derivative parameter is formed using two of the existing morphological parameters and a mathematical operator (e.g. aspect ratio ÷ perimeter).
