Documentation of a Dustiness Drum Test

A rotating drum dustiness test is described and the results with this device run at standardized conditions from 1989 to 1994 are presented. The measured dustinets indices covered a range of about a factor 2000. The test was good at ranking different materials. Influences of the test conditions on the drum method were studied in a 24 factorial design using super ground alumina with small particles and a narrow size distribution. The variables mass, flow, rotation speed and sampling time were run at base and high level and the air humidity was kept fixed at 50% RH. An analysis of variance showed a correlation between these different variables with a particularly strong interaction between the mass and the rotation speed. Time resolved dust measurements showed the importance of being able to monitor the dust release during time. For some test conditions a continuous dust release was found, while most tests showed primarily an initial dust release.