Porosimetry

What is porosimetry?

Porosimetry encompasses a suite of analytical techniques designed to characterize the porous architecture of materials. 

By examining attributes such as pore size, volume, and distribution, these methods provide critical insights into material performance across various applications, including pharmaceuticals, energy storage, filtration, and advanced materials research.

Types of pores

[Porosimetry measurement Blind-Pore-diagram.png] Porosimetry measurement Blind-Pore-diagram.png
   [Porosimetry measurement Through-Pore-diagram.png] Porosimetry measurement Through-Pore-diagram.png
[Porosimetry measurement Closed-Pore-diagram.png] Porosimetry measurement Closed-Pore-diagram.png

Blind pores

  • These are open at one end, allowing access from a single external surface. Techniques like mercury intrusion and gas adsorption are effective in analyzing these pores.

  • Methods: Mercury intrusion and gas adsorption

Through pores

  • Open at both ends, these pores facilitate fluid or gas passage through the material. They can be characterized using mercury intrusion, capillary flow porometry, and gas adsorption methods.

  • Methods: Mercury intrusion, capillary flow, and gas adsorption

Closed pores

  • Completely enclosed within the material, these pores have no connection to the external surface and are typically inaccessible to standard porosimetry techniques.

  • Methods: Not accessible by mercury intrusion, capillary flow, or gas adsorption

Mercury intrusion porosimetry

This technique involves the controlled application of pressure to force mercury, a non-wetting liquid, into the pores of a material. 

By measuring the volume of mercury intruded at each pressure increment, one can derive comprehensive data on pore size distribution, total pore volume, surface area, and material densities. 

The method is particularly effective for analyzing pore sizes ranging from 3 nanometers to 600 micrometers.

Capillary flow porometry

Also known as gas-liquid porometry, this method assesses the size and distribution of through-pores by displacing a wetting liquid within the material's pores using gas pressure. The pressure at which gas first permeates the sample (the bubble point) indicates the largest pore size, while subsequent flow measurements reveal the distribution of smaller pores. 

This technique is advantageous for its speed, reliability, and the absence of hazardous materials like mercury.

[AccuPore - Micromeritics - increase-pressure-graphic.jpg] AccuPore - Micromeritics - increase-pressure-graphic.jpg

Gas adsorption techniques

Gas adsorption methods, including BET surface area analysis, involve measuring the amount of gas adsorbed onto a material's surface at various pressures. 

These techniques are instrumental in determining surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution, especially in microporous and mesoporous materials.

Our porosimetry instrumentation

Micromeritics AutoPore V

Density and porosimetry analysis for mesoporous and macroporous materials
Micromeritics AutoPore V

Services

We provide a comprehensive range of characterization services whether it is the analysis of a single sample, a complex method development or validation, new product assessments, or addressing large-scale manufacturing projects.

Available options

  • Mercury intrusion analysis (pore size range 360 to 0.003 μm)
  • Mercury Intrusion and extrusion analysis (pore size range 360 to 0.003 μm)
  • High-resolution macropore analysis (pore size range 900 to 4 μm)
  • High-resolution macropore plus a complete intrusion and extrusion analysis
  • Reverberi method for pore throat and pore cavity
  • High-resolution intrusion (pore size range 900 to 0.003 μm)
  • Advanced Hg calculations
  • Scanning porometry of pore sizes down to 30 nm using a POROLUXTM 100/l OONW; 500

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