ASTM Standard covers nozzles, atomizers used for pesticides.
Press Release Summary:
ASTM E2872, Guide for Determining Cross-Section Averaged Characteristics of a Spray Using Laser-Diffraction Instruments in a Wind Tunnel Apparatus, will help characterize nozzles and atomizers using laser diffraction instruments. Applicable to aerial agricultural spraying, aerial forest sprays, and airblast spraying, standard describes tests relating to use of laser diffraction instrumentation to estimate droplet size distribution for liquid sprays released into moving air streams.
Original Press Release:
New ASTM Particle Standard Covers Nozzles and Atomizers Used for Pesticides
A new ASTM International standard, ASTM E2872, Guide for Determining Cross-Section Averaged Characteristics of a Spray Using Laser-Diffraction Instruments in a Wind Tunnel Apparatus, will be used to guide the characterization of nozzles and atomizers using laser diffraction instruments. ASTM E2872 is primarily applicable to aerial agricultural spraying, aerial forest sprays and air-blast spraying.
“Aerial spraying of pesticides is an essential element of forest management and food production,” says ASTM member Gordon Holloway, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of New Brunswick. “Spray efficacy and the reduction of environmental loading are important objectives of this approach, and they both depend on accurate spray characterization.”
The new guide describes tests specifically relating to the use of laser diffraction instrumentation to estimate the droplet size distribution for liquid sprays released into moving air streams. Primary users of ASTM E2872 will be nozzle and atomizer manufacturers, chemical companies developing adjuvants, applicators calibrating equipment and regulators who require that sprays be accurately characterized before use.
ASTM E2872 was developed by Subcommittee E29.02 on NonSieving Methods, part of ASTM International Committee E29 on Particle and Spray Characterization. Now that E2872 has been approved, the subcommittee would be interested in having different laboratories apply the standard to particular test issues and share their resulting data and experience.
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ASTM Committee E29 Next Meeting: Oct. 67, 2014, October Committee Week, New Orleans, La.
Technical Contact: Gordon Holloway Ph.D., University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; Phone: 506-447-3108; holloway@unb.ca
ASTM Staff Contact: Katerina Koperna, Phone: 610-832-9728; kkoperna@astm.org
ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org
