Comparing particle size distributions of an arbitrary shape

• The χ2-homogeneity test is used for comparing particle size distributions.
• The advantages and limitations of the test are discussed.
• Practical examples of the successful application of the χ2-homogeneity test are shown.

Since particle size distribution can provide crucial information regarding process and product quality, comparing one distribution with another and with modeled distributions is often necessary. Since only mean and median distribution values are often used for that purpose, important information may be missing. As such, methods are required that take into account the entire distribution and do not require modeling the distribution.The χ2-homogeneity test is a nonparametric homogeneity test based on the observed frequencies in the descriptive classes. In this work, we examined if it could be used for comparing particle size distributions and for large particle numbers. In conclusion, we demonstrate how this statistical test was successfully applied in several cases.

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