Bias can also be caused in a cyclone by the pulsation of the personal sampling pump. Bartley, et
al. [12] showed that cyclone samples with pulsating flow can have negative bias as large as −0.22
relative to samples with steady flow. The magnitude of the bias depends on the amplitude of the
pulsation at the cyclone aperture and the dust size distribution. For pumps with instantaneous
flow rates within 20% of the mean, the pulsation bias magnitude is less than 0.02 for most dust size
distributions encountered in the workplace.
Electric charges on the dust and the cyclone will also cause bias. Briant and Moss [13] have found
electrostatic biases as large as −50%, and show that cyclones made with graphite-filled nylon
eliminate the problem. Use of conductive samplers and filter cassettes (Omega Specialty Instrument
Co., 4 Kidder Road, Chelmsford, MA 01824) is recommended.
2. Precision: The figure 0.068 mg quoted above for the precision is based on a study [3] of weighing
procedures employed in the past by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in which
filters are pre-weighed by the filter manufacturer and post-weighed by MSHA using balances
readable to 0.010 mg. MSHA [14] has recently completed a study using a 0.001 mg balance for the
post-weighing, indicating imprecision equal to 0.006 mg.
Imprecision equal to 0.010 mg was used for estimating the LOD and is based on specific suggestions
[8] regarding filter weighing using a single 0.001 mg balance. This value is consistent with another
study [15] of repeat filter weighings, although the actual attainable precision may depend strongly
on the specific environment to which the filters are exposed between the two weighings.