All Glossary

Representative Sample

In an testing process, it is important that the sample being tested is representative of the entire lot being evaluated. In production, this could be thousands or bags, boxes, tons, etc. Representative samples are essential, for example, when evaluating a clay deposit for mining, when testing a stockpile for use or when testing batches of powder, slurry, pelletized or pugged material for quality assurance in production.

The term representative refers specifically to the property being evaluated. For example, powders being evaluated for particle size distribution need to be sampled in such a way that the distribution of particle sizes in the sample is representative of the entire batch being tested. Or a pugged sample may be extracted are some point during a production run that is judged to be representative.

Related Information

A three pan sample-splitter. Powdered clay is poured into the top and split, half going into each pan below. The cycle is repeated until the desired sample size is achieved. The objective is a representative sample for particle size distribution tests.

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By Tony Hansen

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