QUANTITATIVE MICROSCOPY 4 6 9

where dmax is the largest class diameter and d and d + x are the upper and lower
diameters for each class. These probabilities are given in col. 4 of Table 6-7.
Again, this is a sliding scale which is indexed to the class with the largest observed
grains. These data are used to calculate the contribution the grains make to each size
class. A general equation was developed to calculate NVJ for each class without the
laborious correction procedures of the above methods. The general equation for 15 or
fewer classes is as follows:
NVti=(1.645NA,i

- 0.4542Akf<_i - 0.U73NA>i.2

- 0.01561 A^,,,_ 4 - 0.0083NAii-S

- 0.04237VA,_3

- 0.0036A^,,_ 6 - 0.0019AfA,_7

- 0.0009Ak,,_ 8 - 0.00044iV A ,_ 9 - 0.00036A^,,_ 10

- 0.00017V^,_ - 0.00003JV,_ 1 2 - 0.00003^.4,,_ 13
- 0 . 0 0 0 0 1 ^ , , _ 14 )

(6-52)

The calculation of AV,, for a given class is continued until the index ofNAi reduces
to zero. To calculate NV1 only the first term is needed, while as / increases, the
number of terms increases linearly. D, in Eq. (6-52) is the maximum diameter for
the particular class.
To illustrate the technique, 470 grains within a known area of a single-phase
grain structure were sized according to the grain class ranges listed in Table 6-7.
These data are listed in Table 6-8. The number of grains per unit area for each
class, NAh was measured, and Eq. (6-52) was used to calculate the NVJ values; for
example:
Nvl =
NV2 =

[(1.645)(24.92)] = 651 grains/mm 3

[(1.645)(56.07) - (0.4542)(24.92)] = 1615 grains/mm 3

Nvi = ^ - ^ [ ( 1 . 6 4 5 ) ( 1 8 6 . 9 ) - (0.4542)(56.07) - (0.1173)(24.92)]

= 7012 grains/mm 3
The calculation was continued in this fashion, developing the values of N V4 to
AVi3- These data are also given in Table 6-8. The NAi and NVii columns were
summarized to obtain NA and Nv. The value of Nv, 149,239 grains per cubic
mm, and Eq. (6-50) were used to estimate the ASTM grain size of 8.5, which agreed
well with the Jeffries and three-circle measurements. The data in Table 6-8 were
plotted in Fig. 6-20, which illustrates the log-normal nature of the data distribution.
Many procedures have been developed to determine grain size distributions
through measurements of chord lengths. Aaron et al. [54] used the measurement
data and sample of Williams and Smith [36] to compare the accuracy of three