text: Sieve analysis has, in general, been used for decades to monitor material quality based on particle size.  For coarse material, sizes that range down to #100 mesh (150μm), a sieve analysis and particle size distribution is accurate and consistent.
  However, for material that is finer than 100 mesh, dry sieving can be significantly less accurate.  This is because the mechanical energy required to make particles pass through an opening and the surface attraction effects between the particles themselves and between particles and the screen increase as the particle size decreases.  Wet sieve analysis can be utilized where the material analyzed is not affected by the liquid - except to disperse it.  Suspending the particles in a suitable liquid transports fine material through the sieve much more efficiently than shaking the dry material.
  Sieve analysis assumes that all particle will be round (spherical) or nearly so and will pass through the square openings when the particle diameter is less than the size of the square opening in the screen. For elongated and flat particles a sieve analysis will not yield reliable mass-based results, as the particle size reported will assume that the particles are spherical, where in fact an elongated particle might pass through the screen end-on, but would be prevented from doing so if it presented itself side-on.