Designation:D2234/D2234M−20StandardPracticeforCollectionofaGrossSampleofCoal1ThisstandardisissuedunderthefixeddesignationD2234/D2234M;thenumberimmediatelyfollowingthedesignationindicatestheyearoforiginaladoptionor,inthecaseofrevision,theyearoflastrevision.Anumberinparenthesesindicatestheyearoflastreapproval.Asuperscriptepsilon(´)indicatesaneditorialchangesincethelastrevisionorreapproval.INTRODUCTIONDataobtainedfromcoalsamplesareusedinestablishingprice,controllingmineandcleaningplantoperations,allocatingproductioncosts,anddeterminingplantorcomponentefficiency.Thetaskofobtainingasampleofreasonablemasstorepresentanentirelotpresentsanumberofproblemsandemphasizesthenecessityforusingstandardsamplingprocedures.Coalisoneofthemostdifficultofmaterialstosample,varyingincompositionfromnoncombus-tibleparticlestothosewhichcanbeburnedcompletely,withallgradationsinbetween.Thetaskisfurthercomplicatedbytheuseoftheanalyticalresults,thesamplingequipmentavailable,thequantitytoberepresentedbythesample,andthedegreeofprecisionrequired.Thispracticegivestheoverallrequirementsforthecollectionofcoalsamples.Thewidevarietiesofcoal-handlingfacilitiesprecludethepublicationofdetailedproceduresforeverysamplingsituation.Thepropercollectionofthesampleinvolvesanunderstandingandconsiderationofthephysicalcharacterofthecoal,thenumberandmassofincrements,andtheoverallprecisionrequired.1.Scope1.1ThispracticecoversproceduresforthecollectionofasampleundervariousconditionsofsamplinganddirectstheusertotheappropriateASTMstandardforthatsamplingcondition.ThesampleistobecrushedandfurtherpreparedforanalysisinaccordancewithPracticeD2013/D2013M.However,theproceduresfordividinglargesamplesbeforeanycrushingaregiveninthispractice.1.2Thispracticedescribesgeneralandspecialpurposesamplingproceduresforcoals(1)bysizeandconditionofpreparation(forexample,mechanicallycleanedcoalorrawcoal)and(2)bysamplingcharacteristics.1.3Units—ThevaluesstatedineitherSIunitsornon-SIunitsaretoberegardedseparatelyasstandard.Thevaluesstatedine...
