AbstractIn the application and the development of on‐line methods for particle size analysis one has to distinguish three principally different problem areas:aallocation and preparation of a representative sample,banalysis of the sample,cevaluation of the results.Methods and problems connected with these areas will be discussed in this paper. Some of the methods available for rapid response analysis of particle size distributions mark the beginning of a new era of particle size analysis. One has to recognize however that a uniform solution of the problems of on‐line particle size analysis is extremely difficult if not impossible to find. The boundary conditions vary to such an extent that similar methods or combinations of methods can rarely be used in different cases. Since instrument manufacturers will in most cases not be able to adopt their instruments to different industrial applications, specialists will have to solve the problem. One has to recognize, however, that not all of the steps described in this paper have been investigated to an extent which renders possible appropriate solutions. There is still room for improvem