Filter and microbalance sensitivity in measuring fine particulate matter mass is greatly influenced by particulate properties and environmental factors. Temperature and humidity control inside a measuring chamber with a microbalance, and neutralization of static charges on filters are essential for consistent filter weighing. Commercial weighing chambers are expensive with a unit price of tens of millions won. This study developed an inexpensive weighing chamber for weighing fine particulate matter and evaluatedits weighing performance. A microbalance with 1 μg precision was used to measure the weight of a filter. The microbalance was set in a transparent acrylic enclosure (100 x 60 x 65 cm3) equipped with temperature and humidity control equipments. Weighing performance of the chamber was examined using Teflon filters with or without different particulate sample types. Temperature and humidity were maintained at approximately 23.2±1.2 ℃ and 36.2±1.8℃ for 8 days, respectively.

A thermal-optical transmittance carbon analyzer has been developed to determine particulate organic (OC) and elemental (EC) carbon. Several analysis factors affecting the sensitivity of OC and EC determination were investigated for the carbon analyzer. Although total carbon (TC) is usually consistent in the determination, OC and EC split is sensitive to adopted analysis protocol. In this study the maximum temperature in oxygen-free He in the analysis was examined as a main cause of the uncertainty. Prior to the sensitivity analysis consistency in OC-EC determination of the carbon analyzer and the uniformity of carbonaceous aerosol loading on a sampled filter were checked to be in acceptable range. EC/TC ratios were slightly decreased with increasing the maximum temperature between 550-800oC. For the increase of maximum temperature from 500oC to 800oC, the EC/TC ratio was lowered by 4.65-5.61% for TC loading of 13-44 μg/cm2 with more decrease at higher loading. OC and EC determination was not influenced by trace amount of oxygen in pure He (>99.999%), which is typically used in OC and EC analysis. The facing of sample loaded surface to incident laser beam showed negligible influence in the OC-EC split, but it caused elevated PC fraction in OC for forward facing relative to backward facing.