Milling

Samples too coarse? Our planetary ball mills can help. Samples of 2 mm or smaller can be milled down to the nm-scale if needed. Our current milling bowls are lined with agate, which limits the sample hardness to 7 on the Moh’s scale. The manufacturer does however offer materials such as tungsten carbide, silicon nitride, zirconia, stainless steel and alumina.

Of course we also freeze drying your samples after wet milling. Currently the samples are dried in 500 ml borosilicate round-bottom flasks.

Powder processing

Includes sieving, sample splitting and homogenising.

Are you interested in knowing the particle size fractions of your samples? We can automatically sieve them in our Retsch sieving tower.

With our special custom-made rotary sample splitter for fine powders, we are also happy to process your sample batch.

Are you trying to mix two or more different powders together? Our Retsch MM400 can shake up to eight 30 ml Nalgene bottles at 30 Hz for however long is necessary to produce homogenous mixtures. After mixing, we can of course also produce a pressed pellet for you.

Pelletising

With our automated hydraulic press, Specac Atlas Autotouch, we can press your samples into any kind of pellet you desire.

Our diameters range from 10, 13, 20, 32 & 40 mm. Others are possible but would require the purchase of a new pressing die.

Pellets can be pressed “our way”, which is binder-free and the sample being surrounded by a fortification material for easier handling and mechanical stability.

XRF Sample Cups

We provide high-quality XRF sample cups filled to your specifications. For example we can make traditional sample cups, like Chemplex cups covered with Prolene foil.

We can also mix your samples with a binder of your choice or press it into aluminium cups.

XRD Measurements

If you would like to know more about the mineralogical composition of your samples, we can perform a qualitative XRD analysis.