TEXRAY LAB » 2018

Standard and side-loading sample holders for Bruker XRD

Posted by: Ken Stauver In: Uncategorized 20 Feb 2018 0 comments Tags: Bruker, Bruker D5000, D2 Phaser, D4, D4 Endeavor, D500, D5000, D5005, D8, D8 Advance, Diffraction, Diffractometer, powder XRD, preferred orientation, PXRD, quantitative XRD, Sample holder, Siemens, X-ray diffraction, XRD, XRD data collection

You can never have enough sample holders no matter what machine you’re running. We’ve certainly found this to be true at Texray so we always try to keep a large number of them on-hand. KS Analytical Systems has always made one-off and custom sample holders for the Bruker instruments, but we’re now offering the standard PMMA powder holders as well at significant cost savings over the OEM version. The standard holder (25mm x 1mm deep well) is priced at $55 with bulk discounts starting at 20 holders.

Custom well depths, diameters, grooved floors, side-loading and zero-background versions are available.

Our PMMA holders are compatible with Bruker D8 Focus – D8 Advance (single, FlipStick autosampler, 90-position autosampler), D4 Endeavor and D2 Phaser (single only) systems. D500 and D5000 instruments can also use these holders.

We’ve brought the complete manufacturing process in-house to give us the freedom to make the custom designs our customer have always asked for. This includes custom laser etching. Company logos are a common request, but we’ve also started serializing sample holders on request. At Texray, we even etch them with barcodes for tracking samples through the data collection process.

The pictures below show a custom funnel tool for filling side-loading sample holders. The tool is machined from billet aluminum with an acrylic window on the funnel to make it easier to gauge fill level. The funnel itself is polished and the viewing plate which allows the users to see when the sample well is full is made of sapphire crystal for maximum scratch resistance.

We live for this stuff 3

Posted by: Ken Stauver In: Uncategorized 13 Feb 2018 0 comments Tags: bragg's law, crystallography, forklift, KS Analytical, XRD, XRF

I’ve spent time in hundreds of different businesses over the last 20 years as I traveled around the country working in labs and it’s given me a strong appreciation for the concept of “workplace culture”. It’s not really a spectrum in the sense that there are extremes on each end and compromise in the middle, but more like “culture” in the truest sense of the word. It’s a complicated system of expectations, relationships, and accomplishments. Obviously some of these systems “work” and others… Not so much.

I like to think we do pretty well at KSA and Texray. Mainly because, after many years of experimentation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t change people (surprise!). An old friend at a major manufacturer of X-ray instrumentation once commented to me that when he hired a new tech, he’d know within a month if they were going to last. My first thought was that it would take longer than a month to make the new hire into the tech you needed, but I realize now that his statement embodied the same lesson it would take me years to learn. You can train, reward, chastise and incentivize all you want, but the people you hire are either right for your group or they’re not.

Around here we have easy days and hard days. It comes with the territory, but I think everyone knows that they’re appreciated and supported in what they do. Individual projects are encouraged and we try to loosen up enough to have fun without compromising performance. Behind it all is a sense of pride in the fact that we work very hard to surpass the expectations of our clients.

Filter membrane mounting for XRD

Posted by: Ken Stauver In: Uncategorized 02 Feb 2018 0 comments Tags: Bruker, Bruker D5000, D500, D5000, D5005, D8, Diffraction, Diffractometer, NIOSH 7500, Phase ID, powder XRD, PXRD, quantitative XRD, respirable silica, Sample holder, sample preparation, Siemens, X-ray, X-ray diffraction, XRD, XRD data collection

It’s relatively common for us to receive very small volumes of material for analysis. Often this is the total amount available so getting the right answers is extremely important. When these come in as powders, the answer is always to run them on a zero background plate, but sometimes that’s not the case. Luckily, there are other options for analysis of very small quantities.

The most common application for filter-membrane sample holders has always been respirable silica quantification. This is mandated by OSHA and is an extremely common industrial hygiene test. Ambient air is sampled with a fixed or mobile suction system and particles are deposited onto a PVC membrane inside a sealed cartridge. Testing procedures are defined by NIOSH7500 and since this is a total quantification method (not a relative method), it’s critical that the entire sample is measured. Unfortunately, the measurement cannot be completed on the PVC membrane as received. Transferring the sample powder to an Ag membrane is accomplished by dissolving or ashing the PVC away, diluting the remainder in a solvent and depositing it onto the Ag membrane by vacuum filtration. The end result is an extremely low loss of analyte even for very small volumes of material.

This preparation method is also very useful for other types of samples which might have crystalline particulate suspended in a solution. Drying samples can be time-consuming, heating them to boil off liquid can cause phase transitions in the crystalline analyte, and handling dry powder in very small quantities is a very good way to lose material. Vacuum filtration solves all these problems.

Our most popular custom sample holder is the SC40F25 which is designed to hold the common 25mm Ag membrane filters used for this type of mounting. The anodized Al body is a time-tested design that works very well and causes almost no interference with the data, unlike the original injection-molded plastic parts. However, the most common method for retaining the membrane has always been to drop a metal support disk behind it and use an ID snap ring to retain both the disk and membrane. This can be a frustrating operation even for experienced hands. Snap rings are hard to control and the high spring tension gouges the inner diameter of the Aluminum body to the point that the holders must be replaced periodically.

After watching so many clients struggling with this system, we thought we could find a better option. The first step was a simple, laser cut acrylic backer instead of the metal disk. The acrylic was thicker which limited the depth to which the snap ring needed to be set. This was an improvement but still required the snap ring.

The next step was 3D printed plugs which could be pushed into the well. These supported the membrane and held it in the plane of diffraction at the same time. A standard pair of pliers was all the was needed to grab the plug and gently rotated it to release the membrane. This seemed like the ideal solution, but we heard from one user who claimed that the plug was causing an interfering peak in his measurements. We’ve been around the block with 3D printed sample holders in general and it’s definitely true that the common thermoplastics used will crystallize when cooled rapidly. This causes lots of problems for routine analysis of powders, but this was the first we’d heard of a peak being visible through an Ag membrane. Perhaps this user had a particularly thin membrane, but regardless, we needed a new solution, both for their lab and our own.

Our current solution is a laser cut “spring” backer which again combines the function of retainer and support in one part. The spring is easy to install by hand and can even be removed by hand, but forceps or needle-nose pliers make this easier. These have been working very well so we’re hopeful that this is going to be a long-term solution that we can share with our clients.

D2 Phaser ZBH mounting tool

Posted by: Ken Stauver In: Uncategorized 03 Jan 2018 0 comments Tags: Bruker, D2 Phaser, Siemens, XRD, zbh

Most of the zero-background sample holders we make are designed with permanently affixed plates. We prefer this dramatically as loose plate are constantly getting dropped, chipped, or lost. However, a permanently affixed plate also gives us the freedom to precisely (within about 0.02mm) set the depth of the plate below the plane of diffraction. This can make a big difference in the results depending upon the volume of powder loaded as the standard “flush mount” puts the plate exactly in the plane of diffraction. This works fine for very small volumes, but it does guaranty the there will be a displacement error of some magnitude regardless of the particle size or volume. For this reason, we always offer custom recessing as an option. The only drawback to the permanently affixed style of mounting is that the offset (or flush mounting height) cannot be changed. Our preferred solution is to simply create a set of holders with various depths to accommodate different sample thicknesses, but we had a request recently for an infinitely variable mounting solution.

Complicating the project is that the holder was to be used in a D2 Phaser with a 6 position autosampler which does not use the same style of base holder as the single-sample variant or any other Bruker XRD that we’re aware of. We discussed several options. The large number of heights needed made multiple holders, spacers, and any other solution that relied on discreet steps unacceptable. The thin-walled sample bases and relatively tight dimensions made a screw-in insert unrealistic as well. The final solution was to build a custom tool for setting the ZBH at a specific depth. This requires the user to work with bare Si plates, but it meets all the design criteria and we’re hopeful that this will work well for them.

The tool is made from acetal (Delrin) plastic which is extremely resistant to chemicals, adhesion, and abrasion. It’s actually an ideal material for threaded parts and machines very well.

One-off solutions

Posted by: Ken Stauver In: Uncategorized 03 Jan 2018 0 comments

I spent quite a bit of time during my college career in chemistry and electronics classes, but when I think back on the most influential aspect of my education, it was my physics classes that shaped my understanding of the world more than any of the others. There was something very “pure” about the process of isolating the variables necessary to describe a mechanical event or electromagnetic interaction. These numbers fit together like pieces of a puzzle until, all at once, the answer emerged. This concept of manipulating what was available to create what was needed seems to permeate much of our work at Texray and KS Analytical Systems and it’s the most satisfying part of it for me. We’re frequently approached with problems that require a custom solution.

Much of the custom work we do revolves around holding samples in various form while they’re being analyzed, but recently we’ve had a few projects more centered around improving processes which have been interesting. For our own lab, this might mean custom racks to keep tools organized and clean, sample tools to help us avoid cross-contamination or fixtures to aid in the safe handling of some of our more expensive apparatus. We just completed a project that I found interesting for a client in CA who is running seal-cell experiments which needed to be held secure to various working surfaces. The original method involved bolting them in place each time which proved time-consuming as volume increased. The answer was a relatively simple adapter plate designed by the client which needed a little design refinement and some basic fabrication.

The project started with basic drawings so the first step was a few prototypes in acrylic plastic courtesy of the laser cutter. Small changes were made until it was ready for an Aluminum version. Here it is in action!