...
Cleaning the Vessels
Clean the grinding vessels with a toothbrush and DI water. In some cases the vials are still dirty or have sample stains on them. If so, take a small amount, approximately 5 mL, of silica sand and grind it in the mixer mill for ~3 minutes. Then pour out the sand and clean the vessel with DI water and a toothbrush or Greenie Meanie. Lay out cleaned vessel parts on a Kim Towel and dry with a Kim Wipe. The cork rings take a longer to dry, so collect fresh, dry rings before grinding the next sample.
Then can now pack the samples.
Retsch MM400
...
Mixer Mill
The manufacturer's manual for the Retsch MM400 can be found here (XRD Lab Notebook).
Figure 16: Retsch MM400
Grinding Jar
Figure 17. Agate grinding jars and ball.
Each grinding jar has the main jar, the lid and ball, and the white teflon spacer. Use the spacer to avoid damaging the agate. The inside of the jar and lid are lined with agate and the ball of made of agate. Poor freeze dried soft sediment (not hard rock) sediment grains into the jar. Fill the jar half way to three-fourths of the way up with sample. Place one (can do take two) grinding balls in the jar. Clean off any of the sediment sample with a kimwipe that has gotten onto the jars threads and screw the lid on. Be mindful not to cross thread the lid to the jar.
Figure ##. Agate grinding jars with teflon spacer and the bent metal spatula for removing the teflon spacer.
Loading the Jar into the Grinding Mill
...