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- Prepare an oriented clay mount by adding several drops onto a zero-background Si disk in a sample holder and spreading it out evenly with a glass rod or eye dropper. See 'Preparing the Mount'.
- Put the clay mount in the desiccator until it dries.
- Put the sample in the muffle furnace in the Chemistry Laboratory (Figure XXXXA). Do not forget to dismantle the Aeris sample holder assembly - they must not be heated !! Only the Si disk should be put in the muffle furnace (Figure XXB). Different temperatures (at 400ºC and at 550ºC, following USGS Methods) and heating times (~1-2 hours) are used when trying to identify different minerals. Confer with your scientist to determine the parameters.
When the muffle furnace has finished its program and is cooling down, wait until the temperature reaches between 100° and 200°C before removing the sample (Figure XXC). The sample can be placed in the desiccator until it reaches room temperature. Once it has completely cooled down it can be run in the XRDs.
Figure XX. A. Muffle furnace in the Chemistry Lab. B. Clay Mount in the muffle furnace. Note that only the Si disk of Aeris sample holder is put in the furnace. C. After heating.
Clay Separation Method for removal of Chlorite (not recommended onboard the JR)
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