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- With an agate mortar and pestle
- With a Spex shatterbox
- With a Spex mixer mill (tungsten carbide, hardened steel, agate, or alumina ceramic)
- With Retsch MM400 mill (agate)
Mortar and pestle is the most common method. Below, each method is outlined.
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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 mill
Grinding Jar
Loading the Jar into the Grinding Mill
Starting the Mill
Transferring Powder
Cleaning the Jars
Shatterbox
Shatterbox vessels are not commonly used for powder XRD samples. Please refer to the ICP Prep User Guide for instructions for using the shatterbox.
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