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Mortar and Pestle
Choose the appropriate mortar and pestle size (large or small) and place it on the counter (Figure 8). Obtain a glass slide, a sample holder, and a scoopula (Figure 87). Clean all items after each use with isopropyl alcohol and a KimWipe.
Figure 87: Mortar and pestle sample preparation set up.
Pour sample into the mortar and grind the sample with the pestle. When finished, the sample should be the consistency of talc powder. Test the sample by taking a pinch and rubbing it on your skin. If the sample feels gritty, it needs to be ground more. If the texture is good talc powder like and the sample looks homogenous, you can pack the sample into a sample holder to be placed in the D4 XRD sample area.
Mixer Mills
The follow instructions are for two mixer mills, Spex and the Newer Retsch MM400. Currently the Retsch MM400 is the recommended mixer mill to use and it is located in X-Ray Prep or MBIO area of Chem lab.
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