Grain size is an important feature that can determine strength, ductility, and toughness. It is widely used to characterize geologic and metallic samples. Interestingly, the underlying mathematics enables snow science to use grain size to determine the bond strength of snow crystals and to predict the likelihood of avalanches....
Read More >>Aspect Ratios in Particle Size Analysis
Particles can exist in a myriad of different shapes. This can make conducting particle size analysis (PSA) through laser diffraction difficult as it assumes that particles are spherical. Some examples of minerals whose particles are extremely nonspherical include Wollastonite (rod-shaped) and Garnet crystals (cubic). One important value to keep...
Read More >>Slurry Analysis with the Ultrapyc 5000
The Ultrapyc 5000 at the MCL measures the density of samples varying from 0.25 cc to 135 cc in volume, allowing for a wide variety of samples to be tested, including powders, solids, and slurries. Slurries are a suspension of solid in some liquid and are used in a...
Read More >>Percent Crystallinity by the XRD Integration Method
X-ray diffraction experiments can be explained by Bragg’s law. The reflected x-rays from long-range crystallographic order planes can be predicted using the following equation. Where n is an integer, λ is the wavelength of the incident x-rays, d is the inter-atomic spacing, and θ is the angle of incidence....
Read More >>XRD Phi Rotation Scanning
X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a powerful analytical tool for industry professionals and material scientists. A source (typically copper) produces x-rays which are directed at a flat sample. These x-rays are diffracted at certain angles by the crystal planes in the material and are detected at those angles. Based on...
Read More >>Heat Capacity by the Sapphire Method
The heat capacity of a material is a crucial property to consider when determining its functionality in certain applications. The typical SI unit of heat capacity (Cp) is Joules per gram Kelvin (). It is a measurement of how sensitive a material is to changes in temperature due to...
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