Mar 2 2011
Pittcon, a premier annual conference devoted to laboratory science and instrumentation, takes place from March 13 through March 18, 2011, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. Micromeritics, located in Booth 2553, will not only display a variety of its own products, but also material characterization instrumentation represented by its Particulate Systems brand. With the addition of this brand, Micromeritics currently offers one of broadest ranges of particle characterization instruments and services on the market.
Surface area and porosity are important physical properties that influence the quality and utility of many materials and products. Micromeritics gas adsorption instruments are ideal for measuring these properties on a wide variety of materials that include high-tech ceramics, catalysts, fuel cells, carbons, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paint and coatings, super-capacitor components, propellants, geological materials, aerospace materials, and much more. From increasing the speed and efficiency of a routine quality control analysis to providing the accuracy, resolution, and data reduction for exacting research requirements, Micromeritics offers an instrument to fit the application.
Micromeritics introduces the new ASAP 2020 HD Accelerated Surface Area and Porosimetry System which includes many features that offer improved isotherm resolution and accuracy. The instrument is designed to provide surface area, porosity, and surface activity (chemisorption) information to materials analysis laboratories with ever-expanding needs. Adsorption and desorption analyses using a wide variety of adsorptives are permitted. The ASAP 2020 HD can also be used to determine the microporosity and evaluate the hydrogen, methane, or CO2 storage capacity of materials. Micropore size and volume can easily be obtained on MOFs, zeolites, activated carbons, and various nanomaterials. The ASAP 2020 HD is also available with an optional upgrade to allow the use of hydrocarbon or water vapors for sorption studies.
The TriStar II 3020 Surface Area and Porosity System is a fully automated, three-station instrument capable of increasing the speed and efficiency of quality control analyses, with the accuracy, resolution, and data reduction to meet most research requirements. The instrument includes a dedicated saturation pressure port and three analysis ports that operate simultaneously and independently of one another. A krypton option allows measurements in the very low surface area range.
Micromeritics and Particulate Systems offer six instruments that each utilize a different method of determining particle size distribution of powdered material, including one for characterizing particle shape. Methods include X-ray Monitored Gravity Sedimentation, Static Laser Light Scattering, Dynamic Laser Light Scattering, Electrical Sensing Zone, Air Permeability, and Dynamic Image Analysis.
Particle size instruments displayed at Pittcon 2011 include five of the company's six models. Utilizing a state-of-the-art CCD detector containing over three million detector elements, Mie theory, and unique design and data reduction features, the Saturn DigiSizer II High-Definition Digital Particle Size Analyzer measures particle size in a range of 40 nanometers to 2.5 millimeters. It provides an extremely high level of resolution and sensitivity not available in other laser particle sizing systems. The Elzone II 5390 Particle Size Analyzer determines the size, number, concentration, and mass of a wide variety of organic and inorganic materials. Unlike other measurement techniques, the electrical sensing zone method (Coulter Principle) is capable of accurately sizing samples of varying optical properties, densities, colors, and shapes. The Elzone determines particle size in a range suitable for a wide variety of industrial, biological, and geological specimens down to 0.4 micrometer. The SediGraph III 5120 Particle Size Analyzer measures mass by X-ray absorption and particle size by sedimentation in the range of 300 micrometers to 0.1 micrometer.
Particulate Systems Particle Insight Dynamic Image Analyzer is ideal for applications where the shape, not just the diameter, of raw materials is critical to the performance of the final product. The Particle Insight offers up to 28 different shape parameters analyzed in real-time in either aqueous or organic solvent suspensions. The system measures particles in a range from 3 µm up to 300 µm in its standard configuration. With its temperature stabilization feature, the Cordouan VASCO DLS Particle Size Analyzers are unique dynamic light scattering (DLS) nanosizing instruments capable of measuring particle size in a range from 6 micrometers to 1 nanometer. Its optical configuration design provides superior detection efficiency for opaque sample, decreases the instrument sensitivity to 'multiple scattering artifact', and strongly reduces the laser thermal effect allowing very accurate measurements even in concentrated and dark dispersions.
Dynamic vapor sorption, commonly known as DVS, is based on the gravimetric determination of the quantity of vapor adsorbed or desorbed from the sample material. By varying the vapor concentration surrounding a sample and measuring the change in mass it produces, the rate and quantity of solvent adsorbed by a sample can be measured. Surface Measurement Systems, represented by Particulate Systems, offers a wide range of Dynamic Vapor Sorption instruments that utilize dynamic gas flow and the gravimetric technique to produce high-resolution adsorption and desorption isotherms of water and organic vapors on solid materials.
Humidity can adversely affect a range of materials to include food, pharmaceuticals, fuel cells, packaging, high energy materials, polymers, building materials, filtration materials, and personal care products. Knowing how water vapor interacts with these materials can yield vital information for the proper formulation, processing, and storage of these materials. The DVS-Intrinsic is an entry level, water vapor only instrument. With a small footprint, it operates in the 20 to 40 °C temperature range.
Gas pycnometry is a common analytical technique that uses a gas displacement method to measure volume accurately. These volume measurements can be used to calculate absolute density which is an important physical characteristic to many applications such as pharmaceuticals, coatings, crystal structures of carbons and ceramics, powdered metals, rigid plastic foam, plastic film, organic chemicals and polymers, slurries, material blends, and much more. Micromertics AccuPyc II 1340 Gas Displacement Pycnometry System is a fast, fully automatic analysis system that provides high-speed, high-precision volume measurements and density calculations. The AccuPyc determines absolute density of powders, solids, and slurries having volumes from 0.01 to 350 cm3 with superior accuracy. For those who require high throughput, an integrated control and analysis module can run up to five additional external analysis modules. Each module can have a different size sample chamber (1 cm3, 10 cm3, 100 cm3, 350 cm3) providing even more versatility. In addition, obtaining skeletal volume measurements using the AccuPyc combined with envelope volume from Micromeritics' GeoPyc 1360 allows the user an alternative low-cost method to quickly determine total pore volume and percent porosity in a dry environment.