Material samples must be freed completely of water and other vapors and gases picked up from the atmosphere in order for their surface area and porosity to be measured accurately. Materials that are microporous, or have a high surface area can rapidly absorb atmospheric contaminants. Cleaning such samples is typically accomplished by heating them and pulling a vacuum in the space about them for several hours. Once this is done, the samples must then be transferred to an analytical instrument without re-contamination. This transfer is usually made by backfilling the sample container with an inert gas (helium or nitrogen) to atmospheric pressure, so that mixing with atmospheric gases is unlikely to occur during the short transfer interval. The inert gas must then be removed to get back to the state of sample cleanliness that was initially achieved.
Micromeritics´ new transfer seal, called the TranSeal™, permits transferring a sample from a preparation station to an analysis station while the sample tube remains evacuated. It is designed to close and seal the sample tube when removed from the preparation station and then to open automatically when fully installed on the sample port. The need to backfill with an inert gas is eliminated and so is the need for the system to remove the backfill gas. When working with microporous samples, backfill gas can diffuse into the micropores requiring a considerable expenditure of time for it to be removed by the analytical system. The TranSeal™ can reduce this time and, when used with the instrument´s ¨entered free space¨ option, analysis time of some sample types can be reduced by hours.
The TranSeal™ is designed for use with 12.7-mm (½-in.) sample tubes for Micromeritics´ ASAP 2000/2010 Series, 2400/2405 Series, TriStar 3000, and VacPrep 061.
Ordering Information
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| TranSeal Kit for the 2000/2010 Series, 2400/2405 Series and VacPrep 061; includes three TranSeals, three low-profile retaining nuts, three split ferrules, three retaining rings, and assembly instructions | 201-33026-00 | | TranSeal Kit for the TriStar 3000; includes three TranSeals, three split ferrules, three retaining rings, and assembly instructions | 300-33003-00 | | TranSeal only | 300-25862-00 |
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