Labs

Our clean laboratory is over-pressured with H16 HEPA-filtered air supplied at a refresh rate of approximately 25 air exchanges per hour. The laboratory contains three HEPA-filtered PicoTraceTM laminar flow work benches , an exhaust hood, evapouration and dissolution boxes and a HEPA-filtered balance room. We produce ultraclean acids from stock acids by continuous flow through pairs of inline SavillexTM knee stills.

(Image above: Preparing chemistry for Cr isotope measurements.)

Our Pb blanks for in-house produced acids are routinely less than 0.025 pg/g. Ultra-clean water is produced by distilling Milli-QTM water through a single SavillexTM knee still. The Pb blank of our water is below 0.01 pg/g. All distillation and evapouration boxes are flushed with HEPA-filtered air. We have a separate oven room for high temperature digestions in monel and stainless steel encased Teflon dissolution vessels.

(Image above: Drying down samples for Pb isotope analyses.)

Samples prepared in the clean laboratory are analysed on either our Thermo Triton Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) or our Thermo Neptune Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICPMS). Both instruments have 9 faraday cups, including a fixed axial faraday, and a single axial Secondary Electron Mulitplier – Ion Counter system. In addition to the standard array of 10¹¹ Ω resistors, both instruments are equipped with one amplifer with a 10¹⁰ Ω resistor and another amplifier with a 10¹² Ω resistor. All turbo-molecular pumps in the laboratory are backed by Edwards oil-less scroll pumps to reduce the potential for organics in the instruments.

(Image above: The Triton TIMS. Image below: Loading samples on filament for analysis by TIMS with the Triton.)

In addition to the standard glassware supplied with the Nepture, we use an Aridus II desolvating nebuliser when appropriate. The temperature, humidity and air quality are controlled by a PicoTrace HEPA-filtered air handling system that includes a 30 KW chilling station that also provides coolant for the two mass spectrometers. The laboratory is equipped with two PicoTrace laminar flow stations to prepare samples for analyses by the two mass spectrometers. Power to both instruments and their peripheral devices is conditioned and backed up by separate, dedicated Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), capable of running the instruments for up to 30 minutes in the event of a power failure.

(Image above: The Neptune MC-ICPMS. Image below: Making filaments in the mass spectrometer laboratory.)

We are in the development phase of establishing a new sample preparation room. The room will facilitate the sampling of meteorites by a variety of methods, all under clean conditions using HEPA-filtered air and exhausted boxes. This room will house our computer-controlled micro drill and micro-wire saw.

It will also have a fume hood for heavy liquids for separating minerals by density and a clean box for a Frantz magnetic separator to separate minerals by magnetic properties. The room will also house 3 binocular microscopes for mineral picking and a standard petrographic microscope for mineral characterization.