Laboratory Equipment in EPS

Sampling from our collections and the field is a critical part of our research.

This is a gallery showing some of our instruments: 

Bico heavy duty rock crusher for making small grains from rock
Bico heavy duty rock crusher
D. Ebel
Binocular scope on arm
The binocular microscope on a swing arm allows examination of large samples that do not fit on a microscope stage.
D. Ebel
Machine for making polished thin sections
The Buehler PetroThin thin section maker is used to prepare standard 30 micrometer thick sections for optical microscopy and other analytical techniques.
S. Alpert
Three Minimet polishing devices for rock samples
Minimet polishers are used to polish small, usually one-inch round, samples for optical or electron beam analysis. Successively smaller grits of alumina powder are used to obtain a very fine polish.
D. Ebel
carbon coater
The carbon coater deposits a thin layer of graphite on the surface of samples, by evaporating carbon rod in vacuum. The coating allows electrical charge (electrons) to escape the sample surface during analysis with electron beam instruments (electron microscope, electron microprobe).
D. Ebel
Frantz isodynamic mineral grain separator
The Frantz isodynamic mineral grain separator allows separation of mineral grains according to their magnetic susceptibility.
D. Ebel
Small saw for fine cuts of small samples.
The low-speed saw is used to cut small samples using a round, thin, diamond-coated blade. A variety of holding devices allow cutting irregularly shaped rock samples.
D. Ebel
Green saw for cutting rocks up to 8 inches wide.
The large rock saw is water-cooled and can cut rocks up to 8 inches wide.
D. Ebel
Nikon petrographic microscope with transmitted and reflected light
Nikon petrographic microscope with transmitted and reflected light, camera, and image manipulation system.
D. Ebel
NuWave micromill and control computer
NuWave micromill and control computer for 100 micrometer scale sampling, as powders, for isotopic analysis, or for cutting sub-samples from larger samples. Examples include sampling successive growth layers of mammal teeth as separate powders for isotopic analysis, or cutting individual chondrules from meteorites.
D. Ebel
Polaron metal coater
The Polaron metal coater coats samples with a thin layer of metal (e.g., silver) when a carbon coat is not preferred. It creates a vapor of the metal in a vacuum chamber, and the metal coats the sample.
D. Ebel
Wire saw with diagram above.
The Princeton wire saw allows cutting small specimens very precisely, with a 50, 30 or 20 micrometer tungsten wire coated with boron carbide in an oil slurry. Other options for wire and slurry are available. A one-millimeter chondrule can be sliced like a grapefruit! The saw leaves surfaces that are very smooth and require minimal polishing. It is equipped with a goniometer to mount samples (see schematic at the top).
D. Ebel
RayTech cut-off saw
The RayTech cut-off saw is good for cutting medium-sized rocks. The blade is not as thin as the blade of the finest saws.
D. Ebel
Small rock-cutting saw
This saw with a very thin, round, diamond-coated blade is used for cutting meteorites. It is equipped with a flat bed option and many ways to hold irregular samples.
D. Ebel
Sherline benchtop milling machine
The Sherline benchtop milling machine is used to fabricate sample holders of plastic or metal for use in analytical instruments and to precisely rotate comet samples at the synchrotron, to map particle tracks in stereoscopic pairs.
D. Ebel
Spex 800M ball mill
The Spex 800M ball mill is used to reduce small rock samples to powders by vibration in a closed container with a tungsten-carbide ball.
D. Ebel
Vibromet colloidal silica polisher
Vibromet colloidal silica polisher, used to polish thin or thick sections for certain electron beam analyses (EBSD, CL).
D. Ebel
Wild binocular picking microscope
Wild binocular picking microscope, used for examination and separation of mineral grains.
D. Ebel