Sample mounting

Hot mounting press
Struers CitoPress-15

 

Electrohydraulic press for hot mounting samples into resin. Commonly used resins are either thermosetting or thermoplastic. Mounting can be used to protect fragile or layered materials during preparation for analysis and imaging. Mounting also allows easier handling of smaller or irregularly shaped specimens during processing.

The fully automated press with various preloaded recipes allows fast, successive mountings of multiple samples. Current installed mounting unit with chamfered lower ram has a diameter of 30 mm

Thermosetting resins provide permanent mounting after curing, while sample can be removed from thermoplastics by reheating the mount.

For more information, contact Ermei Mäkilä

Specifications:

  • Mounting cylinder diameter: 30 mm
  • Pressure range: 50 – 350 bar
  • Temperature range: 80 – 180 °C
  • Adjustable heating and cooling time, and cooling rate
  • Built-in database for Struers resins
  • Dual phase heating and pressure application for fragile/sensitive samples
  • Currently available resins:
    • ClaroFast – thermoplastic (transparent acrylate)
    • PolyFast – thermosetting (bakelite with carbon filler)
    • PuriFast – thermoplastic (polypropylene with mineral and wood filler)

For more information, contact Ermei Mäkilä

Cold mounting equipment

Various tools for cold mounting are available for use, such as low vacuum pot for degassing resins. Different silicone molds for sample embedding can be found, depending on sample size. New molds can also be prepared from 2-component silicone.

Resins used for cold mounting are either acrylic or epoxy resins. Acrylic resins typically have rapid curing times (in minutes), while epoxy resins have often curing times in hours.

For more information, contact Ermei Mäkilä

Specifications:

  • Simple vacuum for resin & sample degassing
  • Various silicone molds:
    • 30 mm diameter cups
    • Flat embedding molds (normally used for microtome preparation)
  • Available cold mounting resins:
    • Struers EpoFix (epoxy, general use)
    • Struers SpeciFix-40 (epoxy, general use)
    • Burnham Petrographics Petropoxy 154 (epoxy, general use)

For more information, contact Ermei Mäkilä