In the RMS Foundation the following methods of analyses of metallic, ceramic or polymere materials are at your disposal. Some services have been accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025 (identified by *).
X-ray fluorescence analyses of metallic and non-metallic materials*
The qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence analyses (RFA) serve to determine the composition of metallic and non-metallic materials according to the classification of elements from sodium to uranium.
Device: BRUKER S4 EXPLORER X-ray fluorescence spectrometer
Contact: Fabrizio Bigolin, Fabrizio.Bigolin(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 12 05
Inorganic Analysis using Inductively Coupled Plasma and Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS)
The ICP MS is a very robust and sensitive analytical method for detection of inorganic compounds. It has a wide dynamic range of upto 9 orders of magnitude, down to pg/L. For analysis, an aqueous liquid sample is first nebulized and then ionized in argon plasma at temperature around 7000K. The generated ions are accelerated and detected in a mass spectrometer.
The ICP MS technology is applicable for virtually any inorganic analytical question including the detection of wear metals in metal working fluids, residual heavy metals in materials (e.g. RoHS regulation) and food products, or the composition of drinking water, blood or tissues.
Chemical digestions methods are applied prior to analysis if the sample is a solid or enclosed in an organic matrix such as for body fluids or oils.
Device: Agilent 7700x ICP MS
Contact: Reto Luginbühl, Reto.Luginbuehl(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 14 16
Energy dispersive microanalysis
In the qualitative analysis of the surface of solid or powdery materials, the energy dispersive spectroscopy by X-rays (EDX) on the electron microscope is used to identify the elements from beryllium to uranium contained in the sample surface. The quantitative analyses allow determining the content of selected elements.
Device: INCA Energy 350 with x-Max 50 Silicon Drift Detector (SDD)
Contact: Fabrizio Bigolin, Fabrizio.Bigolin(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 12 05
Please read more on "energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy" in our Newsletter No 6.
UV-VIS spectroscopy
The UV-VIS spectroscopy serves to determine the metal ions and the anions in metallic or non-metallic samples after the extraction in a solution. The ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) light stimulates the characteristic electron migrations in the molecules, and causes the absorption strength to correlate with the concentration of the (coloured) material of the solution (absorption bands occur due to the electron stimulation in an appropriate wavelength).
Device: UV-VIS Lamda 10 photometer
Contact: Fabrizio Bigolin, Fabrizio.Bigolin(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 12 05
Infrared spectroscopy
The qualitative infrared spectroscopy (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy FTIR) serves to identify chemical substances, polymers, bonding agents, etc., and the quantitative infrared spectroscopy determines the material compositions, the purity, etc.
Device: Perkin Elmer PARAGON 1000 FTIR spectrometer
Contact: Fabrizio Bigolin, Fabrizio.Bigolin(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 12 05
Determination of C, S, H, N, O and AR content in metallic materials *
Is used to determine the carbon, sulfur, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and argon content of metallic or nonmetallic materials.
Device: LECO CS 230 carbon and sulphur determination device / Bruker G8 Galileo / Mass spectrometer ESD 100
Contact: Fabrizio Bigolin, Fabrizio.Bigolin(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 12 05
Particle size measurements
The particle size analysis is a way to qualitatively or quantitatively determine the particle size distribution in powders, suspensions and emulsions. Furthermore, the characterisation of particle debris from wear tests is viable. Two different measuring principles are available:
In the Laser Diffraction principle, the particles are irradiated by a laser beam. A characteristic annular intensity distribution is produced after transmission of the specimen by partial diffraction. This intensity distribution is detected and transformed to a particle size distribution by calculation (Theory of Mie or Fraunhofer). The principle allows for the qualitative determination in a range of 0.017– 2000 µm (wet) or 0.04 – 2000 µm (dry) respectively. Ultrasonic agitation aids for a good dispersion.
In the Coulter principle, the size of each single particle is determined while passing through a capillary. It allows the quantitative determination of the particle number in an electrolyte solution. The measuring range lies between 0.4 and 1600 µm using different capillaries.
Device: Beckman Coulter LS 13320 (Laser Diffraction principle) / Beckman Coulter Multisizer 4 (Coulter principle)
Contact: Jeannine Krieg, Jeannine.Krieg(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 15 63
Corrosion measurements
Is used to determine the basic material’s corrosion properties or the local corrosion properties of real surfaces of metallic materials. After the preparation of the sample, the corrosion properties of the basic material are measured in a corrosion-measuring cell, which can also be operated without oxygen. The local corrosion properties are determined using the EC-pen. The EC-pen provides an easy and rapid way to determine the corrosion properties of real surfaces (pen tip: A = 1.5 mm2).
Device: EC-pen with Jaissle potentiostat / Corrosion measuring cell with PGP201 potentiostat
Contact: Lukas Eschbach, Lukas.Eschbach(at)rms-foundation.ch, +41 (0)32 644 16 98
Please read more on «Corrosion and Corrosion Measurement» in our Newsletter No 3