Equipment for sample preparation

The platform is made up of several equipment intended for the preparation of samples:

  • A set of oven and ovens (up to 1000 ° C)
  • A Eurolabo stacking press allowing the production of 13 mm pellets
  • One sieve shaker and several series of sieves from 25 µm to 2 mm
  • Grinders:
    • A planetary ball mill: Retsch PM-100
    • A ball mill: Retsch MM200
    • Cryogenic ball mill : Retsch CryoMill
  • A device for producing ice particles pure or mixed with mineral or organic impurities, in a controlled and reproducible manner: SPIPA-B (Setup for the Preparation of Icy Planetary Analogues — B)

Technical characteristics

Retsch PM100

  • Grinding principle: impact and friction
  • Max initial grain size * <10 mm
  • Final fineness <1 µm, for colloidal grinding <0.1 µm
  • Speed of rotation of the sun wheel 100 - 650 min-1
  • G-force 33.3 g
  • Bowl available: 50 ml zirconium oxide
  • Available balls: zirconium oxide 0.5mm, 2mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm
  • Type of grinding: dry and wet

Retsch MM200

  • Grinding principle: impact and friction
  • Max initial particle size ≤ 6 mm
  • Final fineness ≈ 10 µm
  • Vibration frequency adjustment: 3-25 Hz (180-1500 rpm)
  • Bowls available: 1.5 mL and 5 mL in agate and 25 mL in stainless steel
  • Available beads: agate 3 mm, 7 mm, stainless steel
  • Type of grinding: dry
  • Also allows colloidal grinding (wet grinding) or cryogenic grinding using 25 mL stainless steel screw grinding bowls

Retsch CryoMill

  • Grinding principle: impact and friction
  • Max initial particle size ≤ 6 mm
  • Final fineness ≈ 5 µm
  • Vibration frequency adjustment: 5-30 Hz
  • Bowls available: 25 mL in zirconium oxide, 5 and 50 mL in stainless steel
  • Available balls: 7, 10, 15, 25 mm in stainless steel, 10, 15 mL in zirconium oxide
  • Type of grinding: dry, wet, cryogenic

SPIPA-B

  • Principle: the liquid (most often water possibly mixed with at most 1-2 wt% of impurities) is nebulized by an ultrasonic generator and the droplets formed are frozen in contact with liquid nitrogen, producing particles spherical ice (and impurities)
  • Granulometry: ice particles produced of 67 +/- 31 µm
  • Production temperature: 77 K
  • Porosity of the surface of ice particles produced: 50%
  • Production rate: 200 g / h
  • Possibility of mixing ice cream particles (pure or containing impurities) produced with other particles in aluminum bottles at 77K

  • A micro preparation area: Cleanroomflex room + Olympus SZX16 stereo-microscope + SC50 camera
Cleanroomflex room

Olympus SZX16 stereo-microscope + SC50 camera

Technical characteristics

The Cleanroomflex cleanroom is self-supporting and measures 3mx3mx2.6m. It helps to create a clean atmosphere in the enclosure. This installation takes the air from the room at a flow rate of 472.5 m3/h through the filtration units and then exhausts the filtered air at ground level, under the protective curtains. The clean room is pressurized to prevent the entry of contaminants from outside.