[PRECELLYS] Grinding of building materilas with Precellys Evolution

The determination of the mineralogical and chemical composition of building materials plays an important part in their quality control. Raw materials, intermediate products and finished products must all be analyzed to ensure quality standard of production and serve public health purposes. To be validated, samples must be taken and reduced into a fine powder before being submitted to further analysis such as XRF or other elemental analysis techniques. In order to perform a reproducible XRF analysis, the sample must meet material-dependent criteria for thinness. This thinness enables X-rays to enter the sample deeply and get the most accurate results. For example cement requires a thinness of at least 10 microns to detect elements of smaller atomic numbers such as Aluminum.
In this application note, we use Precellys Evolution homogenizers and its metal tubes to grind samples of cement or floor tiles and obtain powder thinness from the micrometer scope.