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Tech Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Plastics made from polymeric materials are an integral part of many consumer goods and products. Whether it is the packaging or the product itself, different polymers can provide material and mechanical properties to suit the product’s functional needs. With the increased integration of environmentally sustainable…
Tech Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Technical cleanliness is the exhaustive control of contamination across manufacturing and assembly of components to protect product integrity. In precision systems, undesirable particles can be detrimental to functionality, eroding and abrading surfaces through repetitive contact (Figure 1). Trapped between tight fits, they essentially act as…
Tech Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Powders are one of the most common forms of materials that are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The distribution of particle sizes, composition, and surface morphology plays an important role in determining their behavior in different environments. Powders have found utility in every industry…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
Food science plays a crucial role in meeting the demands of a growing population, ensuring a consistent supply of safe and nourishing food, and promoting sustainable practices to minimize waste. Each step in the journey from raw materials to packaged food products presents different challenges,…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that can provide clean, renewable energy for widespread applications, from powering handheld devices to entire buildings. Of the various fuel cell types, arguably the most promising are the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, also called polymer electrolyte membrane fuel…
App Note | Technology: Force Tensiometry
Batteries are a decisive element of modern mobile power consumption. While batteries have already been integrated irrevocably into smaller devices such as smartphones or portable computers, rechargeable batteries are increasingly used to propel larger energy consumers like cars and trucks as we shift our reliance…
Tech Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Meticulous collection, analysis, and interpretation of material obtained from crime scenes are imperative in ensuring accurate evidence is presented during legal proceedings. Forensic scientists investigate a diverse range of samples depending on the type of crime scene. From extracting trace DNA to deciphering blood spatter…
Tech Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) are staple tools for analyzing the structures and elemental makeup of surfaces with high resolution. Bringing SEM instruments in-house can provide immense value to organizations that require microstructural analysis and prioritize fast turnaround times.. Integrating these complex instruments into existing workflows…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Regenerative medicine is an evolving field focused on developing advanced technologies that harness the body’s natural healing abilities to restore or replace damaged tissues and organs in the body lost due to disease, trauma, defects, or aging. This field can potentially reduce the need for…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Surface Free Energy (SFE) of a solid surface is analogous to the surface tension of a liquid. Just as the surface tension of a liquid is a result of the force imbalance that occurs due to the termination of cohesive forces above a liquid with…
Tech Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Electrospinning is a versatile and promising technique for fabricating nanofibrous scaffolds that can biomimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) of natural tissues. These nanofibrous scaffolds have several unique properties, including a high surface area-to-volume ratio, adjustable pore size, and tunable mechanical and biochemical properties. The mechanical…
Tech Note | Technology: Spark Ablation
Water electrolysis is widely regarded as a promising solution for supplying green hydrogen at scale. Electrolyzer devices use electricity to drive the water-splitting reaction, producing streams of H2 and O2 gas from pure water, aqueous solutions, or steam. Among the different electrolyzer technologies, proton exchange…
Tech Note | Technology: CryoEM Sample Preparation
Advancements in cryogenic transmission electron microscopes coupled with recent breakthroughs in detectors and automation have moved single-particle cryo-EM from its revolution phase to a faster, more powerful era. Software and automation for operating transmission electron microscopes and processing data have made the technique easier and…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Surface contamination is a concern for a wide variety of industries and their production processes such as polishing, surface treatments, coatings, bonding, and etching. Contamination can arise from a variety of sources, such as process oils and lubricants, aerosolized particles, residues from handling, or chemical…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
The crux of energy storage research concerns optimizing the properties of electrochemical devices to improve efficiency, reliability, safety, and cost – four core concepts that push ceaseless efforts into the battery industry. Since batteries are such a ubiquitous technology, critical to the everyday lives of…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Every affliction of the body has its respective remedy, some targeted solution designed to alleviate or prevent negative health effects. Such remedies may have a long list of responsibilities to carry out once administered into the body – to soothe headaches, halt dripping noses, and…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
A good understanding of different electrochemical processes that occur inside a device is critical for the optimization of various components of rechargeable batteries. Since all critical processes of batteries and other energy storage systems occur at the electrode-electrolyte interface, researchers have focused their attention on…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
For an overview of how QSense QCM-D can be used in molecule – surface interaction analysis and optimization of CMP-related processes, please refer to our previous application note. This case study shows how QSense® QCM-D (Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring technology) can be used…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
To read an in-depth case study about QSense analysis of CMP slurry additive and abrasive interaction with a ceramic surface, click here. Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP), sometimes referred to as Chemical Mechanical Polishing, relies on several nanoscale surface interaction processes, and so does a successful…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
What if you could quickly and easily customize the porosity, flexibility, and strength of your tissue scaffolds to mimic the properties of native tissue more closely? Fabricating tissue scaffolds to meet specifications with batch-to-batch consistency can be a challenge, especially with tubular structures like vascular,…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Introduction Superhydrophobic and oleophobic surfaces are receiving increased attention because of their potential to provide breakthroughs in applications such as anti-fouling, self-cleaning, and anti-freezing. Contact angle measurements are often used to characterize the properties of these surfaces. However, the low wettability of these surfaces presents…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Over the past decade, the emergence and evolution of electrospinning and electrospraying manufacturing techniques have accelerated the development of various applications including tissue engineering, drug delivery, filtration, and energy storage. Both electrospinning and electrospraying have grown in popularity because of many specific advantages over more…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
Why are protein – container enclosure interactions important? During manufacturing, storage and delivery processes, therapeutic proteins encounter several surfaces and materials, such as metals, glasses, oils, and polymers. These can range from stainless-steel production vessels to glass prefilled syringe delivery devices. The inherent surface-active nature…
App Note | Technology: Langmuir Blodgett
Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposition is a well-established method for generating monolayers of sample onto a substrate. A layer of molecules (or nanoparticles) are placed at the interface and compressed with barriers until they form a monolayer at the air-liquid interface, then a substrate is dipped through…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Contamination can have a wide variety of undesirable effects in manufacturing processes such as polishing, surface treatment, coating application, and etching. Some sources include finger oils from handling, atmospheric dust and dirt, and process lubricants. While best practices such as personal protective equipment use and…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
For powdered materials such as pharmaceuticals, dyes, proppants, and foods, wettability is an important parameter to characterize. As the powders are immersed into a liquid, fluid may wick into the interstitial spaces between powder particles through capillary forces. The wettability of the powder can be…
App Note | Technology: Spark Ablation
How the VSParticle spark ablation technology can help with heterogeneous catalysis Developing the mainstream heterogeneous catalysts of tomorrow requires a fundamental understanding of today’s state-of-the-art catalysts. Today’s catalysts are generally composed of metallic nanoparticles (e.g. Pt, Ru, Ni, Co) deposited on an oxide support (e.g….
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
How can Optical Tensiometry Characterize Coatings? Coatings are used to modify the properties of the substrate that they cover and are ubiquitous in our everyday lives. They can have functional, protective, and/or aesthetic purposes. One everyday example of a coating is the touchscreen on a…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
There has been a global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy to protect civilization from the worst effects of climate change. Special focus has been given to solar and wind energy. However, utilizing electricity from solar and wind in a grid becomes challenging due…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
The Attension Theta Flex and the Pulsating Drop Module PD-200 Emulsions and foams play a key role in important products such as foods1, pharmaceuticals2, and oil recovery formulations3. The stability of these products plays a key role in their performance and shelf life. Amphiphilic molecules…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
In the past two decades additive manufacturing (AM) has rapidly evolved from a cutting-edge technology into a routine manufacturing method. The ability to quickly print complex shapes in a cost-effective and energy efficient manner has helped revolutionize the go to manufacturing method in a huge…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Emulsion Stability in Droplet-Based Microfluidics There are a lack of tools to efficiently predict emulsion stability. Stabilizing emulsions is a significant problem in foods [1], personal care products [2], pharmaceuticals [2], and droplet-based microfluidics. Some major applications of droplet-based microfluidics include single-cell gene sequencing [3],…
App Note | Technology: CryoEM Sample Preparation
Plunge freezing has been the gold standard for cryoEM single particle sample prep several decades now [1]. For better and for worse, it did the job. It’s been the method that cryoEM users have relied on to create the samples which have been used in…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
The rapid worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has upended all conventional thinking regarding the scope of the damage it is causing and ways to control the spread. Although washing hands frequently and maintaining social distancing are the guidelines to help…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has everyone questioning how to protect themselves and help those on the front line of the coronavirus. The CDC recommends facemasks be used for those that have COVID-19 or are showing symptoms and now for anyone in areas with significant…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
The rapid spread of coronavirus, COVID-19, is currently the most concerning matter worldwide. The outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The U.S. Food and drug administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and several other government organizations are reducing…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, surgical masks and N95 respirators (Fig. 1) have gained significant media attention, both for their use as personal protective equipment (PPE) and their limited supply. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that the public wear…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Improved control and design of dental and orthopedic bone implants through simultaneous characterization of topography and contact angle To ensure the safety and quality of medical implants, parameters such as the roughness, cleanliness, and wettability of the surface must be characterized. Because these properties are…
App Note | Technology: Quartz Crystal Microbalance
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has become a worldwide pandemic that has caused massive disruptions at all levels of life, from government infrastructure and markets to our day-to-day interactions with each other. Like Zika, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the H1N1 (swine flu) viruses before…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Improving Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) with the Attension Theta Flex High Pressure Chamber Measurements As oil demand continues to rise, many oil reservoirs are no longer capable of producing oil by traditional primary and secondary extraction methods. To extract these oils, enhanced oil recovery (EOR)…
App Note | Technology: Optical Tensiometry
Wettability and Adhesion Problems for Polypropylene (PP) Products When applying coatings, inks, adhesives, and other materials to a surface, controlling the surface properties becomes critical. In particular, the wettability – the ability of the process liquid to spread and adhere to the solid surface –…
App Note | Technology: Force Tensiometry
How the Attension Sigma 702ET Quickly and Easily Monitors the Interfacial Tension and Quality of Transformer Oil Transformers account for nearly 60% of the cost of high voltage substations [1], and the time to repair some transformers is over one year [2]. Given the long…
App Note | Technology: Ion Milling
High Resolution Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Surface/Cross Section Sample Preparation In Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) studies, surface quality is a key issue. Diffraction patterns are formed within a few tens of nanometers of the sample surface. A crystalline,…
App Note | Technology: Ion Milling
Focused Ion Beam (FIB) Sample Milling for High Performance Transmission Electron Microscopy Investigation (TEM) The use of focused ion beam (FIB) systems has become the method of choice for site-specific transmission electron microcscopy (TEM) sample preparation. Although focused ion beam offers advantages over conventional mechanical…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Fractography is a method in failure analysis for studying the fracture surface of materials. Studying the characteristics of the fractured surface can help to determine the cause of failure in an engineered product. Different modes of failure produce characteristic features on the surface, allowing a…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Fiber-based filtration systems clean everything from the air we breathe to the oil that runs our engines. Many filters, like high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) and ultra-low particulate air (ULPA) filters, are made from glass or polymer fibers. Some are a woven mesh of metal fibers,…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Filtration and fibers used to separate liquids from particles or particles from air play an important role in our everyday lives. Filters help to clean air, water or oil for automobiles, this important product plays a major role in keeping our lives running at their…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Ceramics often have grain sizes and microstructure that impact material performance. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images are used to quantify the grain sizes and distribution. Grain boundaries and microstructure can be optimized with ceramic processing parameters for specific product requirements. Ceramic Grain Size and Coverage Backscattered…
App Note | Technology:
Ceramics typically include a combination of ionic and covalent bonds to form a material with high modulus and hardness, high melting point, high thermal expansion and corrosion resistance. Because these materials may be brittle, fracture toughness is also an important mechanical property. Composites are made from…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
There are multiple manufacturing processes for fiber production. Depending on the physical and/or chemical properties of the materials to be used in some techniques are more feasible than others. Common techniques include 3D printing, hot melt extrusion, and electrospinning. Among these, the electrospinning technique, which…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
The beauty of the electrospinning technique is that it allows the production of fibers in different structural organization and morphologies to meet their application needs. Researchers and industries use fibers in applications like drug delivery, tissue engineering, energy storage, textiles, and filtration of different media….
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning, Scanning Electron Microscopy
Extruded fibers used for nonwoven textiles are found in many consumer products including filters, wipes, automotive components, upholstery, sports apparel, roofing materials, bedding, fiberglass boats, surgical gowns, and diapers. Fabrics, filtration, medical scaffolds, fuel cells, insulation and other applications now include nanofibers for improved product…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Gunshot residue (GSR) analysis is a standard method to determine if a firearm has been used. Particles for GSR analysis typically range from 0.5 to 10 microns. Often the primer particles containing lead (Pb), barium (Ba) and antimony (Sb) are detected and analyzed using EDS…
App Note | Technology:
Optical and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) are some of the instruments commonly used in general investigations and analyses for criminal, environmental and industrial forensics. These tools are used to characterize forensic evidence like fabrics, metals, particulates, textile or glass. Microscopic imaging can also aid in…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Scanning electron microscopy is now a routine technology employed in the study of rocks and minerals. In addition to providing high-resolution images, electron microscopes generate a variety of additional signals that are often employed to further our understanding of geological samples. Chief among these are back-scatter electron…
App Note | Technology:
Cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging is used to study provenance, texture, growth zonation, composition, and the presence of trace elements in rocks to determine history, composition, and permeability. CL can be used to study geological samples such as sandstone and zircon. The porosity and composition of sedimentary rocks like…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Electrospun Scaffolding for Regenerative Medicine In order to properly regenerate cells and tissues that have been damaged or lost due to a disease or age, the scientific community has employed electrospun samples thanks to their ability to biomimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) native structure. The…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Improving Cell Infiltration in Electrospun Nanofibers It is common knowledge that in order to biomimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) structure, electrospun fibers can be created with fiber diameter ranging in the nano- to micro-scale. Meanwhile, cell infiltration into scaffolding material is usually limited by pore…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Electrospun Scaffolding for Cell Growth and Tissue Engineering In any type of scaffolding material cell migration, proliferation and differentiation are a key parameter for the success of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. The ability of electrospun scaffolds to biomimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) environment…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffolding for Blood Vessels One of the main goals of electrospun fibrous scaffolding is to completely biomimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) environment. This includes incorporating cells and sustaining their proliferation, having fiber orientation according to the structure being mimicked, allowing degradation of the…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Electrospun Scaffolds that are Thermolabile Bioactive Scaffolding techniques such as 3D printing and melt electrospinning can resemble the extracellular matrix (ECM) environment, however, due to the high temperatures involved they do not allow the process of thermolabile bioactives. These high temperatures denature bioactives (e.g. proteins…
App Note | Technology: Electrospinning
Regenerative Medicine Utilizing Electrospun Scaffolds for Wound Healing Imagine a world where no organ donors are needed; a world where any type of tissue can be artificially created and function as compared to native tissue without rejection or scar formation. Scientists and engineers are currently…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
Particle Analysis and characterization with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Understanding the physical characteristics of particles in dry powder materials is an essential aspect of drug product development. The particle size distribution of either active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of excipients often has a significant impact…
App Note | Technology: Scanning Electron Microscopy
The Analytical Tools Needed for Deformulation of Pharmaceutical Imaging plays an integral role in the deformulation of any product. Separation and quantification of individual ingredients often require a suite of analytical instrumentation. The Phenom ProX desktop SEM with EDS is the ideal tool for accurately…
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