Materials Characterization

The triaxial cell is constructed of stainless steel for soil sampling. The standard unit features a see-through Plexiglas external cell wall. The advantages of the external cell wall are that after the specimen is completely ready for a test, the cell wall is lowered over the cell and fastened into place with a minimum of disturbance to the test sample. All the standard triaxial cells can accommodate smaller diameter specimens using optional platens. These triaxial cells accept specimens with a length of 2 to 2.5 times the diameter.  Max specimen diameter is 150mm. 

A triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer, also known as QqQ, is a tandem MS method in which the first and third quadrupoles act as mass filters and the second causes fragmentation of the analyte through interaction with a collision gas—it is a radiofrequency-only quadrupole, and can be used in either SIM or scan mode. The method can be used to obtain structural information or for quantitation. For structural mass spec, a common sequence is product ion scan, precursor ion scan, and neutral loss scan, followed by selected reaction monitoring (SRM) or multiple reaction monitoring (MRM).

The UltiMate® 3000 Nano LC systems have been designed to optimize low flow separations and facilitate easy coupling to mass spectrometry to provide the best resolution, sensitivity, and selectivity for nano LC and proteomics applications. Dionex has played a pioneering role in the field of nano HPLC, a technique that generally involves the application of columns with an internal diameter of 75 µm and low flow rates of around 300 nL/min. These configurations are ideal for analysis with limited sample starting amounts, due to the sensitivity enhancement of the smaller column i.d.

Amino acid analysis has been used in the food and feed industries to verify and characterize materials and processes. The total amino acid content, as well as the proportions of growth-limiting amino acids, is an essential characteristic of the nutritional value of feeds. Since most of the amino acids are bound in protein, this determination requires acid hydrolysis of the sample. The total amino acids are then available for analysis. In addition to being components of proteins, amino acids are also important intermediates in metabolic pathways.