EQP-30 Equilab Manual Hydraulic Pellet Press
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The EQP-30 Manual Hydraulic Pellet Press is a
unit especially designed to prepare beads/pellets
for their subsequent analysis by XRF.
The preparation of pellets is a common technique that enables the user to handle the
samples with ease, as well as obtaining repeatable analytical results.
The technique consists in compressing the particles of the powder sample (by itself of
with a binding agent) until obtaining a perfectly homogeneous pellet with a flat surface,
mechanically robust and without cracks or dust that may be released easily.
There are some points that we must consider when preparing the pellet:
Strength/Pressure
It is actually quite common to confuse STRENGTH with PRESSURE or viceversa,
these are related to each other as:
Pressure = Strength / Surface
The pressure is usually stated in Kg/cm2or in ton/in2.
In our case, the pressure (Kg/cm2) supplied by the hydraulic pump will provide a
strength of 10, 15 or 20 tons (depending on the model) on the surface of the sample.
If we use the pressure units, the strength applied in the pressing of the pellets will
depend on the size of the same, therefore we think that it will be more useful if we
explain ourselves with strength units (ton).
To obtain repeatable analytical results, it will be essential that all the samples are
prepared and pressed in the same way, and always with the same strength.
Pellets made of the same sample but with different compacting strength, will produce
different RX intensities, and therefore, different analytical results.
For this reason, it will be more convenient to use the strength units rather than the
pressure ones, and thus avoid mistakes due to the different size of the pellets,
especially in tests carried out by different laboratories on the same samples.
