SA-9600 Series – BET Flowing Gas Surface Area Analyzers

Description

The surface area of a material is, in many cases, as important as its chemical properties. As particle size decreases, surface area increases. Porosity of materials – from micropores to macropores – contribute even more to the total surface area. The surface interface defines how a solid reacts to other substances, be they gases, liquids, or solids.

Surface area can impact the shelf life, stability, dissolution and efficacy of pharmaceutical powders and tablets. Likewise, the surface area can affect the rheological properties and hiding powers of pigments, paints, and coatings. It has a significant impact on the ability for materials like catalysts, adsorbents, filtration materials and air separation products to react in the designed application. Ceramics used in applications ranging from; dinner plates, to dental implants, to electronics, all are affected by surface area.

While particle size is frequently used to control size reduction and milling of minerals and other substances, the surface area can provide substantial size reduction feedback. Many times, a material with the same particle size across different batches may reveal completely different surface areas due to small changes in processing.

The HORIBA Solution
The SA-9600 series of surface area analyzers brings exceptional speed, convenience, and low cost-per-analysis to surface area measurement on a wide variety of materials. Now you can perform ultra-fast single or multi-point surface area measurements with push-button ease.

These tools use the robust and proven flowing gas method to acquire gas adsorption and desorption data. This information is then used to calculate total surface area utilizing the well-known BET method. The advantage of the flowing gas method is most evident in single-point mode where up to thirty sample analyses can be performed per hour.

The patented SA-9600 technology provides routine total surface area determination in as little as two to six minutes. The SA-9603 models feature three stations for three simultaneous surface area measurements.

Features and Benefits of SA-9600 Series – BET Flowing Gas Surface Area Analyzers:

Fully Automatic
Begin analyses with simplicity. The SA-9600 does the rest! The entire analysis is completed without further interaction and avoids the manual steps required with many similar analyzers.

Small Footprint
Laboratory bench space is at a premium in most labs. The SA-9600 provides all analysis and preparation stations in one small, well-designed cabinet. No need for additional space for separate analysis and preparation devices as with many alternative analyzers. If expansion is needed, additional stations are added in the same footprint – not by adding more devices which consume more space on the lab bench. The SA-9600 may also be controlled from the built-in computer and keyboard saving additional space in your lab.

No User Calibration Required
To ensure repeatable accuracy, the SA-9600 performs an automatic calibration before every measurement. And from there, the SA-9600 technology eliminates variables otherwise introduced by operator involvement.

Lowest Cost of Ownership
The use of mass flow controllers in some versions of the SA-9600 series automatically creates the necessary mixtures of nitrogen and helium for multi-point BET surface area analysis. This lowers the total cost of ownership by eliminating the need to purchase expensive gas mixtures. The straight-forward design ensures service costs are minimal compared to more complex, static volumetric technology.

Detector Protection
An automated bypass loop and cell detector switch limits the effects of missing or broken sample cells by bypassing the detector when gas flow to the cell stops.

Electronic Valves
Reliable electronic valves eliminate the need for a compressed air or gas supply to actuate valves during the measurement process, further lowering the cost of ownership.

Improved Gas Handling
The thoughtful design of manifold layout and valve selection result in more stable, balanced flow, improving repeatability, lowering maintenance costs, and easing operation.

Robust Dewar Elevator System
A rugged mechanical design means smoother and reliable movement of the Dewar tray that raises and lowers the LN₂ Dewars.

Software Control
The SA-9600 software was designed to be easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Type sample name
2. Choose measurement type
3. ​​Click “Start”

And in a few minutes the full surface area report will be complete.

View the measurement in real-time to see the auto-calibration, adsorption, and desorption.

Flexibility
Built-in functions allow optimization of system for different sample types.

• Gas concentration of mixed gases may be precisely controlled to give results identical to the multipoint method.
• A wide variety of sample cells are available, allowing measurements to be made on diverse sample types.

Use the feature-rich SA-9600 software to control the unit via USB communication or use the built-in keyboard and display.

High Throughput
Every SA-9600 model includes multiple sample preparation stations (2 or 3 depending on the model). For very high throughput environments the SA-9660 accessory provides three additional stations.

Specifications of SA-9600:

BET Surface Area Measurement Range
Total Surface Area: 0.1 to 50 m²
Specific Surface Area: Approximately 0.01 – 2,000 m²/g
Much more sensitive to low surface area samples than volumetric-type analyzers, allowing the use of samples less than 1g and as low as 0.1 square meters in the sample cell.

Accuracy and Precision
Reproducibility is better than 1% COV.
Accuracy is better than 10% for most samples.

The SA-9600 Series offers a full line of high-quality, high-performance BET Surface Area Analyzers with four fully automatic analyzers to meet the needs of any research or quality assurance laboratory. The SA-9600 Series analyzers include:

• SA-9601: One sample analysis station, and two sample preparation stations.
• SA-9601MP: One sample analysis station, two sample preparation stations, MFC gas mixture control and multi-point analysis.
• SA-9603: Three sample analysis stations, and three sample preparation stations.
• SA-9603MP: Three sample analysis stations, three sample preparation stations, MFC gas mixture control and multi-point analysis.
• SA-9660: Three sample preparation stations.

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