The wet lab houses much of the facility’s analytical equipment. It is used to characterize samples such as limestone and marble before and after experiments.
QUV Weatherometer – known as an artificial weathering chamber This instrument artificially ages samples by exposing them to UV light as well as humidity and even water spray (represents rain.) For example, a stone can be studied before and after being treated with a stone strengthener. Then the stone can be weathered using the QUV. After about 800 hours, the treatments can be significantly deteriorated. By studying both treated and untreated samples we gain more insight into a treatment’s efficacy, especially in conjunction with the other analysis done here.
Solarius Laser Profilometer – characterizes the surface morphology of a sample by using a laser reflected onto a surface of the sample. The principle is similar to the commercially-available; laser tape measure, only on a microscopic scale and scanned across the whole face of a sample.
FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer) – uses absorbed light through infrared regions to observe the chemical makeup of a material. Depending upon the types of chemical bonds present, infrared light will be absorbed to differing degrees throughout the infrared spectrum.
Colorimeter – measures color and brightness according to a 3-dimensional color space with color and light coordinates. This provides numerical color change information.
Microscope – This device is used to examine samples. MZ8 Leico can magnify a sample up to 80x. The Micro Imaging video recorder is attached to the optical device of the microscope to capture images for computer analysis.
The lab needs high purity water, which is supplied by a reverse osmosis system in tandem with a four cartridge filtration system.
We produce extremely purified water in-house.
The Ion Chromatograph allows us to measure ion concentrations in a solution. We commonly use it to determine the amount of pollution that is deposited on stone samples in the environmental exposure chamber downstairs.
The Keymanster Tracer V-III Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer
(Portable XRF).
Thermo Orion pH/Conductivity Portable Multimeter.