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After more than 20 years in a Class 10000 Clean Chemistry lab built for Pat Bickford and Scott Samson, a new facility was built during the Summer and Fall of 2011.  The Isotope Geochemistry lab is in Rm 307.  In total it is a 1020 SF facility that includes a 440 SF Class 1000 Clean Chemistry laboratory and a 580 SF Class 1000 Clean Instrument laboratory.

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SAMSON CLEAN CHEMSITRY LAB

Samson Clean Chemistry Lab
The areas shaded in yellow represent the approximately 440 SF of Class 1000 "metal free" Clean Chemistry lab space.  Featured in this lab are four Class 10 Isolation Cabinets (IC's) manufactured locally in the Syracuse Area by Reynolds Technology Fabricators.  These IC's have stainless stell welded frames completed encapsulted in flame retardant weld Polypropylene.  All base and wall cabinets are also manufactured from welded Polypropylene.  The floors are welded static dissapative vinyl electrically bonded to the building electrical ground to earth.  The walls are covered in fiberglass re-inforced plastic (FRP).  The ceiling uses a fiberglass T-bar grid.  Light fixtures are behind optical grade acrylic panels.  Ceiling panels are also FRP.  Six direct ducted HEPA's are mounted in the ceiling.  There are two complete air changes in this room every minute.

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Shown above are two views down the East and West walls of Samson's Clean Chemistry Lab hi-liting the Reynolds Tech Fabricators interior which includes two 72" wide x 36" deep Isolation Cabinets along each wall with all Polypropylene base and wall cabinets in between.

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Shown above is a Quartz Subboiling Still.  One of the Samson IC's was configured to have the cabinet to house the Quartz still mounted directly to and vented through the side of the IC.  A Quartz Still is engineered to allow for just enough heat to radiate onto the surface of the acid through four heating coils such that active evaporation of the acid occurs without boiling.  Boiling can release contaminants along with the acid vapor and must be reduced or avoided.  An angled water cooled condensing surface allows the super clean acid vapor to condense and drip into a super clean collection bottle.  This still is used to produce super clean Nitric and Hydrochloric acids.

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Shown above is one of three SCP Science brand hotplates.  These hotplates feature a graphite impregnated teflon surface that is completely resistant to acid spills.  The hotplates themselves are sealed with no exposed metal.  The controls for the hotplates are tethered and can be remotely located.  In our lab, Reynolds Tech Fabricators mounted the controls to the side of the IC's at eye level.  The Hotplates are in turn placed inside an enclosure that provides HEPA filtered horizontal air flow over the samples.

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To the extent possible, the interior of the Samson Clean Chemistry lab is a metal free environment.  Toward that end a separate Class 1000 Clean room is adjacent to the main Chemistry lab that houses the Millipore Corp. MilliQ water purification system as well as the Analytical Balances.  The water from the MilliQ is direct plumbed into the Clean Chemistry Lab.

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SAMSON CLEAN INSTRUMENT LAB

Samson Clean Instrument Lab
The areas shaded in green represent the approximately 580 SF of Class 1000 Clean Instrument lab space.  The larger area is home to the Sector 54 TIMS (see below), Filament Degas Bench, and two horizontal laminar flow HEPA filtered work stations for filament loading and sample handling.  Also part of this isntrument suite is a room dedicated to the newest MS - the Phoenix (see below).  The Phoenix is in its own isolated space with the computer that controls it located outside of the MS space.  This is done to ensure the best possible conditions for constant temperature (69 F +/- 0.5 F over each 24 hour period) with little to no air movement.  All of the floors are welded static dissapative vinyl electrically bonded to the building electrical ground to earth.  The walls are covered in fiberglass re-inforced plastic (FRP).  The ceiling uses a fiberglass T-bar grid.  Light fixtures are behind optical grade acrylic panels.  Ceiling panels are also FRP.  There is a combination of direct ducted HEPA's and fan powered HEPA's mounted in the ceiling.  There are two complete air changes in this room every minute.

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Phoenix Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer manufacturerd by IsotopX Inc. in the Manchester, England area in the new Class 1000 Clean Instrument Lab.  This MS was installed in 2009.  it is routinely used for U-Pb, Sm-Nd, and Rb-Sr isotope measurements.  This TIMS is a multicollector instrument with seven (9) Faraday cups and a Daly Ion Counting system with a WARP prefilter.


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Sector54 Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer in new Class 1000 Clean Instrument Lab.  This MS is about 21 years old, yet still functioning.  it is routinely used for U-Pb, Sm-Nd, and Rb-Sr isotope measurements.  This TIMS is a multicollector instrument with seven (7) Faraday cups and a Daly Ion Counting system.

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SAMSON SUPPORT LABS


In the left side photo above is shown the Milestone Ethos Microwave oven.  This is used to provide the temperature and pressures needed to perform acid digestion of rock and mineral samples quickly and more importantly - in a vessel that is metal free!  In the right side photo above is shown two "picking microscope" setups used to isolate discrete mineral grains from other fractions present as 'contaminants'.

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In the photo above is shown a Frantz Isodaynamic Magnetic seporator used to separate minerals based on their magnetic properties.

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