If the door is not opened within 20 seconds, it is automatically re-locked.
Place the sample on the sample holder, 20mm from the front left-hand corner.
Close the front door.
WARNING: THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF THE SAMPLE MUST NOT EXCEED 50mm.
Severe damage my result if the limit is exceeded.
Please contact staff if your samples are taller than 50
mm
.
Sample Specifications
No liquid or powder samples are allowed (unless well sealed in a container) as they may cause
direct damage to the X-Ray tube.
Maximum sample mass is 5 Kg. But there is no restriction on the number of samples that can be
loaded at a single time.
X-rays can be switched on only if the machine door is closed and locked.
Sample Holders
There are currently two types of sample holders.
1) A flat aluminum plate insulated on the underside, with a circular carbon fiber region which is very
transparent to x-rays.
2) A steel plate which will block most of the x-rays and is used only for calibration purposes by staff.
The sample holders fit into the sample manipulator through the machine front door using the two locating
pins. To achieve maximum magnification the feature of interest must be positioned on the carbon fiber
region of the holder and on the side closer to the x-ray tube.
Turning on the X-Rays
The X-ray tube can be turned on using the on/off buttons as shown below.
Power the tube on at a “low” voltage (30 – 60 kV) and power (0.3 – 1.0 watts, i.e., 3 – 10 on slider).
The status bar and PRE-WARN lamp turn yellow meaning that X-rays are about to be generated.
The status bar and the X-RAY ON lamp will shortly change to red meaning that x-rays are now
generated. There will be a short delay of around 5 seconds until the X-rays start.
The voltage and power indicators will increase to show the actual tube voltage and power levels.
It may take several seconds for an image to appear on the screen.
