Erzlabor – Spin off from Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology

Erzlabor – Optimum Sample Preparation

Logitech customer Erzlabor, based in Freiberg, Germany, offer their expertise in optimum sample preparation and analysis for materials characterization. Erzlabor is a spin-off from the prestigious Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology. Combining 25 years of experience, Erzlabor offer their expert knowledge across various services.

One key service they offer is the preparation of polished sections across a vast range of materials. For this they utilise a full Logitech Geological Thin Section Preparation system solution.

This includes:

  • IU30 Impregnation Unit – Used to impregnate soft, porous or friable materials with epoxy resin for further processing.
  • GTS1 Thin Section Saw – This saw can be utilised to cut large sections of material for processing and also has the ability to trim mounted samples to as thin as 300µm.
  • LP50 Lapping & Polishing System – Erzlabor utilise two LP50 systems, one auto-lap machine is utilised with our PLJ5 jig and another with our larger PLJ7 precision jig for large sample capacity processing. This system is primarily used for thinning the chosen material for even and flat surfaces.
  • PM5 Lapping & Polishing System with a WG2 polishing head – This system is used to polish the final samples for high quality surface finishes. Again, Erzlabor make use of two of these systems combined with the use of our WG2 polishing heads they can reach a sample throughput of 12 samples (6 per polishing head) per process.

The benefits

Andreas Bartzsch, one of the founders of Erzlabor and also the head of the preparation laboratory at the Helmholtz-Institute, has said “Logitech equipment provides us with very consistent results across a wide range of minerals of varying hardness, this is essential for us to provide a high standard of work. We see very even surfaces with very few scratches and only a small relief depending on the sample material. The polished surfaces we produce are very well suited for automated mineralogy investigations – the core of the Erzlabor product portfolio. Using Logitech equipment allows us to deliver to our customers results that are both precise as well as reproducible.”

Want more information on our Geological Thin Section Preparation systems? Get in touch with our technical experts.