Determining the volume of aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃), or alumina, in clays and silicates can be an arduous task. Gravimetric analysis has been classically applied, but these techniques are both time-consuming and complicated. Samples must first be decomposed using a choice of precipitants before aluminium is separated from interfering elements like iron (Fe) and titanium (Ti). The precipitate is fired to promote oxidation then weighed. This may be expressed as a percentile of overall sample weight or as alumina after ignition.

Why Use X-ray Flux Chemicals for Alumina Fusion?

Various organic reagents are proposed for quantitative precipitation of aluminium, which creates a burden of choice. Additionally, the gravimetric workflow itself is...

Precisely analysing the elemental composition of ferrous ores is critical to a range of earth exploration, metalworking, and mine mapping applications. Generally, the term ferrous is used to describe any metal containing an appreciable amount of iron per weight percentage (wt%), but its chemical designation is defined as metallic compounds containing iron(II) oxide—which is iron in the +2 oxidation state.

Chemists play a key role in winning valuable ores by helping to predict the location and relative abundance of deposits, and qualifying subsequent deposits via low-level elemental analysis. This latter process is where eutectic flux chemicals enter the metallurgical workflow.

Extracting, Treating & Analysing Iron

Iron is derived from a range ...

Transistors are the basic building blocks of modern electrical systems, performing extremely rapid current switching and efficient signal amplification. Crucially, they can also be engineered in tiny formats; down to the nanometre (nm) range. Their combined size and efficiency effectively heralded the end of bulky vacuum tubes and ushered in a new era of microelectronics. Yet their exponential miniaturisation puts a key emphasis on material purity, with some semiconducting devices requiring impurity limits as stringent as one part per billion (ppb).

High-purity platinum foil is routinely used in microelectronics fabrication due to its ductility, inertness, and favourable conductivity. Before the rise of integrated circuits (ICs), platinum was typically reserved for electrical con...

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