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Micro Mill This state-of-art computer driven New-Wave MicroMill allows users to undertake high resolution milling of a variety of samples and recover milled samples and powders for chemical and isotopic analysis.
Why MicroMill?
· Sub-micron sample motion control. · High-precision milling. · Sample height detection and tilt correction by a drill-tip sensor. · Sample map navigation increases sample-area field-of-view. · 50mm of computer-driven sample movement on X, Y and Z axes. · Sub-sampling path interpolation. · Data/image file re-coordination, including save, recall, and export. · New contour-following function.
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The
combination of submicron stage resolution and positional accuracy, real-time
video observation and a custom designed software system allows for sampling
of complex accretionary structures in skeletal and crystalline materials.
One current application of the MicroMill at the BU TIMS Facility is the
development of methods to microsample zoned silicate minerals in igneous
and metamorphic contexts. Recently, this has allowed both internal and
external users to study garnet growth rates in various geologic contexts.
Of course, growth structures are found in a number of geological materials,
common examples being annual growth banding of molluscan shells, speleothems
and otoliths. The MicroMill will allow improved resolution with which
to reconstruct of seasonal variations wthin such accretionary growth structures.