Glass Capillaries
I15-1 uses bespoke made borosilicate and quartz glass capillaries in sizes 0.4 - 2.5 mm, each having a specific use case which can be summarised below.
Borosilicate Capillaries
The most common glass type used on the beamline and can be used for most experiments not exceeding 500°C.
Quartz Capillaries
Another glass type that is less commonly used and is specific to both experiments where temperatures exceed 500°C or are part of an in-situ environment (gas/liquid flow and DRIX cell)
Outer Diameters
All of our capillaries come in a variety of sizes for different use cases, these can be summaried in the table below. If you are still not sure, please contact xpdf@diamond.ac.uk
Capillary Outer Diameter /mm | Glass Availability | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
0.4mm | Quartz Only | Very X-ray absorbing samples, limited usage |
1.0mm | Borosilicate & Quartz | Most common size, works for most samples |
1.5mm | Both | Useful for samples that have an organic component (MOFs, pharmaceuticals etc.) |
1.59mm (1/16inch) | Quartz Only | Used for high temperature (exceeding 700°C) in-situ gas flow experiments ONLY |
2.0mm | Borosilicate & Quartz | Useful for weakly scattering samples such as liquids and organics |
2.5mm | Borosilicate & Quartz | Borosilicate - extremely weakly scattering samples, consult beamline staff Quartz - Used for hydrothermal cell experiments |
3.17mm (1/8inc) | Quartz Only | In-situ gas and liquid flow experiments |