Sample Reduction

SGS is a leader in providing sample preparation services that result in representative, uncontaminated samples for chemical analysis of geological materials, industrial materials, scrap and recycled materials. We have the protocols, procedures and laboratory expertise to reliably reduce your samples to a form that is suitable for analysis.

Sample reduction (crushing, splitting and screening) are the steps that typically occur after sample drying.  The professionals in our laboratories are skilled in these procedures. They provide you with sub-samples that are free of contamination and properly prepared for analysis.

Sample Crushing

SGS laboratory staff most commonly use a jaw crusher as the primary crushing tool. These crushers can accommodate chunks up to 15 cm and can reduce them in size until 80% of the sample passes through a 2 mm screen. Staff then use ring and puck mills to prepare a smaller particle size if required for sample pulverizing. Organic samples can be reduced in size with a macerating hammer mill. This makes organic material easier to homogenize and makes representative sub-sampling easier.

Sample crushing services available through our laboratories include:

• Jaw crush to -6mm
• Crush <3.0kg to 75% passing 2mm
• Jaw crush to nominal -2mm using Boyd, Rhino, Nugget or Terminator Crusher
• Jaw crush <3.0kg, variable mesh size
• Jaw crush >3.0kg, variable mesh size
• Crush <3.0kg to 90% passing 2 mm 

Sample Splitting

After crushing, SGS laboratory staff sub-sample the sample to create a portion for pulverizing. This may require splitting. Our staff follow industry standard practices to ensure that your sub-samples are representative of the primary sample. Duplicate splits are scrutinized to be sure that they are crushed to a suitably small sample size before splitting.

SGS sample splitting services include:

• Sample volume reduction – cone and quarter
• Sample volume reduction – riffle split
• Sample volume reduction – rotary splitter

Sample Screening

Sample screening is one further sample preparation procedure offered by SGS. Sample screening services include:

• Dry screening to -80 mesh for samples <2.0kg
• Dry screening various mesh sizes for samples 2.0kg

SGS’s rigorous sample crushing, splitting and screening methods ensure that results of your analyses are truly representative of the sample. Go to sample preparation for a complete description of our services.

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  Geochem Analysis Guide

  published 02/01/13

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