According to Brett Rock, product specialist for Hudson, N.H.-based Balzers, environmental testing laboratories will find this system especially useful in asbestos monitoring, a relatively new and rapidly expanding testing area. EPA regulations now require testing for friable asbestos in all public and private schools, and the agency has mandated rotary shadowing with carbon as the coating technique. "This is one of the processes for which our MED 010 is superbly equipped," says Bill Flaherty, Balzers' product manager.
The MED 010 coater features a glass vacuum chamber, specially sized for preparing collected air samples. The 4" diameter chamber is engineered to pump down quickly, which speeds up coating. The coater is also said to feature a unique safety system, which includes two vacuum relays and a forcibly activated safety disconnect switch.
In addition to rotary shadowing of TEM specimens with carbon, the system can be used for calibrating electron microscopes with ...