International Crystals Laboratories has a range of disposable IR sample cards including PTFE & polyethylene IR sample cards, Real Crystal IR Sample Cards, Econo Cards

ICL Disposable Sample Cards Quality

PTFE & Polyethylene IR Sample Cards

PTFE & Polyethylene IR Sample Cards

U.S. Patent No. 5,470,757 & 5,764,355

ICL has brought back the 3M® card, which we manufacture under a license from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. PTFE and polyethylene IR sample cards provide inexpensive disposable sample substrates for qualitative analysis. The 2” x 4” cards mount vertically in the universal slide mount in any spectrophotometer. The cards have a clear aperture of 19mm and space is provided to write on the card to identify the date of the analysis, the sample and the name of the analyst. The cards are sold in packages of 10, 25 and 50 and the polyethylene cards are also available with two sample substrates.

PTFE and Polyethylene cards exhibit absorbance bands in the 4400 to 400 CM-1 spectral range. Absorbance spectra of the cards are shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 below. Real Crystal® IR Sample Cards which do not exhibit any absorbance peaks are also available.

ICL Disposable Sample Cards Quality

Polyethylene IR Sample Cards with Two Sample Substrates

Polyethylene IR Sample Cards with Two Sample Substrates

U.S. Patent No. 5,470,757 & 5,764,355

ICL has brought back the 3M® card, which we manufacture under a license from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. Polyethylene IR sample cards provide inexpensive disposable sample subsrates for qualitative analysis. The 2″ x 4″ cards mount vertically in the universal slide mount in any spectrophotometer. The cards have two clear apertures of 19mm and space is provided to write on the card to identify the date of the analysis, the sample and the name of the analyst. The cards are sold in packages of 10, 25 and 50 and are also available with one sample substrate.

Polyethylene cards exhibit absorbance bands in the 4400 to 400 CM-1 spectral range. Absorbance spectrum of the cards is shown in Fig. 1 below. Real Crystal® IR Sample Cards which do not exhibit any absorbance peaks are also available.

ICL Disposable Sample Cards Quality

Real Crystal® IR Sample Cards

Real Crystal® IR Sample Cards

U.S. Patent No. 7,932,095

ICL’s new Real Crystal® IR sample cards provide a conveniently mounted non-absorbing substrate for qualitative infrared analysis. They are ideal for liquids, mulls, film casting from solutions and pyrolosis samples. The 2″ x 4″ cards are available with 9.5mm, 15mm and 19mm clear apertures and they will fit in the universal slide mount of any spectrophotometer. Space is provided to write on the card to identify the date of the analysis, the sample identity and the name of the analyst.

Real Crystal® IR cards do not exhibit the strong absorbance peaks found in PTFE and polyethylene sample substrates(see Fig. 1 & Fig. 2 below). Real Crystal® IR cards are also unlike screen cards, which allow sample films to break within a few seconds when the card is placed in the vertical position and which cut off a significant amount of energy. Real Crystal® IR cards perform like what these cards are trying to emulate–real crystals. The alkali halide sample support substrates (KBrKCl and NaCl) used in Real Crystal® IR sample cards transmit in excess of 80% of the available energy with 15mm and 19mm apertures and in excess of 70% of the available energy with 9.5mm apertures (see Figs. 3, 4 & 5 below). In fact, the new Real Crystal® IR cards perform every bit as well as the crystal blanks that the 3M® cards sought to emulate. Yet, Real Crystal® IR cards are inexpensive and disposable because ICL’s process eliminates many of the costly steps required to produce a crystal blank.

ICL has prepared these cards with a method that makes them relatively impervious to atmospheric moisture, thus eliminating storage issues. And as single use sample substrates, they can be used with aqueous samples. (See Fig. 6 below).

Real Crystal® cards are also available with crystal cover slips. These small square crystal windows can be used with the 19mm diameter aperture IR cards to sandwich a sample between the crystal window mounted in the IR card and the cover slip window to facilitate use of the cards for mulls and volatile liquid samples.

Clothes Pin™ Cover Slip Holder

Clothes Pin™ Cover Slip Holder

(not available)

The Clothes Pin™ works like an old fashioned wooden clothes pin to hold cover slips onto Real Crystal® IR cards. The spring action clip is opened simply by squeezing it between your thumb and forefinger like a clothes pin. The Real Crystal® IR card fits perfectly inside the clip. It has a clear aperture where the cover slip is clamped to allow the beam to pass through the optics. This holder slides into the universal slide mount found in all spectrophotometers.

Econo Cards

Econo Cards

ICL’s popular Econo Cards are an ideal vehicle for mounting KBr pellets and polymer films or for use with disposable polyethylene IR transmission windows. They are available with 19mm and 9.5mm circular apertures. Econo Cards have a pressure sensitive adhesive on the inside surface, but the adhesive is kept away from the aperture and outside of the path of the spectrophotometer beam to avoid spurious absorbance peaks. The sample is mounted on the adhesive surface and the card then folds over into a 2″ x 4″ card that can be inserted in the slide mount in any spectrophotometer or used to store the sample for future reference.