Installing The Pressure Clamp - PerkinElmer Spectrum Two HATR User Manual

18 . Spectrum Two HATR User's Guide

Installing the Pressure Clamp

When using a flat top plate and a solid sample, the surface of the
sample must be flat. You must not try to correct for uneven surfaces
CAUTION
by applying extra force as you may damage the crystal. Samples with
uneven surfaces should be ground to a powder and used on a trough
top plate.
It is important to have good contact between the sample and the surface of the crystal to
prevent loss of beam penetration. To aid this, an optional pressure clamp can be used to
apply controlled force to the sample to make better contact with the crystal.
The pressure clamp enables you to improve the contact between a film sample and the
sample plate. When analyzing powder samples, it can also be used to apply pressure to
powder in the sample trough. The pressure clamp is used in conjunction with either a
volatiles cover (L1205436) or a powder spacer (L1362431), as described in Table 3.
Table 3 Use of volatiles cover and powder spacer
Item Flat top plate
Volatiles cover Used to apply pressure to polymer
films or laminates.
Powder spacer Not applicable.
Your accessory may have been supplied with the pressure clamp installed. If, however, you
need to fit the pressure clamp, refer to the following procedure.
1. Attach the clamp to the body of the HATR using the two screws provided (Figure 12).
Securing
screws
Figure 12 Installing the pressure clamp
Trough top plate
Used to prevent evaporation
(without use of pressure clamp).
Used to apply pressure to ensure
good contact when analyzing
powders.
Clamp
Pressure pad
Sample plate