Surface Sciences a major focus:

One new scientific instrument directed towards Biotechnology research is the second generation Quartz Crystal Microbalance or QCM. First generation instruments were able to measure Frequency shift and Dissipation, but the second generation instrument from KSV, through Impedance Analysis, is able to measure Frequency and Dissipation, as well as Q-factor, Impedance, Reactance, Resistance as well as the visco-elastic properties and film thicknesses from a few nanometres to several hundred nanometres. These capabilities are fundamental for QCM analysis of biomaterials, biofouling, drug development, liposome systems, electrochemistry, functionalised surfaces and thin film properties in biomaterials as well as solid and semi-solid materials.

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) techniques are used to characterise surfaces by charge. The SPR Navi instrument from KSV is an extremely flexible implementation of this technique. Bio-molecules can be analysed with the SPR-Navi without being chemically labeled, providing information on binding efficiencies and kinetic processes, both dissociation and association, in real time, in liquids and air, simulaneously. KSV's label-free, flexible SPR technique is becoming a highly desired tool in life sciences

Other products in the surface science and particle science fields are the newly reconfigured Contact Angle Meters, sometimes called Contact Angle Goniometers, which have some unique features for high level research and quality control applications. Also in this field, we have available a wide range of Surface Tension instruments, some dedicated to specific applications like the measurement of surface tension of transformer oils. Some are more general instruments, capable of measuring Surface and Interfacial Tension as well as static Contact Angle, Dynamic Contact Angle, powder wettability, density and sedimentation.

Langmuir Blodgett Apparatus including dippers and surface potential meters are also part of the Surface Science section of our Scientific Instrument division.

Dynamic Surface Tensiometers using the Bubble lifetime principle are able to provide information about the Surface Tension of liquids in both high shear to "almost-static" states. These devices are irreplaceable for applications where surfactants are manufactured or used in a wide variety of industries. The devices can even be calibrated in such a way as to be able to measure surfactant concentration.

Scientific Solutions has special abilities in Particle Science, representing, in collaboration with others, some of the world's best instrumentation for Particle Size measurement as well as Surface Area, Porosimetry and Density instruments.

Ellipsometry is a technique for evaluating the thickness of Thin Films and also the optical properties of those thin films. Spectroscopic Ellipsometery is able to characterise accurately the film thickness from a few nanometers to several microns.

Scientific Solutions also has the electrical performance of liqids and solids in mind using Gamry Electrochemistry products. The Poteniostats, Galvanostats and ZRA systems are abe to measure at very low noise levels, excellent for a range of corrosion and biological electrochemistry applications. Newer instrumenst extend the range of capability into high current potentiostats for fuel cell as well as battery research and development.

Other Analytical Instruments specifically represented by Scientific Solutions are used for varied analyses. For instance:

Bomb or Combustion Calorimeters are used for Calorific Value of Coal, Pharmaceuticals, animal feed, propellents and explosives.

The Spectrophotometer is a standard instrument in almost any science laboratory and Scientific Solutions is able to provide some of the very best value for money VIS, UV-VIS Spectrophotometers, as well as Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometers, AAS available in the Australian and New Zealand market.

In environmental Analysis, Scientific Solutions is able to provide solutions for a very wide range of automated chemistry applications. If the sample is a very low level, cannot be filtered without filtering out the analyte of interest, nor has varying colour or salt content, then Discrete Analysers or Segmented Flow Analysis (SFA) systems are appropriate. If the sample is clean and does not have any varying salt content, then Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) may be appropriate, but this technique has now been largely overtaken by the second generation of Discreet Chemistry Analyser technology, which is able to expand the range of automation of measurement of many analytes in the same analytical run, with much higher throughput and less sample and reagent usage than FIA