Thin Section and Sample Preparation Facility

The facility supports in-house research and teaching, as well as academic and commercial services in sample impregnation, cutting, grinding, separation and polishing for the preparation of geological samples.

The Thin Section and Sample Preparation Facility is located within the School of GeoSciences, at the University of Edinburgh. 

  • We support School in-house research and teaching, as well as services to all departments within the University.
  • We also provide academic and commercial research services to external users such as other universities, research bodies and commercial organisations.

Our expertise and services are also available for the preparation of other materials.

Preparation equipment

Preparation equipment includes:

  • Logitech LP50 lapping machine.
  • Buehler beta with vector polishing head.
  • Buehler metaserv with autopol polishing head.
  • Logitech CS10 saw.
  • Buehler petrothin cutter/grinder.
  • Kulzer technomat pressure vessel.
  • Buehler simplimet 1000 hot mounting press.

Mineral separation:

We offer the potential to separate minerals (e.g. apatite, olivine,  zircon) from crushed rocks based on their density and magnetic properties. The following procedures are suitable for rocks that have been crushed and sieved to <1mm in size.

  • A Wilfley table which separates minerals according to their density and works well for grains that have been sieved between >250 and 1000microns. For finer fractions (<250 microns) a separate deck is available.
  • Magnetic separation of minerals depends on the their magnet susceptibility. We use a Franz magnetic separator with variable slope and tilt at different currents to separate specific mineral fractions.
  • We use a heavy liquid for the final separation. We combine the sample with LST Fastfloat/Sodium Polytungstate for separation based on the minerals density.

Equipment suppliers

We have included some links to equipment suppliers, that may be of interest to you.

Contact and location

For more information or to access our services, please contact: 

Mr Kevin Dodds  Thin Sections and Lapidary Facility Manager

  • Email: kevin.dodds@ed.ac.uk
  • Address: John Murray Building, The University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, James Hutton Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FE

Location:

The Thin Section and Sample Preparation Facility is located in the John Murray Building, King's Buildings campus at the University of Edinburgh. 

Please note that parking on campus is strictly by permit only. Commercial and external users should contact the facility staff about parking arrangements.

Services available

  • Ordinary (transmitted light) thin sections sizes 26x76mm
  • Polished thin sections sizes 26x48mm
  • Polished resin blocks, 1" diameter
  • Blue dyed resin impregnation is available
  • Colloidal silica polishing is also available
  • Sawing and grinding of rock samples

Important information

The facility is available for use by:

  • Students and staff at the University of Edinburgh ​
  • Students and staff from other universities
  • External users such as research bodies and commercial organisations
Availability
  • Access is subject to availability.
Costs

Small Research Facility (SRF)

This facility is operated as a Small Research Facility (SRF).

A Small Research Facility (SRF) is a facility or service provided by the School and used for research and teaching.  They are also available for use by the wider community such as external academic or commercial use.  Our SRF's are available for hire or on a consultancy basis.  These charges are recognised by grant funders and can therefore form part of a grant submission.


This article was published on