Turning Up the Lights for a Real Problem Solver

In the laboratory of Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., the daily routine of testing diverse samples used in the automotive industry is now greatly simplified and far more efficient with the employment of METTLER TOLEDO’s XP26 microbalance. Peter Broske, head of the measurement and test center in the chemical analytics division of Hella KGaA Hueck & Co., is very enthusiastic about this new purchase.

Diverse Tasks, One Goal
Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. runs its single worldwide chemical laboratory in Lippstadt, Germany. The site copes with an entire spectrum of the most diverse samples. The items which land on Peter Broske’s desk include complete headlight assemblies, complex electronic components, circuit boards, single microchips, granules, production containers and samples for air and water analysis for environmental protection and safety at work. Apart from in-process quality control, the lab also conducts analysis alongside the development of new products. It is also the central point of contact for troubleshooting within production, processes and in the field. Efficient operations, high throughput, user-friendliness and flexible deployment of the relevant equipment are therefore essential. In addition, the automotive industry sets tight constraints in respect to accuracy, reproducibility and deadline adherence, in order to greatly reduce the risk of handling errors. Peter Broske explains how well the XP26 microbalance from METTLER TOLEDO meets these requirements and shares some practical examples with us.

Difficult Sample Handling Solved by Smart Solutions
Fogging tests are now standard practice in the automotive industry, which is still by far the primary customer segment for Hella. These tests involve studying the emission of water, organic solvents, additives and plasticizers from components and assemblies. To perform the test, the sample is heated and the volatile components are condensed onto a thin piece of cooled aluminum foil. These delicate foils are 50 - 80 mm in diameter and must not be bent or folded while determining tare weight, sample taking or back weighing. “The sensitivity and the size of the foil is the problem here,” explained Broske, “Just one crease or fold is enough to destroy the airtight seal between the sample and the sample holder. The luminous reflectance of the folded edges would prevent any subsequent visual inspection of the condensates intended to determine their reflectance or impede any direct analysis under the FTIR microscope. This problem was solved thanks to the XP microbalance’s large weighing chamber and the hanging support of the weighing pan, situated at the rear of the weighing chamber.”

The grid-type weighing pan can be easily removed and replaced with ErgoClips. The ErgoClip is a modified weighing pan tailor-made to the individual needs of frequently used tare containers (e.g. volumetric flasks or Eppendorf tubes). In the case of fogging tests on aluminum foil, Mr. Broske helped to find an optimum solution with his own modified version of the ErgoClip micro basket. Mr. Broske also benefits from the balance’s application software: “The differential weighing application in the balance enables us to rule out any errors occurring during manual notation of the tare weights. That’s a major plus!”