KBr Pellet Dies

For powder samples, a common way to do things is with the KBr pellet method. Samples are crushed into a powder with a laboratory-grade mortar and pestle and mixed with KBr powder at a ratio of 1:100 and then installed into a pellet-forming die. The fun part comes next, where a force of about 8 tons is applied via hydraulic press to convert the powder into a transparent pellet. The next phase involves degassing to eliminate moisture and finally drying off. Once pellets are ready they can be inserted into a pellet holder, which snaps into a standard FTIR spectrophotometer holder.