We want to give you all the tools you need to succeed in your lab, and this means being there for you each step of the way—even after the sale. We’re here to show you exactly how to use your new instrument to its full potential or learn more about topics of interest. In our metallography customer training classes, you’ll get hands-on lab experience in our state-of-the-art training facilities and learn about an array of topics specific to your recent instrument purchase or laboratory needs, ranging from daily operation to troubleshooting and using advanced features.

98% of the world's soybean meal is used as animal feed, principally as a protein supplement. With the importance of protein in animal growth and development, knowing what's in your soybean meal is vitally important. There is more to protein than the crude protein concentration number, however. If an animal can't digest the protein, if it isn't a 'soluble' protein, then it doesn't actually provide the nutritional value needed. LECO's FP828 is capable of both total and soluble protein analyses.

The first Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass spectrometer was proposed in 1946, and the design has been refined and iterated upon ever since. With an unlimited mass range visible in each spectrum and a high spectral generation speed, the advantages of TOF mass spectrometry were immediately clear. Though the instruments improved, they did eventually hit physical limitations that restricted the resolving power. More work had to be done.

For decades, LECO's supply catalogs have gone hand-in-hand with the instruments they support. With everything from consumables to accessories to spare parts, the catalogs are key additions to a LECO laboratory. The newest catalog updates for our analytical products have reformatted these workhorses to make them even more useful than ever before.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) first started in the early 20th century, and while the technology has advanced, the basic principles remain the same. With TGA, the rate of change of reactions in the chemical and physical properties of materials as functions of temperature or time is what is used to assess the properties of the sample materials. Most TGA these days is done with either micro TGAs (using milligram-size samples) or macro TGAs (using gram-size samples).

Charred oak barrels that were once used to age bourbon have found new life as they get repurposed for a variety of foods and beverages to add a new flavor profile to familiar delicacies. But how much can an old bourbon-soaked barrel change the chemical makeup? LECO used ChromaTOF® Tile to differentiate regular and barrel-aged maple syrups and quantify the difference.

LECO recently said farewell to our former Corporate Metallurgist, Dave Coulston. Anyone who worked with our metallographic experts in the past fifteen years undoubtedly got to experience his expertise. In honor of Dave's retirement, we welcomed him onto LECO's podcast: Measured Science.

When magnification was as simple as one eyepiece and one objective, finding your total magnification was as easy as multiplying the two values together. The addition of film brought a third value to the equation, but the result remained a static, concrete number.

And then along came the computer.

With a huge variety of video camera chips and monitor sizes and camera couplers and screen resolution, suddenly viewing something at 500X magnification became much more challenging. There was no way to take into account all of the permutations possible. For example, even if two systems were otherwise exactly the same, but one had a 23" monitor and the other had a 24" monitor, the magnification would be different.

It was time to replace the magnification focus with a different way of looking at things: the Field of View (F.O.V.)

Bakelite, Lucite, epoxy, or acrylic? Hot or cold? Compression or castable? With all of the options available for mounting materials, it can be difficult to know which one is the best option for your sample or why it even matters. However, your choice of mounting material is important, and it can affect the final quality of your prepared sample.

Running and maintaining a full analytical laboratory can be more cost than a company can afford, but what other options are there for a small business looking for quality control and regulatory compliance? Independent testing and consulting laboratories groups such as the Tentamus Group, can fill that gap. One of its laboratories, bilacon, specializes in the safety of food, feed, food supplements, and cosmetics. 

In a recent interview with eFOOD-Lab International, Benjamin Ende, a state-certified food chemist with bilacon, talked about the benefits of LECO's TGA801 thermogravimetric analyzer in his lab's day-to-day operations.