Latest News and Application Notes

Where does hope come from? For Dr. Jason Streubel, Senior Director of the Center for Agriculture & Food Security for the Convoy of Hope, hope comes from being able to feed yourself, your family, and your community. Hope comes from the security of knowing where your next meal is coming from and the ability to turn your focus to the future instead of the immediate present. Hope comes from agriculture.

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.

Sulfur is an essential nutrient in crop production. It is vital for the production of chlorophyll and several amino acids that form protein, among other functions in plants. In recent years, the world has been paying more attention to sulfur emissions, trying to minimize SO₂ in the air, which in turn minimizes the sulfur deposited naturally in the fields. When combined with the trend toward high-yield crop production in many areas of the world, knowing the actual level of sulfur in your fields has become even more important. Sulfur can also be measured in plant tissues, and then, of course, knowing the sulfur content of fertilizer is also necessary to correct any sulfur deficiencies or excess in your fields. All of these sulfur determinations can be handled with a single combustion instrument from LECO.

Heavy fuel oil, also known as bunker fuel or residual fuel oil, is a complex mixture used primarily in the shipping industry. Over the years, the regulations on heavy fuel oil have become more stringent to control sulfur emissions that were damaging to the environment. As a result, this type of fuel is frequently limited to 0.5% sulfur by mass, and it is therefore critical to know the composition of your oil. Such a complex sample requires the sort of heavy lifting that can only be provided by a high-tech, high-resolution GCxGC mass spectrometer.

In 2011, LECO's Cornerstone® brand software took the analytical world by storm. Intuitive screens. Adjustable charts. Diagnostics built into the software, with real-time monitoring and animated system diagrams. Designed by scientists, for scientists, Cornerstone blended industry-leading technology with practical functionality. Eleven years later, it's time for a facelift.

Moisture levels in soil are important to know when growing plants. In addition to being a necessary component of photosynthesis, the moisture in soil acts as a carrier for a plant's essential nutrients, such as nitrogen and carbon. Knowing the moisture content of your soil enables you to properly balance the nutrient density and correct for moisture issues. Traditional manual drying methods have been lab-tried and -tested, but they can feel like relics of the past as today's lab is tasked to do more with less time.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has long been an invaluable tool in a chemist's belt. With its ability to tease apart the compounds in a sample, identifying even trace analytes, it is able to perform specific tests and pinpoint what, exactly, is in the material being analyzed. But what can you do when GC-MS isn't enough?

Many LECO analytical instrument rely on consumables like pure chemical and high purity gases to function. When supply chain issues affect these consumables, laboratory operations can quickly increase in cost or in worst case scenarios can even be shut down. One current issue that is plaguing the scientific community is the supply of helium.

Around the world and across the board, prices are rising. As we battle with the realities of post-COVID supply chain issues and international wars, companies struggle to keep their own costs low. One unscrupulous way to do this is to use lower-quality ingredients. The average customer may not be able to notice the difference between a genuine or artificial citrus essential oil, for example, but being able to determine the constituents of the oil is vital for determining its quality and safety, as most citrus essential oil uses involve direct contact with humans.

The very first alloys used by humans were meteoric irons, alloys of iron and nickel that fell to the earth in meteors. As smelting technologies were developed, humans began creating alloys such as bronze and brass, metals that were more flexible in their properties, depending on the proportions of their constituents. It wasn't until the 19th century that most metals were discovered, opening the doors for many more alloys such as aluminum alloys. At first seen as a novelty, aluminum alloys proved their worth when they were used in the Wright brothers' first airplane engine. Ever since, alloys have been vital to engineering advancements, but it wasn't until the advent of superalloys that very-high-temperature engineering technologies have become possible.