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Garnets - Close Up

Though I may have no idea what I am looking at… but that’s OK, because I find these scans very interesting. The Coticule consists of many other minerals than just Garnets, so we may need to sift through these particles to identify what we are looking at, until we find what we are looking for.
If these are indeed Garnets then maybe some do exist that are of irregular shape… maybe making interesting discoveries here… only adds to the mystique of this stone.

Have you tried washing the slurry?... that is: allowing a few seconds for some of the heavier particles to settle, then poring off the remaining suspension in another container and allowing it to dry out, then scan a suspension of the powder that remains… this would be an attempt to separate much of the other minerals from the garnets (or at the very least, an attempt to concentrate the garnets so they would be easier to find. I know this may be time consuming, but you could give it a try.

This is stellar work James, more scans please if you have the time… it is highly appreciated.:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
If you look at the left side of the particle in the middle of the small pic you'll see a small half round area on the left. That is a garnet that is still caked with other mineral to it.
 
Thank you all for your kind words and good suggestions.

Bart, that paper looks brilliant, thank you for sharing.

Smythe, that idea is spot on. Next time I'll centrifugate the sample slowly (1000rpm)for a small amount of time (1 minute or so). That should send the larger, heavier particles to the bottom, hopefully leaving the smaller garnets in suspension. Ill then take a sample from the top to place on the TEM grid to image.

And no, even as a Brit, I hadn't seen monty python before. Ill be watching more though!

Regards,

James
 
May I suggest treating the slurry with tetrasodium pyrophosphate and sonicating with fairly high energy for a couple minutes? This should disaggregate the clumps and release the garnets. It might even slow down flocculation of the clays and other fluffy minerals and facilitate separation with a low speed spin. I'd spin it down, wash the plug, sonicate and spin again, maybe three or four times. Garnets have a specific gravity of about 4 so a low speed spin might work to wash off the junk.

Don't remember the concentration of TSPP, but years ago I used this procedure to disaggregate particles from rivers so that I could measure particle -bound bacteria using SEM and SdFFF and it worked really well. Garnets are tough so you won't have to worry about destroying them like bacterial cells. Might help.

Nice pictures by the way.
 
The joined resourcefulness of our members never ceases to amazes me.
:thumbup:

Bart
 
Aye, thats some encouraging information, thank you :thumbup: Ill see if I have that chemical in the lab. If not, its not the end of the world.

Regards,

James
 
James, do I read the measurements right in image 1/10 (in the photobucket numbers), that the longest measurement lines are barely over a micrometer (1214.08nm) & most measurements are sub-micron?
 
pinklather said:
James, do I read the measurements right in image 1/10 (in the photobucket numbers), that the longest measurement lines are barely over a micrometer (1214.08nm) & most measurements are sub-micron?
Click to expand...

Yes, the largest measurement in that image is 1214.08nm, and the smallest 657.12nm, but that is from that single piece of material. I recall there being images with particles over 5 micrometers in size.

Regards,

James
 
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