Where the
world gathers for metal finishing
Q&As since 1989


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Automatic Analyzers/Titrators

I am looking for USERS of automatic titration units to comment on ease of use and consistency. We have a wide variety of chemistries and would like something that can be programmed easily and switched from one analysis to another quickly. We want this as a time reducing process. I don't want sales pitches.

Jeanne Kitazaki
airline - San Francisco, California
2000

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Ed. note: we'll post your note and see how it goes, Jeanne, but a semi-anonymous internet forum often isn't the right place for personal recommendations because we never really know the vested interests. We've several times had to pull a thread after vendors posing as users started a race to the bottom :-)

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2000

Jeanne,

I work in Aluminium finishing field (for offset printing plates) and I'm using automatic titrators since '84. With this appliance you can analyze acids, bases, surfactants, anions, solvent water content etc. Consistency is very high: for example, mineral acid equivalence point in a serial analysis shows differences of ± 2%. Of course you can program a sequence of different analysis. At present we use Metrohm and Mettler titrator (both Swiss products). Please let me know if you need more information. Regards

Francesco Cicchetti
- Sulmona, Italy

Our shop uses the FACTS System from Sanda Corporation. It is an autotitrator run with a very easy to use windows based program. We have had it for about a year now and I feel that it works pretty well. We have several nickel lines, a couple chrome baths, an anodize line, and an assortment of cleaners and pickles. A majority of the titrations for these baths are run very simply on the FACTS unit. In most cases no additional chemicals are required to perform the titration... just add your sample, a small amount of water, and go.

The results we have been getting are consistent with our hand titrations and are very repeatable. Initially, every titration must set-up in the computer. This process can be a bit time consuming, but once it is finished, you can save the program and call it up when needed again. It takes about 2 minutes to switch between titrants. If you have any other questions about this topic just let me know, I'll be glad to help.

Good Luck!

Toniel Speidel, CEF
- Skaneateles, New York
2000

Jeanne, I am the QC manager at a company that manufactures, topcoats and adhesives. We use automatic titrators for NCO, OH, Amine, pH, water content, and acid value. The machine is set up for many other tests that we just don't use. The results are very consistent for all tests ± 1%. Our only issues are related to operator error. When running tests, the user must be consistent. We do this through procedure and blank value. Also, we calibrate pH regularly, since all testing is based on pH. We currently use 4 metrohm units and love them. We are looking to upgrade to their fully automated system in the future. Hope this helps.

John Gleghorn
- Harmony, Pennsylvania, USA
January 6, 2011