How to measure material's water content

860 KF Thermoprep

TEC Eurolab chemical laboratories increase the technical equipment with the installation of the 860 KF Thermoprep, which allows measuring the water content of a material or fluid at ppm level by Karl Fisher titration.

How does it work?

The sample is weighed into a sample vial and hermetically sealed. After the desired temperature has been reached and the titration cell conditioned, the determination is started at the KF coulometer (or KF titrator). The vessel containing the sample to be analyzed is positioned in the oven and the needle inserted through the septum of the sample vial. The released water vapour is transferred from a carrier gas to the cell for KF titration and definition of the amount of water present. This avoids the use of solvents for extraction and prevents any contamination of the material.

"Usually materials and substances, in general, are not suitable for direct Karl Fischer titration: as they release water slowly or only at high temperatures, they are also hardly soluble in alcohol, suffer side reactions with KF reagents, contaminate the titration cell or electrodes. With the Karl Fischer titration oven, these problems are solved and - says Jessica Barbati, Chemical Lab Manager of TEC Eurolab - we are able to determine the amount of water in any material such as additive manufacturing powders, plastics, paints and composites with great efficiency. Until now we could only perform this type of analysis on oils, with this instrumentation we substantially increase the number of possible applications".