Laboratory Services

Throughout the chemical industry we have seen a growing trend to consolidate R&D efforts and technical teams for a variety of reasons. As a result there is mounting pressure to quickly develop and implement new chemical formulations in order to keep up with market demands. This encumbrance has forced companies to outsource and look to their key suppliers for additive support capabilities.

Esprix’s Technologies laboratory located in Sarasota, Florida houses diverse analytical and powder processing equipment. Our collaborative laboratory team works closely with our customers to develop, modify, and test new and existing formulations throughout a variety of industries.

Independent Contract Projects and R&D Services are Available

Analytical Equipment:

Inkjet and Laser Print Center with Image Analysis Testing Equipment:

Desktop Inkjet Printers
Wide Format Inkjet Printers
Laser Printers and Copiers
Image and Print Analysis
QEA Personal Image Analysis System for Print Quality Measurement
X-Rite Densitometer for Color Output Measurement
BYK Gardner Spectro-Guide for Color and Gloss Measurement
BYK Gardner MPOR Tester for Coating Thickness
Spherical Stylus Scratch Tester for Scratch Adhesion Analysis

Processing Equipment:

Coperion/Buss Compounding Extruder
Fitzmills
Trost Air Impact Pulverizer and Micron Master for Particle Size Reduction
Donaldson Accucut Classifiers to Separate Ultra Fine Particles
VortiSiv RVM-22E Ultrasonic Sieve
10L, 40L, 150L Henschel High Intensity Mixer
Mikro Pulverizer for Particle Size Reduction

Wet Chemistry Laboratory utilized for Inkjet Receptive Coating Formulation Development on Specialized Media:

Silverson High Sheer Lab Mixer for Mixing, Emulsifying, Homogenizing, Disintegrating, and Dissolving
General Mixing Station for Wet Chemistry
Ohaus Moisture Balance
Various Drying Ovens and Furnaces
Corona Treater to Change the Surface Energy of Certain Substrates
Brookfield Viscometers for Viscosity and Torque Measurements
Atlas Suntest XLS+ bench top Xenon Tester

Formulation Design:

With a dedicated team of chemists committed to providing high quality service and support, Esprix Technologies is able to help you solve your unique problem. Whether your developing new products or testing existing color formulations, the laboratory is equipped with a diverse range of analytical and processing equipment to support your development and testing needs.

Formulation Project Examples

Taggants – Digitally Coded Toners
Developing Unique Spot Colors
Making Blacks Blacker
Adding UV Protection
Creating Clear Toners

Color Analysis:

The average human eye sees millions of colors. How colors are perceived depends on the observer, the object, and the light source. So how does one communicate color in an accurate, meaningful way? By measuring values that everyone in the trade will understand. Lightness, Chroma, Hue, L*a*b, and ΔE are all universal values individuals can understand and communicate, regardless of where they are in the world.

Esprix Technologies has the tools and scientists that can determine these values and assist you in the projects where color control is an essential priority. Whether it is basic color matching or creating a custom printer profile with a wide gamut, you will find the help you need at Esprix Technologies.

Color Analysis Tools

X-rite eXact Spectrophotometer

This powerful handheld spectrophotometer is the industry standard for accurately measuring density and color properties. It is the only instrument on the market that can capture M0, M2 and M3 measurements in a single pass, and measure true M1 Part 1 as specified in ISO 13655.

X-rite i1 Publish Pro 2

The i1Publish Pro 2 is the new standard of perfection for imaging pros looking for the ultimate, professional-level ICC-profiling solution to organize and manage their complete RGB, CMYK and CMYK+ (CMYK plus any 4) color workflows, complete with quality assurance and control validation and verification functions.

QEA PIAS II

The PIAS-II (Personal Image Analysis System) is a high-performance digital microscope with high-res and low-res lens interchangeability that is built on international print quality standards for objective image quality analysis. The device measures L*a*b values, resolution, background values, print quality, color purity, etc.

Quality Control

Are you having issues with your current supplier and need verify the quality of a supplied product? Are you a manufacturer of raw materials and need to verify production standards out of a new facility? Esprix Technologies' independent laboratory can help re-qualify your materials with the utmost discretion.

Ensuring products and services adhere to the highest quality laboratory and manufacturing standards is priority-one at Esprix Technologies. Through strict maintenance, calibration, and regular testing schedules, the laboratory staff ensures that analytical and processing equipment provides consistent, reliable, and reproducible results.

Customers rest assured when they put their trust in Esprix Technologies.

Atlas Suntest XLS+: A benchtop xenon tester with state of the art UV control:

1x 1700 W air-cooled Xenon Lamps
1100 cm2 exposure area
Touch screen with colour display to monitor and display test parameters
Measurement and Control of Irradiance in the wavelength range 300-800 nm / Lux; or 300-400 nm / 340 nm
Measurement and Control of Black Standard Temperature (BST); BPT optional
Measurement of Chamber Temperature
Display of Diagnostic Messages
Storage for 10 user-defined test methods
Pre-programmed international standard test method
Multilingual User Interface
Control Panel tiltable for increased operating comfort
Bench-top design 90 x 54 x 62 cm
Static, horizontal exposure area for flat or 3D specimen
Temperature control of BST in the range 45-100 °C; BPT 45-95 °C
Fan-controlled temperature difference between Chamber Temperature and BST
Light cassette including non-ageing aluminum reflector, uncoated quartz filter and slot for additional optical filters
Switch-off by radiant exposure, light exposure time or total operating time

Hosokawa Micron Characteristic Powder Flow Tester PT-X: identifies specific characteristics of dry powdered samples using the Carr Indices method:

Angle of Repose
Cohesion
Aerated Density
Uniformity
Dispersibility
Compressibility
Angle of Fall
Packed Density
Angle of Spatula
Angle of Difference
Particle Size

Beckman Coulter Multisizer 4:

Using the Coulter Principle, also known as Electrical Sensing Zone (ESZ), the Multisizer 4 COULTER COUNTER provides size distribution in number, volume and surface area in one measurement, with an overall sizing range of 0.4 µm to 1600 µm. Its response is unaffected by particle color, shape, composition or refractive index. The Coulter Principle is the leading technology in high resolution and accuracy and it is enhanced even further in the Multisizer™ 4 by using a Digital Pulse Processor (DPP). DPP provides ultra-high resolution, multiple channel analysis and accuracy that is unattainable by other technologies.

Epping Q/M with Mobile Cage for both Mono and Dual Component Powder Testing (Charge to Mass):

Epping q/m-meter (Mono) is used for magnetic and non-magnetic mono component toners as well as basic investigations on pigments, resins and additives. It measures the charge-to-mass-ratio (q/m) of powder, charged tribo-electrically, by friction between the particle itself and a bigger particle (carrier)

SHIMADZU: CFT-500D:

The Shimadzu CFT-500D enables Evaluation of Rheological and Thermal Properties of plastics, adhesives, rubbers, paints, printing inks, toners, foods, cosmetics, and many other materials.

Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC 3+ : Thermogravimetric Analyzer:

Thermogravimetry provides quantitative information on the composition and thermal stability of many different types of materials. The method is fast and can even be used with very small samples. The TGA/DSC 3+ combines TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis) and DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry).

TGA measures mass of a sample as a function of temperature which allows you to:

Detect changes in sample mass (loss or gain)
Determine stepwise changes in mass, usually as a percentage of initial mass
Determine temperatures that characterize a step in the mass loss or mass gain curve

In DSC, the heat flow in and out of a sample and a reference material is measured as a function of temperatures the sample is heated,cooled or held isothermally at constant temperature, and allows you to:

Detect endothermic and exothermic effects
Determine peak areas (transition and reaction enthalpies
Determine temperatures that characterize a peak or other effect
Measure specific heat capacity

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