Moissanite, Sapphire and Cubic Zirconia anvils available from Almax easyLab

Almax easyLab are proud to offer synthetic Cubic Zirconia, Sapphire and Moissanite anvils to complement their offerings on diamond anvils.  We can provide these non-diamond anvils polished round and conical (not 16-sided) in standard design and Boehler-Almax design.

Sapphire for example has almost no peaks above 1000 cm−1 in the Raman spectrum and no absorption in the ultraviolet range.  It is therefore especially useful for studies in those spectral regions.  Sapphire may be used as a substitute for diamonds in the pressure range up to about 20-25 GPa.

Moissanite (SiC) combines high strength with excellent optical properties and lower cost, allowing to make huge anvils from this material.

Publication reporting pressures up to 58.7 GPa with Moissanite anvils (c.f. Xu J and Mao H K 2000 Science 290, 783 and Xu J, Mao H K, Hemley R J and Hines E 2002 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14).

The synthetic Cubic Zirconia, Sapphire and Moissanite material used by Almax easyLab are grade 1, which means it is free of insertions, block boundaries, twins, microbubbles and scattering centers.