Two crushing cells have been described for the release of volatiles from fluid inclusions in minerals in vacuum, static gas, and gas-flow applications. To minimize the adsorption of released volatiles on the freshly created mineral surfaces, both devices employed heated crushing. In the MTSN (Museo Tridentine di Scienze Naturali) crusher, samples were disintegrated by a piston driven by an induction coil. For efficient crushing, the electromagnet operated in dynamic impulse mode. In the LFU (Leopold-Franzens-Universität) crusher, the sample was disintegrated through the combined action of compression (manually operated hydraulic ram) and attrition.Crushers are able to be used in off-line and on-line modes, in gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric analyses. The chemical and isotopic composition of volatiles trapped in fluid inclusions is important information sought in a wide variety of fluid inclusion studies. Gas chromatography (GS) and isotopic-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) are the two methodologies most frequently used for analysis of fluid inclusion volatiles. For analysis, volatiles need to be quantitatively released from the sample mineral. The two methods most frequently used for this purpose are thermal decrepitation and crushing; both of which have specific advantages and drawbacks which have been thoroughly discussed elsewhere [1][2][3][4]. In many applications, the method of heated crushing was found to give optimal results [5,6].
KeywordsAlthough the task of releasing fluid inclusion contents by mechanical destruction of samples appears trivial, a multi- * E-mail: Juri. In this short communication, two designs of crushing stages are presented, which have been tested, used, and proved successful in a number of research projects over the last 5 years. The designs are complementary and are able to be adopted for different applications.
MTSN -crushing cell for non-polar volatilesThe MTSN crushing cell was designed and tested while the author worked at the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali (Trento, Italy). The design is therefore designated MTSN. Although recent advances in the applica-