Could some expert practitioners share with me good practice examples how to cleave KCl and NaCl crystals?
I have cubes 25 mm and 10 mm and I would like to obtain thin slices 10 mm x 10 mm and 15 mm x 15 mm. With usage of a single edged razor blade and a small hammer (as suggested by SPI crystals), I can get 2mm thick slices, but I also produce a lot of waste ( I would guess ~50% of material). I find it unacceptably low and I would appreciate if someone could share some tips with me how to increase my yield.
We use a piece of Wood (10x10x2cm) covered with a rubber cloth about 3 mm thick.
The edge of the new blade should be paralell to 001 Surface.
Try cutting the cristal in half every time.
If the fresh Surface appears completely flat, then you have crystals annealed to about 50° below melting point an cooled in two days controling temperatura about 0,1° C.
Those cristal requiere more forcé to be cut and a very precise orientation of the blade.
Not annealed cristal requieres less forcé on the hammer, and the fresh Surface has many small steps.
You need pratice to improve your efficiency
Best look
Thank you for your answers.
I tried many of different methods, but the one working the best, was to use razor blade broken in half, hit with a small 75g hammer.
Hereby, I close the topic.
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