Manufacturing

We have developed a vast amount of experience and knowledge in the production of inorganic materials. Underpinning everything we do is operation at the highest standards of quality control. This runs through both product, quality performance and service that we offer our customers.

Quality
Control
Manufacturing
Capabilities

Quality Control

We aim to ensure the highest levels of quality in everything we do. Our Quality Management System is ISO 9001 accredited and our team strives to exceed customer expectations in quality control and customer service. Our quality control laboratory is equipped with advanced analytical techniques, enabling us to characterise the chemical and physical properties of every batch manufactured at William Blythe.

Chemical & Material Properties

1. Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)

We use ICP to quantify trace metals in products down to parts per billion (ppb) levels. This technique, unlike alternatives, allows simultaneous measurement, making analysis times independent of the number of anolytes of interest.
2. Titration

Acid/Base, Redox, Complexometric and Precipitation automated titration methods are used to determine the assay of many products. The advantages of these methods include: well-established methods, resulting in fast, accurate, precise and traceable results.
3. Karl Fisher (KF)

The KF coulometric technique is used to measure low level moisture content in products. The practical advantages KF gives us over other methods of moisture determination are accuracy, speed and selectivity.
4. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is an elemental atomic emission analysis technique based on the principle that individual atoms, when excited by an external energy source, emit X-ray photons of a characteristic energy/wavelength. By counting the number of photons of each energy emitted from the sample, the elements present can be identified and quantified.
5. X-ray Diffraction (XRD)

XRD is used to characterize the crystallinity and phase composition of a chemical. We use this to confirm product phase purity and in the development of new inorganic chemical products.

Physical Properties

1. Particle Size Distribution (PSD)

We use wet and dry dispersion introduction techniques, and laser diffraction to measure particle size distributions from nanometers to millimetres (10nm-3500um).
2. Surface Area (SA)

This measures the exposed surface of a solid on a molecular scale to measure a products surface area, using the BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) method. Surface area is a key physical property that can influence product performance, such as its ability to catalyse a reaction or disperse into a polymer matrix.
3. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Scanning electron miscroscopy is an imaging technique that provides information on both the physical shape (morphology) and chemical composition of our products. Our SEM capability also extends to electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, which enables us to understand the relative surface elemental composition of a sample.

Manufacturing Capabilities

Our core capability is the manufacture of rigorously defined, high purity functional inorganic chemicals. This is achieved through a range of chemical processing routes including bi-tri metallic precipitation, redox chemistry and hydrothermal synthesis. Once the target chemical is manufactured, we have a toolkit of purification techniques that we can employ to produce high purities to specification. We also utilise post processing techniques such as blending, granulation and masterbatch production.

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