BioSpec Zirconia-kugler

By employing high energy rotor-type homogenizers such as the Mini-Beadbeater, 0.5 to 1 g of sample is violently agitated inside sealed 2-ml screw-cap microvials containing glass, zirconia or chrome-steel beads for 3 to 5 minutes before beadbeating is performed to disrupt cell or tissue structures quickly while eliminating cross-contamination issues.

Beadbeating bacteria or yeast/fungi requires using 0.1mm-sized glass beads; for use against most tissue such as skin or “hard” plant material, we advise using 1.0mm diameter glass or zirconia beads.

Glass Beads

Glass beads are small spheres crafted of hardened soda lime glass that typically feature multiple colors or are etched or patterned to add visual interest. Glass beads are commonly seen on necklaces and fancy walking sticks, and also used in shot peening as blasting media to strengthen metal surfaces while reducing fatigue and corrosion.

Glass beads can be found in road marking paint, where they reflect light when headlights shine on them to improve nighttime visibility for drivers. Furthermore, reflective blasting paints for construction equipment and safety gear use glass beads as reflective particles to increase worker visibility and boost jobsite safety.

The Mini-Beadbeater-Plus is a high-energy bead mill designed to violently agitate up to half-gram samples sealed inside a 2 ml screw-cap microvial with tiny glass, zirconia or chrome steel beads (or sharp particles without beads) within. This homogenization process, known as beadbeating, effectively disrupts bacteria, yeast, fungi or plant tissues for nucleic acid isolation within 5-90 seconds. Furthermore, this device also enables dry or cryo-grinding at ambient or liquid nitrogen temperatures by using heavier zirconia or steel beads as well as special breakage resistant microvials.

Zirconia Beads

Zirconia beads are spherical balls made of zirconium dioxide used for grinding and milling various elements in mill machines. While other materials exist that perform this same function, zirconia beads possess unique properties that make them stand out as being ideal in certain applications. They are chemically inert and long-lived – ideal features when applied to applications requiring high degrees of precision; additionally they come in various sizes to meet any given condition or application condition.

Zirconia beads accelerate tissue lysis. Furthermore, they disrupt prokaryotes that could otherwise contaminate an assay that’s sensitive to nuclease and nucleic acid contamination and prove highly efficient at bead beating.

Inovatec provides zirconia bead media in various sizes. We offer three forms – yttria-stabilized, silica and alumina toughened forms – but the latter two may not offer as high mechanical strength. Yittria stabilized beads are our highest quality option and boast excellent mechanical strength while their silica or alumina toughened counterparts may offer more cost savings but may not provide as good strength performance.

Perler af zirkonia/silica

Zirconium silicate beads are versatile media that serve many different applications. Chemically inert and durable, these beads excel at grinding and dispersing applications of all kinds. Crafted using high-grade zircon sourced from around the globe through an exclusive high temperature sintering process, their beads also offer greater resistance against breakage or shape imperfections than their competitors.

Similar to glass beads, this media does not require an additional lysing agent, which reduces costs. Furthermore, it’s an effective solution for testing samples of various sizes and viscosities, making it suitable for high energy bead beaters such as BioSpec Products’ Mini-Beadbeater-96.

This media comes pre-filled in 2 mL skirted or unskirted polypropylene tubes compatible with most tube homogenizers and features clear screw caps with O-rings to save labs time by eliminating the need to weigh, fill and QC individual tubes. These convenient solutions save labs time by eliminating the need to weigh, fill and QC individual tubes individually. Each tube contains mixed matrix (silica and zirconium) grinding media which can accelerate tissue lysis and resist fragmentation during beadbeating beadbeating.

Chrome Steel Beads

Chrome steel beads feature a density of 7.9g/cc and are an ideal way to grind samples like leaves and seeds for dry grinding. Cryo-grinding (bead beating at liquid nitrogen temperatures) may also be employed with these steel beads, although dry grinding with steel beads will crack polypropylene microvials with regular screw caps (XXTuff or otherwise), but BioSpec Products offers a special holder that fits into its Mini-Beadbeater-96 that maintains ultralow liquid N2 temperatures during beadbeating processes. Stainless steel beads may rust when exposed to phenolic compounds and may contaminate samples during beadbeating processes – an alternative is offered by stainless steel beads which do not rust over time compared with chrome steel counterparts;

Sharp particles accelerate tissue lysis. BioSpec Products provides an assortment of bead sizes and materials suitable for sample homogenization, such as glass, zirconia/silica, and tungsten carbide beads; also Garnet sharp particles which fragment during beadbeating as an ideal choice for disrupting spores or tough tissues such as bones. All our beads come packaged in convenient one pound bottles with easy pour spouts for your convenience.

Sharp Particles

Sharp-edged particles such as SiC and Garnet (iron-aluminum silicate) particles create a knifelike action when shaken at high energy in Mini-Beadbeater vials, speeding the lysis of tough tissues more quickly and eliminating the need to pre-chop samples into 1mm cross section pieces before shaking.

Physics and material science provide us with an explanation for why sharp objects cut so efficiently: the force exerted at its edges is significantly greater than at its centers due to a smaller surface area at the edges than at their centers.

Sharp particle abrasion also generates an internal impulsive load that initiates and propagates median cracks in target material, weakening it so particles can more easily penetrate it and breaking down cell membranes; these cracks also help facilitate matrix-digesting enzymes digestion of extracellular matrix proteins more quickly and efficiently. Note: Since such agitation may also generate foaming and aerosols in solution, sterile homogenization techniques must be used.