Borate fusion is a sample preparation technique in which solid materials are fused with a borate-based flux at high temperatures to produce a homogeneous fused bead or a soluble melt. It is widely regarded as the reference method for high-precision XRF analysis and is also used for selected wet chemical applications.

During the fusion process, the sample and flux are heated until a homogeneous molten mixture is formed. This process completely homogenizes the sample, eliminates mineralogical effects and significantly reduces matrix-related influences, resulting in highly accurate and reproducible analytical results.

Borate fusion is particularly suitable for oxide-based materials such as cement, ores, minerals, slags, refractories, ceramics and geological materials. The quality of the analytical result depends on reproducible fusion conditions, including the fusion temperature, flux-to-sample ratio, mixing efficiency and cooling process.

HERZOG offers both automated and manual borate fusion systems for the preparation of high-quality fusion beads and soluble melts. The HAG-HF, Bead One HF and Bead One R systems provide reproducible fusion conditions, complete sample homogenization and reliable preparation of analytical samples. This ensures consistently high-quality sample preparation and forms the basis for accurate and reproducible XRF analyses.