Do you need to test the purity of your products? Want to check the quality of your materials? With the diverse MP80 Excellence Melting Point System, the following physical properties can be determined accurately and automatically with just one click of the button:
Melting point determination has never been so easy! With simple operating routines and an intuitive color touch screen, you can perform measurements quickly. Just one click is needed to start, and the instrument does the rest for you. Attend to other important tasks while the measurement is being performed.
Having the right tools at your disposal is paramount to achieving an efficient workflow. METTLER TOLEDO's Excellence Melting Point Systems are designed to ensure that your routine processes run smoothly. Store methods and results directly on the instrument, measure multiple samples simultaneously, and export or print results automatically after an experiment – all while meeting GLP/GMP requirements.
Never miss a measurement again with METTLER TOLEDO's Excellence Melting Point Systems. Observe your measurements in real time via a video or replay it to verify your results. View intensity curves and results directly on the color touch screen during or after the experiment. Performance and precision can be verified by calibration using certified reference substances.
Instrument qualification and method and process validation are not limited to the pharmaceutical industry. All ISO-certified companies are subject to quality and security standards and require the proper procedures and documentation to prove that they satisfy these standards. Ensure that your Excellence Melting Point System is installed, qualified, and maintained according to the quality standards your company needs.
LabX software enables rock solid melting point quality control by providing a comprehensive result overview, video storage and automatic result assessment. Re-analyze melting point curves, organize comprehensive sample lists and generate customized reports all while fully supporting your regulatory needs.
A digital melting point instrument uses a furnace and video camera to measure the change in light transmission in relation to the measured furnace temperature for melting point detection.
This melting point measurement is done digitally, reducing operator influence considerably. Up to 6 samples can be measured simultaneously with an accuracy of down to 0.2 °C and short heating and cooling times.
With its compact size the METTLER TOLEDO melting point meter fits well on every lab bench.
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A METTLER TOLEDO melting point system is represented in the schematic diagram below.
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This system is a combination of a furnace and a video camera.
Melting point is determined by heating the sample. The furnace is used to control the temperature during an analysis. Temperature control and temperature recording is guaranteed by a digital platinum temperature sensor.
The sample sits inside a glass capillary and is inserted into the furnace. During heating, when the melting occurs, the light transmission through the sample changes: When the material is solid and opaque, less light is transmitted through the substance. When a material is liquid and more transparent, more light is transmitted. This change in light transmission can easily be determined with a video camera and is therefore a reliable way of detecting the melting point of a substance.
This, in a nutshell, is what is needed for fully automatic melting point determination.
All results, measurement data and video files are stored on the melting point device and a lab report can be generated fully automatically.
The determination of the melting point can be performed for powdered crystalline samples.
For sample preparation, a dry powdery substance is ground in a mortar and filled into the capillaries, which are then inserted into the furnace. The melting point accessories box by METTLER TOLEDO contains everything needed for accurate and reproducible sample preparation.
The melting point accessory box is part of the standard delivery of the MP90 and is a highly recommended optional accessory for MP55, MP70 and MP80 instruments.
The melting point accessory boxes are available with standard or USP reference substances. The melting point accessories box contains two sets of 150 melting point capillaries each, three METTLER TOLEDO melting point reference substances or USP melting point reference standards, an agate pestle and mortar, tweezers, a spatula, and 5 capillary filling tools (Picture 1):
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Picture 1: Melting point accessory box including all necessary melting point equipment for sample preparation and melting point standards for melting point tester calibration. |
If we want to make sure that the melting point analyzer is providing the correct results, we need to verify its measurement accuracy. As it is not possible to measure the sample temperature directly using a certified thermometer, the temperature accuracy is checked using reference substances, ideally with certified temperature values. Thus, we can compare nominal values including tolerances with actual measured values.
If calibration fails, which means if the measured temperature values do not match the range of the certified nominal values of the respective reference substances, the instrument needs to be adjusted.
The instrument should be adjusted with at least two reference substances that encompass the whole melting range required. The calibration should be performed with at least one reference substance melting point lying within the required temperature range. The new adjustment should be checked with a different reference substance than the one used for adjustment.
We highly recommended that you use METTLER TOLEDO melting point standards for calibration and adjustment purposes of MP Excellence instruments. Each melting point reference substance comes with a certificate and both nominal pharmacopeia and thermodynamic melting points written on the label. The substances are securely identified with two barcodes showing the filling code and lot number.
The following table provides an overview of METTLER TOLEDO reference substances:
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Furthermore, METTLER TOLEDO offers a melting point performance verification package, called the MP VPac™, which contains prefilled and sealed capillaries for use in instrument verification.
The key to good results is careful and exact sample preparation. Prepare your samples so that the amount of substance is the same across all capillaries. Slight differences in the amounts could cause deviations in the measured melting point temperatures.
Check the capillary fill height using the lines marked on the melting point sample preparation tool. For accurate measurements, the optimum fill height of 3 mm should be observed.
The sample preparation tool offers many possibilities for checking the fill height of your substance. See the Fig. 1 for estimating the various fill heights.
For best results, it is important that the melted substance needs to cover the holes for transmission light detection.
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Fig. 1: Sample preparation tool: fill height markings |
The METTLER TOLEDO melting point instruments fully comply with the following standards for melting point determination:
For detailed information on international norms and standards, visit
METTLER TOLEDO's LabX laboratory PC software for analytical instruments and balances, powers the METTLER TOLEDO Melting Point system with automated data handling, high process security and full SOP guidance.
LabX is the ultimate solution to fully integrate the data flow into other laboratory systems such as LIMS and ERP, and allows the lab to be compliant with regulations and audit ready. LabX fully supports you with software validation and compliance including 21CFR part 11, EU GMP annex 11 and ISO 17025.
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The pharmacopeia's requirements for melting point determination at a glance:
Use capillaries with outer diameters ranging from 1.3–1.8 mm and wall thicknesses from 0.1– 0.2 mm. Apply a constant heating rate of 1°C/min. If not otherwise stated, in most pharmacopeias temperature at the end of melting is recorded at point C when no solid substance is left (corresponds to the clear point). Pharmacopeias such as the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) require the determination of the melting range, where points A (corresponds to collapse point) and C are used for temperature determination. The recorded temperature represents the temperature of the heating stand, which can be an oil bath or a metal block, in which the thermocouple is positioned.
All MP instruments can also measure the melting range. The instrument models MP55 and MP80 can be used for diverse tasks. With the MP55, melting and slip melting points can be determined. On the MP80, the melting point application is extended by boiling point, cloud point and slip melting point.
In detail, the METTLER TOLEDO Melting Point MP55 and MP80 System offer the possibility to perform the following applications:
The MP80 acts as an automatic boiling point apparatus according to the following measurement principle: To determine the boiling point, which is the temperature at which a phase transition from liquid to gas occurs, approximately 100 µL of sample is pipetted into a glass tube. A smaller boiling point capillary is then inserted into the filled tube to prevent superheating of the liquid, which would induce boiling retardation and give rise to inaccurate readings. The sample is then inserted into the boiling point instrument, and the method is started. The temperature rises, and gas bubbles are formed within the liquid and escape to the surface. These ascending bubbles reflect the light of the built-in light source and are detected individually. The frequency of the bubbles is measured and is used as the basis for boiling point determination. Ambient pressure is measured with a built-in calibrated barometer, and compensation to sea-level pressure is automatically calculated and applied to the results.
The MP80 acts as an automatic cloud point apparatus according to the following measurement principle: The cloud point of a solution corresponds with the temperature above which a sample becomes turbid. Cloud point determination is typically performed with a 1% weight dilution of the substance of interest in water. Approximately 100 µL of sample is pipetted into a glass tube and inserted into the cloud point tester. The solution of interest is transparent at the beginning of the experiment, and when the cloud point is reached, the solution becomes turbid. This turbidity is monitored via transmitted light detection – the higher the temperature above the cloud point, the more turbid the solution, and thus less light transmitted through the solution. Automatic video camera detection of the decrease in transmitted light intensity is the key to obtaining repeatable and reliable cloud point results.
The MP55 and MP80 act as an automatic instrument for slip melting point determination according to the following measurement principle: To determine the slip point of e.g. fats, oils and waxes, an inner slip melting point capillary tube containing a column of sample is immersed in water, which is then heated at a specific rate. The temperature at which the column of fat is observed to start rising in the inner capillary tube – due to a combination of buoyancy and the molten outside surface of the column – is recorded as the slip melting point. The slip melting point of the substance is evaluated via digital image analysis. When the column of substance starts to move upwards, the image processing algorithm determines the slip melting point fully automatically.
