Stainless steel beads have a density of 7.9g/cc. They are used mostly for grinding leaves and seeds. They are made of Type 316 stainless steel – the most corrosion resistant available.
Cat. No. 11079115ss 1.5mm dia 45g
Cat. No. 11079123ss 2.3mm dia 90g
Cat. No. 11079132ss 3.2mm dia 90g
Cat. No. 11079635ss 6.35mm dia 100 beads
*Note: These beads are not sold in one pound amounts.
Stainless steel beads are relatively expensive but can be cleaned and reused. For bead cleaning methods, see https://biospec.com/beads-guide-lines/cleaning-your-beads. A more economic and time-saving option is to substitute chrome steel beads for the stainless steel beads. Chrome steel beads much less expensive than stainless beads. After beadbeating they can be quickly retrieved from the microvial with a magnet and discarded (i.e., no cleanup, no cross contamination).
With either stainless steel or chrome steel beads, common polypropylene microvials may break if ‘dry’ grinding or cryo-grinding is attempted. Our stainless steel microvials with silicone rubber caps or our XXTuff polypropylene vials are recommended for this application.
We also offer PRELOADED beads in 2ml screw cap vials. There are too many possible combinations of bead size, bead composition and bead load to consider stocking all prefilled vials, so we do this on a custom basis. Let us know what you need at info@biospec.com and we will give you a price quote.