History of Teledyne Leeman Labs

In 1981 John R. Leeman and Karl Hildebrand founded Leeman Labs to produce analytical instrumentation based on the promise of Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) [also referred to as Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES)] to identify and quantify the concentration of elements within a sample.

This initial success established Leeman Labs as both an innovator and an expert in ICP-OES and lead the company to endeavor into other realms of atomic spectroscopy adding the DC Arc technique and Mercury Analysis to its line of analytical instrumentation.  In 2004 Leeman Labs was acquired by Teledyne technologies to augment Teledyne's existing laboratory and continuous monitoring instruments used in environmental applications, and complement Teledyne Tekmar's organic analysis instrumentation.

Today, its instruments can be found conducting analyses across a broad spectrum of industries and sample types.  The usefulness of Teledyne Leeman Lab’s elemental analysis instrumentation ranges from agriculture to aerospace and forensics to food in over 50 countries.

Tungsten Carbide (also called cemented carbide or simply carbide) is a metal composite created from tungsten carbide and a binder metal (usually cobalt or nickel) in powder form that is compacted and sintered in a furnace. Tungsten Carbide is used for tools, abrasives, jewelry, industrial drills, and armor-piercing ammunition due to its exceptional hardness (8.5-9.0, surpassed only by diamonds). Because the tungsten carbide particles are captured in a binder during the sintering process, the result is referred to as “cemented”.

Modern copper ores contain less than 0.6% copper, and less than 2% total volume of economic ore minerals (including copper). A majority of the ore is comprised of unwanted rock and gangue minerals (typically silicate minerals or oxide minerals). Separation of ore minerals from gangue minerals entails complicated and labor intensive processes.

We are happy to announce some dynamic changes in our blog content.  Simply put, it was time for a change of philosophy and a fresh start. While our blog has always been a valuable resource for technical information, we recognized an opportunity to expand its subject matter, increase frequency, and ultimately create a more diverse, more useful forum.  After all, we want users like you to benefit from its content, encounter something truly thought provoking, and come away with something valuable. We want you to return for the next post, and above all, we hope we move you to comment and participate in the discussion!