Cryogenic Ball Mill

Active

Contract Opportunity

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Document Type: Sources Sought Notice

Notice Number: NIST-MML-25-SS03

Title: Cryogenic Ball Mill

NAICS Code: 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing

Contracting Office Address

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

Acquisition Management Division,

100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 1640,

Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640

This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response.

This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on acquisition. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. NIST recognizes that proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume to have unlimited rights to all technical data in the information paper.

NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS EXIST AT THIS TIME.

Background:

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking vendors that can provide a Cryogenic Ball Mill for Grinding Polymer Materials. The Materials Measurement Science Division (MMSD) has the need for a benchtop ball mill with cryogenic capability [liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling]. The major use for this mill will be to grind plastic materials (polymers and plastics). Cryogenic capability is required to freeze plastic materials to temperatures below their glass transition temperature (Tg ). At temperatures below Tg, plastic materials lose their plasticity and become brittle. After they become brittle, they can be fractured (ground or milled) into fine particles. MMSD is particularly interested in producing and recovering submicron (≤ 1 µm) sized particles.

Instrument automation and autofill capabilities of LN2 are required. This grinding process consists of short grinding cycles (1-2 minutes) followed by cooling cycles (1-2 minutes) and these cycles must be repeated during the entire length of the grinding procedure (as much as 180 times requiring a time period of ≥10 hours). Without automation and autofill LN2 capability, this procedure would be too labor and time intensive.

Requirement:

NIST is seeking information from sources with the following capabilities:

• A closed (no potential exposure of the operator to liquid nitrogen) cryogenic cooling system at or near liquid nitrogen temperature (-196⁰C) for the entire milling procedure.


• Milling at a temperature ranging between -180⁰C and -196⁰C


• Three different milling capabilities: cryogenic milling, wet milling at ambient temperature, and dry milling at ambient temperature.


• Connecting the mill (for the purpose of liquid nitrogen delivery) to large, commercially available, LN2 Dewars (≥ 180 Liters) that will allow for extended uninterrupted grinding times of ≥ 3 hours bu use of supplied LN2 Connection Tube.


• Automated grinding system with capability to create and store five or more standard operating programs.


• Grinding frequency that ranges from 5 to ≥ 30 Hz.


• Grinding jar and ball compositions of stainless steel.


• Acceptance of a range of grinding jar sizes with volumes ranging from 5mL to ≥ 50 mL.

Interested parties shall describe the capabilities of their organization as it relates to the product described above. NIST anticipates issuing a Request for Quotation within 60 days of this post’s closing.

NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources, including large and small businesses. The small business size standard associated with the NAICS code for this effort, 334516, is 1000 employees. Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice.

After results of this market research are obtained and analyzed, NIST may conduct a competitive procurement and subsequently award a contract. Companies that can provide such services are requested to email a written response describing their abilities to erik.frycklund@nist.gov no later than the response date for this sources sought notice.

The following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice:

1. Name, Address, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), CAGE code, and point of contact information of your company.


2. Any information on the company’s small business certifications, if applicable.


3. Description of your company’s capabilities as they relate to the item described in this notice.


4. A description of your company’s previous experience providing products described in this notice.


5. Indication of whether the item described in this notice are currently offered via your company’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts, Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), or other existing Government-wide contract vehicles; and, if so, the contract number(s) for those vehicles.


6. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in finalizing its market research.

Responses are limited to a total of twelve (12) pages. The responses must be in MS Word format. Pages shall be 8½-inch x 11-inch, using Times New Roman 11 Point Font. Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be analyzed) may be included in the 1" margin space.

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