BioSpec stainless steel lysis beads are manufactured from Type 316 stainless steel, offering excellent corrosion resistance and high-density grinding performance for demanding bead beating and tissue homogenization applications.

With a density of 7.9 g/cc, stainless steel beads provide substantially greater mechanical impact energy than glass or ceramic bead media, making them especially effective for grinding leaves, seeds, fibrous tissues, plant materials, and other difficult-to-disrupt biological samples.

These beads are commonly used with bead beaters, tissue homogenizers, cryogenic grinding systems, and laboratory disruption equipment for sample preparation, molecular biology workflows, and tough tissue homogenization applications.

Although stainless steel beads are more expensive than other grinding media, they can be cleaned, sterilized, and reused in many laboratory workflows. For bead cleaning and sterilization guidance, see our bead cleaning guidelines.

A more economical and time-saving alternative for some applications is our chrome steel bead media. Chrome steel beads are significantly less expensive than stainless steel beads and can be quickly retrieved from microvials using a magnet after bead beating, reducing cleanup time and minimizing cross-contamination risk.

Important: When using stainless steel or chrome steel beads for dry grinding (without liquid media) or cryogenic grinding at liquid nitrogen temperatures, the high-density steel media may crack standard polypropylene microvials.

For these demanding applications, BioSpec recommends using our XXTuff reinforced polypropylene microvials or stainless steel microvials with silicone rubber stoppers for improved durability and performance.