POLYMER TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS VESSEL

1 . A vessel comprising:

a main body comprising an open top end and a sealed bottom end to define an inner cavity configured to hold a volume of liquid, wherein the main body comprises a thin walled polymeric material having a melting temperature greater than 180° C.; and

an indicia applied to a portion of the main body indicating a tare weight of the vessel, wherein the tare weight of the vessel is a weight measured after at least one preconditioning step, wherein the preconditioning step comprises heating the vessel to at least 180° C. for a specific length of time,

wherein the vessel weighs between 0.5 grams and 5.0 grams.

2 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the tare weight of the vessel comprises the weight measured after a subsequent preconditioning step yields a weight with a variation of less than 0.5 mg from a weight recorded from a previous preconditioning step.

3 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the specific length of time comprises a time of at least one hour.

4 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the preconditioning step includes heating the vessel to at least 180° C. for greater than 12 hours.

5 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric material comprises nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, or a combination thereof.

6 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the main body further comprises a front wall portion and a rear wall portion connected by longitudinal side wall portions.

7 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the main body further comprises a front wall portion and a rear wall portion connected along longitudinal side edges thereof.

8 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein the vessel is self-standing.

9 . The vessel of claim 1 , wherein a wall thickness of the thin walled polymeric material is less than 0.008 inches.

10 . A method for testing total dissolved solids in a liquid sample, the method comprising:

placing a volume of liquid into a testing vessel, wherein the testing vessel comprises:

a main body comprising an open top end and a sealed bottom end to define an inner cavity configured to hold a volume of liquid, wherein the main body comprises a thin walled polymeric material having a melting temperature greater than 180° C.; and

an indicia applied to a portion of the main body indicating a tare weight of the testing vessel, wherein the tare weight of the testing vessel comprises a weight of the testing vessel measured after at least one preconditioning step, wherein the preconditioning step comprises heating the testing vessel to at least 180° C. for a first length of time,

heating the testing vessel containing the liquid sample for a time sufficient to evaporate all of the liquid;

heating the testing vessel at 180° C. for a second length of time and weighing the testing vessel;

and

repeating the step of heating the testing vessel at 180° C. for a second length of time and weighing the testing vessel until subsequent recorded weights of the testing vessel vary by less than 0.5 mg.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the second length of time comprise a time of one hour.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first length of time comprises a time of at least one hour.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the volume of liquid comprises a volume of less than 150 ml.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the weight of the testing vessel comprises a weight of between 0.5 grams and 5.0 grams.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the polymeric material comprises nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, or a combination thereof.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the wall thickness of the thin walled polymeric material is less than 0.008 inches.

17 . A method of producing a vessel useful for gravimetric testing, the method comprising:

performing at least one preconditioning step on a vessel, the vessel comprising:

a main body having an open top end and a sealed bottom end to define an inner cavity configured to hold a volume of liquid, wherein the main body comprises a thin walled polymeric material having a melting temperature greater than 180° C., wherein the preconditioning step comprises heating the vessel to at least 180° C. for a specified time and weighing the vessel; and

applying an indicia to a portion of the main body of the vessel, wherein the indicia include the tare weight of the vessel.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

repeating the preconditioning step until subsequent recorded weights of the vessel vary by less than 0.5 mg, wherein the final recorded weight is a tare weight of the vessel.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the tare weight of the vessel comprises a weight of between 0.5 grams and 5.0 grams.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the vessel has a wall thickness of less than 0.008 inches.