Samples provided for electron microscopy must be high vacuum compatible. This means they should be dry and free of any oils or greases. The department of materials engineering houses many facilities for sample preparation and polishing. Consultation on your particular sample preparation requirements is offered.
The facility houses the following preparation supplies and equipment:
Currently Available
Buehler Phoenix with Vector Polishing Head
The Buehler Phoenix is an autopolishing system configured for the preparation of standard 1.25″ metallographic sample mounts.
LECO VC-50 Wafering Saw
The LECO VC-50 is a wafering saw that can be used with Alumina or Diamond cut-off discs and is used for the precise sectioning of hard materials prior to mounting.
Cold Mounting Systems
The MEEML has full stocks of several cold mounting systems. These include Spurr type low viscosity resin, standard polyester epoxy resins, LECOSet 100 cold curing acrylic and Technovit 5000 conductive polymer resin. A vacuum dessicator is also available to remove bubbles from specimen mounts.
In Storage
With the demise of the Materials Engineering TEM, sample preparation equipment for this instrument was refurbished and put into storage. This equipment can be made available if required.
Struers Tenupol 5
The Struers Tenupol 5 is an automated electrolytic thinning system for the preparation of thin foils for TEM studies of metals.
VCR MaxMill Ion Mill
The VCR MacMill uses Argon ion beams to thin specimens under vacuum.
VCR Dimpler
A dimpler uses polishing slurry and a polishing disc to uniformly polish a depression in samples for TEM sample preparation.
South Bay Technologies Model 360 Slurry Drill
The SBT slurry drill is used to gently cut standard 3mm foils from materials without introducing the deformations sometimes found when using a conventional punch.
Gatan 659 Disc Punch
The industry standard disc punch for punching 3mm TEM foils from metal sheet.
Gatan 623 Disc Grinder
The industry standard disc grinder, used to pre-grind specimens prior to the application of other techniques.
