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Automated Image Acquisition of Polymer Blend Morphology in an SEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Clifford S. Todd*
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Midland, MI, USA
John Blackson
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Midland, MI, USA
Georg Bar
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Schkopau, Germany
Eddy Garcia-Meitin
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Freeport, TX, USA. FEI Company
David Reuschle
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Freeport, TX, USA. FEI Company
Michael Janus
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Mark Darus
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Hillsboro, OR, USA
Annabel Nickles
Affiliation:
Analytical Sciences, Dow Chemical, Hillsboro, OR, USA

Extract

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Modern semi-crystalline polymers based on olefin chemistry are receiving a lot of attention due to their low cost of manufacture and the ability to tailor properties by controlling polymer morphology. A common technique to visualize polymer morphology is transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with the use of appropriate contrast-enhancing heavy metal stains. One of the difficulties in obtaining a TEM image is the need to prepare an ultra-thin section. Alternative approaches that do not rely on sectioning, such as AFM and SEM imaging of a prepared block face, have shown some promise for gross morphology characterization (μm-scale) but in most cases lacked the detail that can be observed by TEM.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2008

References

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