Mk. Cinibulk et al., PREPARATION OF THIN-SECTIONS OF COATED FIBERS FOR CHARACTERIZATION BYTRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 79(9), 1996, pp. 2481-2484
A method of preparing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens
of coated ceramic fibers has been developed, which produces large ele
ctron transparent areas due to the minimal preferential milling of the
fiber, coating, or epoxy matrix. Multiple individual fibers or tows a
re impregnated with a high-temperature epoxy and contained to assure a
high fiber-to-epoxy volume ratio, The samples are then sectioned and
mechanically thinned either parallel or normal to the fiber axes using
a wedge polisher on diamond lapping films to achieve a thickness of l
ess than 5 mu m. The thinned sample is then ion-milled to electron tra
nsparency in less than 30 min, giving representative specimens of the
coating, fiber, and coating-fiber interface. This technique is also we
ll suited to preparing extremely flat specimens for scanning electron
microscopy analysis of thin coatings. Examples of TEM sections of coat
ed fibers prepared using this technique are presented.