On the use of energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy for analysis of unstained multiphase polymer systems

This paper gives further evidence of successful use of energy-filtering tra nsmission elctron microscopy (EFTEM) for studying the polymer morphology of unstained samples. The method presents numerous advantages compared to tra ditional chemical staining methods using toxically staining agents such as osmium and ruthenium tetraoxide. For this purpose an EFTEM LEO912 equipped with an omega filter was used to produce conventional brightfield unscatter ed images and inelastic filtered images of high impact polystyrene ultramic rotomed samples. It was shown that morphology details observed in unstained samples are equivalent in quality contrast to those stained with osmium te traoxide. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.