Application of the technique of environmental scanning electron microscopyto the paper industry

The environmental scanning electron microscope was used in conjunction with a heating stage to study in situ the polymerization process in the manufac turing of filter papers for the automotive industry. The images obtained fr om the video recording were converted into TIFF format with a computer prog ram and were then analyzed using an image analyzer to assess the percentage shrinkage during the cure process. These experiments yield valuable inform ation that is impossible to obtain with other electron microscopy technique s, for example, determining whether the polymer envelops the fibers or not, or whether there is a greater or lesser degree of anchoring between fibers .