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Transmission electron microscopy of fluorapatite–gelatine composite particles prepared using focused ion beam milling
Author(s) -
VOLKERT C. A.,
BUSCH S.,
HEILAND B.,
DEHM G.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.0022-2720.2004.01352.x
Subject(s) - fluorapatite , focused ion beam , transmission electron microscopy , materials science , apatite , composite number , ion beam , ion milling machine , chemical engineering , ion , nanotechnology , composite material , mineralogy , chemistry , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , engineering
Summary In this paper, synthetic fluorapatite–gelatine composite particles are prepared for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies using two methods based on focused ion beam (FIB) milling. TEM studies on the FIB‐prepared specimens are compared with TEM observations on samples prepared using an ultramicrotome. The results show that ultramicrotome slicing causes significant cracking of the apatite, whereas the ion beam can be used to make high‐quality, crack‐free specimens with no apparent ion beam‐induced damage. The TEM observations on the FIB‐prepared samples confirm that the fluorapatite composite particles are composed of elongated, preferentially orientated grains and reveal that the grain boundaries contain many small interstices filled with an amorphous phase.