Cutting:
Thinning:
Polishing:
Coating:
Cleaning:
Drying:
- Freeze dryer
- Critical point dryer (CPD)
The dimple grinder is used in the mechanical thinning of TEM-samples. This method reduces the needed time of following preparation methods greatly.
The dimpler creates a grinding recess in the central part of the sample, which has a remaining adjustable thickness of up to a few µm. The dimple wheels are made of copper, bronze or stainless stell and they are used with a diamond or boron nitride paste.
A polishing step afterwards yields an extremely smooth and specular surfaces.
The accuracy of the recess is about 1-2µm. A stereomicroscope allows for accurate alignment of the sample in the grinder.
Stereomicroskope: | 40x magnification |
Grinding wheels: | ø 15mm made of Cu-bronze und stainless steel |
Sample holder: | ø 9mm made of stainless steel |
Weight: | 0-40 g |
Rotationspeed stepless adjustable