James
Yes, I've used it on occasion. It's an excellent product, and I'm
distressed to
hear that Buehler no longer sells it. I still have a jar of it in the lab, and
I just told one of my students to use it in embedding his samples of lime and
gypsum plasters from Jordan so that he can get accurate measurements of
porosity using UV illumination and image analysis software.
As far as consumables go, Buehler is mostly a reseller of materials made for
them. I don't know what the active ingredient in Fluormet is, but there are
many alternatives avaialble. See BJ Crosby, J. Unsworth, FWD Rost, Evaluation
of fluorescent dyes for epoxy impregnation of porous ceramics. Journal of
Microscopy 181:61-67, 1996. They recommend a couple of fluorochromes made by
Hoechst.
I don't think that any of these dyes will light up under the electron beam in
the SEM - they fluoresce in UV illumination. McCrone Associates used to sell a
marker that deposited a tiny spot of something that fluoresced under the
electron beam, so that one could quickly relocate a feature observed under the
optical microscope, but I don't see it on their website today.
Quoting James CRAWFORD <[log in to unmask]>:
> Dear Listmembers,
>
> I was considering using Buehler's Fluormet (r) fluorescent dye (added to
> embedding resin) to help study corrosion layer morphologies on ferrous
> metals. The intention is therefore not for metallography, but for corrosion
> layer research: determining so-called original sufaces that might be
> considered necessary to keep during artefact corrosion product
> removal/polishing during artefact restoration/conservation.
>
> The purpose of the marker, essentially a dye additive to the embedding
> resin would be to highlight cracks, porosity etc. while under optical
> microscope observation. Depending on the constituents it might also aid
> SEM-EDS (scanning election microscope -energy dispersive spectrosccopy)
> observation.
>
> Has anyone had experience with using Fluormet (r) fluorescent dye or similar
> products in embedding resins? In fact the manufacturer states this product
> is no longer available and has no alternatives to offer.
>
> Any comments on the use of such products and alternatives are welcome.
>
> James
>
> ******************************
>
> James CRAWFORD
> (356) 2180-7676 Telephone
> (356) 2167-4457 Facsimile
> (356) 9924-3848 Mobile
> Heritage Malta - Conservation Division
> East Wing, Former Royal Naval Hospital
> Bighi, Kalkara
> CSP12 MALTA
>
> http://www.heritagemalta.org
> http://www.heritagemalta.org/icmch.html
> http://www.promet.org.gr
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