Sample Requirements and Preparations 1 Sample should be

Sample Requirements and Preparations 1. Sample should be flat. 2. Sample should be clean, no much dust, no finger prints. . . Do not hold sample like this Because your fingerprint will be on the sample. Hold sample like this(hold edges).

3. Well polished. 4. No oil on the surface. Some thin section makers use diamond paste to polish samples. Diamond paste has oil in it. You should use Al or diamond powder to polish the samples (15 seconds) if the samples are polished with diamond paste. 5. Well located. It will take much time to search the grains in whole sample if grains are not well located first. To locate grains, draw a circle around the minerals/grains with a black pen (use fine, permanent and water-proof pen) and then drew a line between the circles (The circles and lines should be thin and narrow, better with dots, thick circles and lines may cause charging inside circles). Not like this

3 e 3. The circles should be thin and narrow, better with dots: Not like this Like this

Clean samples If samples need to clean, follow these steps: a. Drop sample into a beaker with methanol/water that covers samples b. Put water into Ultrasonic bath c. Put the beaker into the ultrasonic bath d. Switch on the ultrasonic bath for 1 min. e. Remove the methanol from the beaker f. Put water into the beaker g. Switch on the ultrasonic bath for 1 min. h. Repeat step f and g twice i. Dry the samples with Kimwipes

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Remove carbon coating Polish samples with 0. 3 um Al / diamond powder (paste) to polish the samples till all the carbon is gone. You can use a optical microscope(reflective light) to see if the carbon coating is removed. Clean the samples following the steps in Clean Sample part.