FIB/SEM Characterization of Paper Materials

2016

3D microscopy is of interest for structural characterization of paper materials

to study the use of cellulose nanofibrils as a paper additive. Focused ion beam

(FIB) tomography is a promising microscopy technique for this application,

combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with serial sectioning by ion

beam, potentially with nanoscale resolution.

In this work, FIB tomography is demonstrated for paper samples, showing that

the technique is applicable to this class of materials. Volume reconstructions

with voxel resolution down to 13x13x 15nm3 for volumes of up to approximately

10x10x2 μm3 are obtained. The latter is limited by the acquisition time, and

can therefore be extended.

A working protocol is developed, from sample preparation and image acquisition

to processing and volume reconstruction. The method is discussed in comparison

to established 3D methods for paper materials, and suggestions are made

for improving the resolution and increasing the volume.

NTNU