Thin Sectioning Lab

Equipped with high-precision, diamond-based cutting, grinding and polishing equipment, the thin sectioning lab prepares solid materials for analysis. Typical preparation creates “thin sections”, samples mounted to glass microscope slides, then ground to a thickness of 30 microns or less. At this thickness, most solid materials transmit light and can be analyzed with an optical microscope. Thin sections are also suitable for scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The lab also produces “bulk mounts”, whole samples set in resin with one side cut and polished. Bulk-mounts are typically analyzed by SEM.