Quanta 200 3d scanning electron microscope

The density of the obtained materials was investigated by the Archimedes method. Samples of a parallelepiped shape (10 mm × 5 mm × 3 mm, Length × Width × Height) were obtained from sintered composite materials by electroerosion treatment. Surface of the samples was polished to analyze their phase composition and structure. X-ray diffraction analysis was conducted on a Shimadzu XRD 6000 (Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) diffractometer on CuKα radiation. The phases were identified using the powder diffraction file database (PDF 4). The microstructure of the obtained samples was determined using a QUANTA 200 3D scanning electron microscope (FEI Company, Hillsborough, OR, USA) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The size of ceramic particles in the obtained samples was measured by the line intersection method using an SEM image. The microhardness was measured on a Buehler Wilson Micromet 6040 (Buehler LLC, Lake Bluff, IL, USA) hardness meter with a Thixomet Pro image analyzer. The compression tests and three-point bending tests were performed on an Instron universal testing machine (Instron, High Wycombe, UK). Mechanical tests were carried out taking into account an international standard (GOST R ISO 6507-1-2007) as well as a standard approved by Tomsk State University (STO TSU 067-2017).

Cross-sections of the untreated and treated PIM-1 films were prepared. The samples were collected in a single package with uniform orientation of the fluorinated sides. The cross-sections surfaces were coated with platinum to ensure electron sink during SEM and XEDS analysis. The electron microscopy and elementary analysis of the sample package was conducted using a Quanta 200 3D scanning electron microscope (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA) with a Pegasus materials characterization system (by EDAX, Warrendale, PA, USA). SEM and EDS analysis was performed on the atoms F, O and C. An averaged length of step for XEDS scanning corresponds to 0.3 μm.
SEM images of cross-sections of all samples (untreated and treated PIM-1 films) were obtained (Figure 2a). Scanning lines (Figure 2a) were transformed into dependencies of the distribution of element concentration according to their depth (Figure 2b). Figure 2 represents a typical set of results for a single sample.