Em 30ax plus

The microstructural morphology of each CEACB was examined by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) apparatus (EM30-AX Plus, COXEM, Daejeon, Korea) at curing time of 1 day and 7 days. Each CEACB was broken into small pieces with a hammer, and small pieces at least 5 mm from the surface were soaked in anhydrous ethanol to terminate hydration. The specimens were then placed in vacuum oven until dry at a temperature of 25 °C. Three kinds of CEACB samples with a dimension of 25 mm × 35 mm were plated with a thin protective palladium layer utilizing low vacuum sputtering before the SEM observation. Electrons were emitted on the surface of sample with magnifications of 500, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 at a voltage of 20 kV. Three replicates were performed at each experimental condition and a representative result was chosen for detailed description.

The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) apparatus (COXEM EM30-AX Plus, Daejeon, Korea) was employed to observe the micromorphology of the mineral fillers and the interfacial morphology of the asphalt filler. SEM samples with a dimension of 25 mm × 35 mm were coated with a thin layer of palladium using low vacuum sputtering. Three surface locations of each sample were scanned at 20 kV with various magnifications of 2000×, 2500×, 3000×, and 5000×. Three replicates were scanned in each test and a representative sample was selected for the analysis.

Raman spectra were registered on a Jasco NRS-2000C spectrometer equipped with a microscope with 100× magnification. The spectra were recorded under backscattering conditions with 4 cm⁻¹ spectral resolution using the 532 nm line (DPSS laser driver, LGBlase LLC, Fremont, CA, USA) with a power of about 20 mW. The detector was a liquid nitrogen cooled CCD (Spec-10: 100B, Roper Scientific, Inc., Tucson, AZ, USA). Each spectrum was the average of 16 measurements.
IR spectra were recorded with a Bruker ALPHA series FT-IR spectrometer (Bruker, Ettlingen, Germany) equipped with an attenuated total reflectance (diamond crystal) apparatus and a Deuterated Lanthanum α-Alanine doped TriGlycine Sulfate (DLaTGS) detector. The spectra were averaged over 100 scans at a resolution of 4 cm⁻¹.
The morphology of both MnGC and BMP-MnGC has been investigated by a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The machine employed is a COXEM EM 30AX plus equipped with a Tungsten Filament (W), a SE Detector, and BSE Detector (Solid type 4 Channel).
The success of the functionalization process has been tested through an elemental analysis with SEM-EDX, i.e., the aforementioned SEM equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDX, model EDAX Element-C2B).