Shuichi Ichihashi, Masahiko Kuwata, Kodai Kikuchi, Tatsushi Matsuyama, Akio Shimizu
High-pressure water freeze fracturing (HPWFF) is a method for preparing water-containing samples such as hydrogels for scanning electron microscopy, in which a sample is placed in a divisible pressure vessel, filled with water, sealed, frozen with liquid nitrogen, then vacuum dried after the vessel is divided. The pressure (about 200 MPa) generated by the phase transition from water to ice is expected to inhibit ice crystal formation that causes large deformation of microstructure in the sample. To maximize the useable sample size, where SEM observation is not affected by ice crystal growth, preparation conditions including the size of pressure vessel were examined in this work...
April 24, 2024: Microscopy