Rock samples are sliced using a diamond edge saw and then trimmed to section sized block on a trim saw. These blocks are flattened and saw marks removed using a carborundum grits on plate glass with water. Flattened blocks are mounted using a heat cured epoxy resin onto a standard glass microscope slides. The bulk of the block is then cut down to 2 mm thickness, before grinding down to standard 30 microns thickness, using successively finer carborundum grits (90-320-600-800 grades). Once the correct thickness of obtained, the section is cleaned and cover with protective glass slip using natural Canada Balsam.
Microscope slide preparation service
A thin-section preparation facility requires diamond bladed saws, a hot plate, a petrological microscope, sheets of plate glass, other various consumables and over 40 years experience are all that is necessary to prepare geological microscope slides.
Small basic thin-section preparation facility, diamond bladed saws, hot plate and petrological microscope, plate glass, other various consumables and over 40 years experience are all that is necessary to prepare geological microscope slides.
Small basic thin-section preparation facility, diamond bladed saws, hot plate and petrological microscope, plate glass, other various consumables and over 40 years experience are all that is necessary to prepare geological microscope slides.