An analysis of hydrophobic fabric using electron microscopy

Sanjay Lakshmanan, Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester

Figure 2.1 Optical Microscope image of the sample with a 10X objective. The image shows the interwoven sturture of the fibers.
The optical microscope image shows the interwoven structure of the fabric which makes it very difficult to coat uniformly. Sputter coating with Gold (Au) was done on the small piece of fabric held onto an SEM stub by means of an adhesive conducting tape. The rate of sputtering was maintained at 0.1nm/sec and sputtered for a duration of 180 seconds. This ensured that the sample was conducive to imaging.

Figure 2.2 Sample after sputter coating with a layer of gold (~18nm)

SEM imaging was carried out by loading the sample into Zeiss- Auriga SEM. The sample was imaged using the SE2 detector at an accelerating voltage of 20kV and a working distance of around 13mm. Even after deposition of gold of considerable thickness on the surface of the sample, imaging was difficult since it was not possible to evenly coat the surface owing to the interwoven structure of the fibers in the sample.


Figure 2.3 SE2 image of the sample at 20kV and 13mm working distance.

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