Evaluating Materials Using a Compact Low Voltage FE-SEM
Publication Number: 5991-0968EN
Publication Date: 2015.04.09
Language: English
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Evaluating Materials Using a Compact Low Voltage FE-SEM

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Porosity plays an important role in materials mechanical and physical properties[1]. The latter include, for instance, compression and tensile strength, density, and thermal conduction or expansion. It also impacts materials resistance to chemical corrosion. The ensemble of these properties defines the behavior of the material under a given set of physical conditions and its functionality as an intermediate or final product. In one case, high porosity is desired in the material if used for insulation or catalysis. In contrast, low porosity is preferred for materials used by virtue of their strength or their impermeability to fluids[2]. In natural rocks, like shale or sandstones for instance, pore volume is key to assessment of the capacity of the rock formation as a reservoir for economically exploitable fluids such as natural gas, oil, or water[3]. Generally, being able to estimate accurately the proportion of pore volume and size distribution reliably, quickly, and at lower cost is very important to many industries such as mining geology and oil industry.