Sample Holder for Bizarre Shapes
For Automotive Light Bulbs and Other Fragile Objects, Difficult to Hold in Place
Tiltable Rotation Holder for Automotive Light Bulbs and Other Bizarre Shapes. The SEM is a very powerful tool for the documentation of melting structures on a shattered light bulb, retrieved from a car accident. With no element of doubt left behind, the indication is clear whether or not the lamp was on at the time of the crash. The sub-stage shown in the photo can be clamped in the cup of the specimen holder at 90 degrees tilt.
This modifies the rotation movement into a sidewise tilt function, both ways to the left and the right. When clamping a standard automotive light bulb, the tungsten coil is located approximately in the tilt center. Smaller bulbs are clamped using a spacer ring. One of the stage telescope drives can be used for the carousel in the center. The base can - depending upon the stage mechanics - tilt a small amount towards the SE-detector. This allows viewing the specimen under many different angles - the recording of stereo pairs is very easy.
A small DC-Motor can be retrofitted, if the stage does not have manually driven movement mechanics.
The specimen is clamped in a clever way: a small cup shaped insert, filled with Wood's Metal is part of the set. This alloy melts about at the temperature of a cup of hot coffee. It does not wet the surface, and can be lifted off without leaving any residue behind. One of the most interesting properties of the alloy is, that it expands a small amount when cooling down - this makes the cup a perfect micro-vise for small and delicate objects. Let the typewriter head be a good example for how to hold odd-shaped specimens in place without complicated mechanical fixtures. Extremely fragile specimens, such as dried insects have been clamped successfully. They were not at all damaged after taking out again. The cup together with the object(s) can also be placed into the sputter coater.