conservation

research & diagnosis

technical analysis of materials

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM-EDX) analysis

An electron microscope scans the glass surface with a focused beam of electrons. Interactions between the electrons and the atoms in the glass sample generate signals that allow scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to produce detailed images of the glass surface and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to determine the elemental composition of the glass.

The following two photographs show a cotton swab that conservators used to sample the surface of unstable glass. The swab contains fragments of almost pure silica. In this case, the glass has lost all of its alkali components through leaching.



The following two photographs show a small glass fragment under analysis. On the left, the fragment is inside the device under low vacuum. On the right is the generated image of the degraded, cracked surface of the unstable glass.