MRI: Acquisition Of An ESEM With EDX And EBSD Capability For Microanalysis At The State University Of West Georgia

University Of West Georgia, Carrollton GA

Investigators

Abstract

0116375 Luneburg This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant provides funds for the acquisition of electron microscopy equipment consisting of an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) with attached Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) systems and partial support for a technician to oversee operations of the instrument. A carbon coater will also be purchased. This equipment is essential for innovative research and state-of-the-art education of science students and will therefore strongly benefit the State University of West Georgia in research and education. The Department of Geosciences plans to establish a center for microanalysis comprising the requested equipment as well as already available instruments such as optical microscopes and an x-ray texture goniometer. Such a facility will be unique in the southeastern United States. The wide range of users and applications from within and outside the State University of West Georgia requires an instrument like the ESEM whose particular technology allows analysis of a wide range of specimens under low or high vacuum conditions with minimum contamination. The EDX system is essential for quantitative chemical analyses of the samples. The EBSD system will allow crystallographic orientation analyses of individual minerals which, in combination with the texture goniometry measurements of bulk samples, will promote new approaches to fabric analysis in rocks. Planned research topics include fabric development in heterogeneous deformation fields such as folds and shear zones, the kinematic significance of stretching lineations, fabric development during a complex deformation history and the relationship between fabrics and physical rock anisotropy. Studies will be performed in the Southern Appalachians as well as in the Alps. The equipment would also permit novel research in the field of microbial taphonomy (decomposition and fossilization) and would permit detailed investigation into the respiratory and feeding structures of well-preserved blastoids, thus complementing existing research programs. Significant research and teaching projects would also be undertaken in biology, chemistry and physics. ***