Effect of temperature on beam damage of asbestos fibers in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) at 100 kV

Damage to asbestos fibers by the transmission electron microscope (TEM) electron beam is a known limitation of this powerful method of analysis. Although it is often considered only in terms of loss of crystallinity, recent studies have shown that the damage may also change the elemental composition of fibers, thus causing significant identification errors. In this study, the main objective was to assess whether temperature is a factor influencing damage to asbestos fibers and, if so, how it can be used to minimize damage. It was found that lowering the temperature to 123 K can inhibit, for a given time, the manifestation of the damage. The significant decrease of atom diffusion at low temperature momentarily prevents mass loss, greatly reducing the possibility of misidentification of anthophyllite asbestos fibers. The results obtained in this study strongly suggest that the predominant mechanism damage is probably related to the induced-electric-field model relegating radiolysis to the status of a subsidiary damage mechanism. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.