Silver sulfide as a staining agent for scanning electron microscopy of nylon 6/MXD6 blends Magniez, Kevin, Fox, Bronwyn L and Looney, Mark G 2009, Silver sulfide as a staining agent for scanning electron microscopy of nylon 6/MXD6 blends, Polymer international, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 858-862, doi: 10.1002/pi.2599. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Silver sulfide as a staining agent for scanning electron microscopy of nylon 6/MXD6 blends Author(s) Magniez, Kevin Fox, Bronwyn L Looney, Mark G Journal name Polymer international Volume number 58 Issue number 8 Start page 858 End page 862 Total pages 5 Publisher John Wiley & Sons Place of publication West Sussex, England Publication date 2009-08 ISSN 0959-8103 1097-0126 Keyword(s) polymer blends electron microscopy nylon MXD6 domain morphology Summary BACKGROUND: In transmission and scanning electron microscopy imaging, the ability to obtain sufficient contrast between the components of a blend when they are both of a similar chemical structure still remains problematic. This paper investigates the domain morphology of a polymer blend containing two polyamides, nylon 6 and the semi-aromatic polyamide poly(m-xylene adipamide) (MXD6), using scanning electron microscopy in backscattered electron imaging mode. The efficiency of three staining agents, ruthenium tetroxide, phosphotungstic acid and silver sulfide, in obtaining optimum phase contrast between the two polymers is discussed. RESULTS: The use of silver sulfide as a staining agent was found to be a fast and reliable approach which required basic sample preparation and provided excellent compositional contrast between the phases present in the nylon 6/MXD6 blends compared to the other staining agents. CONCLUSIONS: The technique described in this paper is believed to be a novel and versatile method that has the potential to further improve the ability to study complex polymer blends where one polymer contains an aromatic ring. Language eng DOI 10.1002/pi.2599 Field of Research 091209 Polymers and Plastics Socio Economic Objective 970110 Expanding Knowledge in Technology HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article HERDC collection year 2009 Copyright notice ©2009, Society of Chemical Industry Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30026301 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation GTP Research Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 30 Mar 2010, 18:10:45 EST Tue, 30 Mar 2010, 18:11:40 EST Wed, 31 Mar 2010, 07:33:28 EST Thu, 15 Apr 2010, 16:09:53 EST Thu, 15 Apr 2010, 16:10:59 EST Thu, 15 Apr 2010, 16:12:39 EST Mon, 17 May 2010, 14:38:26 EST Fri, 22 Aug 2014, 14:37:35 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 2 times in TR Web of Science Cited 3 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 727 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 30 Mar 2010, 18:10:36 EST by Sandra Dunoon