Fast-scan em with digital image processing for dynamic experiments

Abstract

The recent introduction of accessory instrumentation capable of display at television scan rates suggests a broadened application for the scanning electron microscope - the direct observation of motion (dynamic events) at magnifactions otherwise unattainable. In one illustrative experiment, the transverse surface of southern pine was observed when subjected to large compressive forces perpendicular to the grain. Tracheid walls were seen to bend or distort sideways and ultimately rupture. In a second example, a single tracheid of southern pine was shown to fail while under torsional stress and unwind into a ribbonlike element - a structure that provides the coherence necessary for strength development in refiner groundwood pulp. Complementing the dynamic applications of the fast-scan EM are newely developed techniques by which pictures can be stored, processed, and displayed by a digital computer system. Digital data processing can sharpen picture contrast, detect and display differences between pictures, and perform computational analysis.

Citation

McMillin, Charles W.; Billingsley, Fred C.; Frazer, Robert E. 1973. Fast-scan em with digital image processing for dynamic experiments. Wood Science, Vol. 6(3): 272-277