Other preparation and support facilities include a range of optical microscopes, macro-imaging, critical point drying, and coating systems. Samples can be coated in gold, carbon, palladium or chrome in-house.
Specimens can be cut/polished also in-house for geological or materials analyses in either the rock preparation lab (Brunel Laboratories) or mechanical engineering preparation lab (Smeaton Building) by technical staff.
A Buehler Virbomet 2 automatic vibratory polisher is also available for polishing to an EBSD-standard and equipped with specimen holders for standard grain mounts and thin section work.
