title: A rapid preparation technique for studying highly water-swollen membranes with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) supplied with a cryo-unit.
abstract: In this study the cryo-unit is introduced as a new and useful instrument to investigate water-containing specimens with the SEM. Often water-containing biological specimens are studied, but in our case we used water-swollen polymer membranes. The results show that application of a cryo-unit permits the study of this material at low temperatures up to magnifications of about 10 000 times, while other techniques failed to give reproducible results.
mesh_terms: D005612:Freeze Drying; D005629:Frozen Sections; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000295:instrumentation; D008867:Microtomy; D013343:Styrenes; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013343:Styrenes; D014867:Water