Saturday, 13 July 2013

Discover The World Of Rocks Through Thin Section Bearings

By Carmella Watts


Petrography is the branch of petrology dealing with the study of rock minerals and its textures. Thin section is carried out to study the petrographic properties of minerals using a polarizing or petrographic microscope. On the common grounds, these thin section bearings are the tip of the iceberg in the optical mineralogy and petrography.

Thin sections are small cut of rocks glued with the use of epoxy to a glass slide. Generally, it measures an inch by two, but it depends on how big or how wide you want it to be. It will be ground to zero point zero three millimeters before it could be observed in the microscope. Creating a thin section is very costly, time consuming, and requires a great deal of patience. But if you love to take the challenge, read below the tips.

Slab saw, trim saw, grinder, cut off saw, are the main tools needed so they shall be prepared. Also, do not forget the glass slide, epoxy, and marker. But if you do not have any marker, a pencil can do. Before you read step one, make sure that you can handle the hard work and patience. Also, make sure that you do not have hand tremors. Those are the ingredients that will complete the dish.

Mark first the rock before cutting a slab. Use a pencil or marker in marking the stone. This will serve as your guide so make sure that it could be seen easily. Switch on the slab saw and cut your rock. Make sure you know how to operate it or you might cut your hand instead of the slab.

Trim saw is used to reduce the size of your slab. As soon as the chip is made, or the size was reduced, use the grinding wheel to polish it. This is to flatten the surface so that the epoxy will cleave to it strongly.

You have prepared your rock, now it is time to prepare the glass slide. Grind the corner of it on the wheel. Spin the two hundred forty grit grinding wheel to frost your glass. This is done to flatten out and roughen the surface. The epoxy will not bind well if it is not roughen.

Bind the them together using epoxy. Before binding them though, make sure that it is mixed well. Combine the content from the small and large bottle together. Stir it in one direction until well mixed. When the epoxy is well mixed, scatter a few drops on the glass. Not too much, and not too less. Place the chip on it and lightly squeeze to get rid of extra epoxy.

Get the chip from the slide, and grind it. Do this slowly since this is the stage where most slides go bad. Turn on the cut off saw to cut most of the chip off while leaving a thin slide attached. After that, put a cover slip to the remaining slide. This is to ensure the clarity when observed in the microscope.

With all the rocks in the vicinity, no wonder mining is too mainstream. However, just practicing how the real petrographer does their job would not hurt a bit. After reading the tips above, it is now time for you to discover the rocks in your backyard by making thin section bearings.




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