Three-dimensional analysis on nano-composite materials by transmission electron microtomography

通过透射电子显微断层扫描（TEMT）研究了嵌入橡胶基质中的颗粒填料的三维（3D）形态。两种类型的纳米填料，即，炭黑（CB）和二氧化硅（Si）纳米颗粒用作纳米填料。虽然CB和Si纳米颗粒很难通过传统的透射电子显微镜（TEIM）区分，但它们通过TEMT出现不同; CB和Si纳米颗粒在TEMT 3D重建的横截面图像中分别出现空心和实心颗粒，这表明TEMT本身提供了独特的颗粒区分功能。发现纳米粒子在基体中形成聚集体。有趣的是，每个聚集体仅由一种物质组成;没有一个聚集体同时包含CB和Si纳米颗粒。开发了颗粒包装算法来估计聚集体内每个初级纳米颗粒的位置。

The three-dimensional (3D) morphology of particulate fillers embedded in a rubbery matrix was examined by transmission electron microtomography (TEMT). Two types of nano-fillers, i.e., carbon black (CB) and silica (Si) nano-particles, were used as the nano-fillers. Although the CB and Si nano-particles were difficult to distinguish by conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEIM), they appeared different by TEMT; the CB and Si nano-particles appeared to be hollow and solid particles in the cross-sectional images of the TEMT 3D reconstruction, respectively, demonstrating that TEMT itself provided a unique particle-discriminative function. The nano-particles were found to than aggregates in the matrix. It is intriguing that each aggregate was made of only one species; not a single aggregate contained both the CB and Si nano-particles A particle-packing algorithm was developed to estimate the positions of each primary nano-particle inside the aggregates.