Thin Sectioning Equipment for Multi-Disciplinary Research in Engineering and the Geosciences

土壤、地质和工程材料的薄片是一种重要的研究工具。例如，在贝尔法斯特女王大学（QUB），它已经被用于研究1）土壤中的污染，2）天然岩石和石材以及其他材料（如建筑中使用的混凝土）的风化和耐久性，3）法医环境中的地质材料，以及4）广泛的传统和新型工程材料。越来越多的薄的和抛光的切片也通过电子显微镜检查，用于使用背散射的织物分析和使用EDS（能量分散X射线分析）的化学分析。X射线衍射的进步还允许通过抛光表面的多点分析来绘制和量化表面和近表面矿物学。因此，薄而光滑的切片是一种非常有效的跨学科工具，不仅在其传统格式中是无价的，而且有可能解锁一系列额外的分析。正是由于这些原因，它在QUB的工程和地球科学研究中已经采用的技术库中具有很强的特色。在这两个实验室中，现有的设备是可以使用的，但其使用寿命即将结束，在某些情况下不适合更广泛的研究目标。例如，这两个研究小组的成功不仅需要更薄的切片，还需要开发新技术来增加非传统材料。因此，所要求的不是直接更换，而是有机会更新设施。在可能的情况下实现自动化，同时开发技术和协议，用于结构脆弱且通常化学复杂的材料的浸渍，以便于对形态学，化学和适当的矿物学进行定量分析。该投标还专门设计为协同建立在两个研究小组提供的专业知识，通过集中在工程浸渍发展和部分准备在地理力学。其目的还在于，这将巩固两个小组之间通过EPSRC联合资助已经存在的强大研究联系，并进一步加强他们对一系列应用和理论问题的跨学科解决方案的关注。最近任命的菲利普斯博士谁是微形态学家和环境工程师和麦金利博士谁是地质学家和空间分析师刺激了需求，采取薄和抛光截面分析超出现有的能力在规划，建筑和土木工程学院;和地理考古学和古生态学在昆士兰大学。此外，这种新的最先进的薄切片设备将使QUB成为一个区域性的设施，使各种材料的薄切片。

SummaryThin sectioning of soil, geological and engineering materials is an important investigative tool. Within Queen's University Belfast (QUB), for example, it is already used to study 1) contamination in soil, 2) weathering and durability of natural rocks and stone and other materials such as concrete used in construction, 3) geomaterials in a forensic context and 4) to characterise across a wide range of both traditional and novel engineering materials. Increasingly, thin and polished sections are also examined by electron microscopy, both for fabric analysis using backscatter and chemically using EDS (energy dispersive x-ray analysis). Advances in X-ray diffraction also allow the mapping and quantification of surface and near surface mineralogy by multiple spot analyses across polished surfaces. Thin and polished sections are thus an extremely effective cross-disciplinary tool that is not only invaluable in its traditional format, but has the potential to unlock a range of additional analyses. It is for these reasons that it features strongly in the arsenal of techniques already employed in the engineering and geoscience research at QUB. In both laboratories, the present equipment is serviceable, but is reaching the end of its working life and in some instances is not amenable to the wider research goals. The success of the two research groups has, for example, not simply demanded more thin sections but has also required the development of new techniques for increasing non-traditional materials. The request is not, therefore, for a direct replacement, but for the opportunity to upgrade facilities. To automate where possible, but also to develop techniques and protocols for the impregnation of structurally weak and often chemically complex materials in a manner that facilitates quantitative analysis of morphology, chemistry and, where appropriate, mineralogy. The bid is also designed specifically to synergistically build on the expertise available in the two research groups by concentrating impregnation development in Engineering and the mechanics of section preparation in Geography. The intention is also that this will cement strong research links between the two groups that already exist through joint EPSRC funding and further strengthen their focus on interdisciplinary solutions for a range of applied and theoretical issues. The recent appointments of Dr. Phillips who is a micromorphologist and environmental engineer and Dr. McKinley who is a geologist and spatial analyst have stimulated a requirement for taking thin and polished section analysis beyond existing capabilities in the Schools of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering; and Geography Archaeology and Paleoecology at QUB. Additionally, this new state-of-the-art thin sectioning equipment will allow QUB to become a regional facility for making thin sections of a variety of materials.