에너지 분산 X선 분석장치가 장착된 투과전자현미경을 이용한 석면분석방법

A study on establishing asbestos analysis method using a transmission electron microscope with Energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (TEM-EDX)

To establish an accurate asbestos analysis method for workplace samples, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite asbestos fibers were analyzed for their morphology, atomic content and electron diffraction patterns. The morphology of asbestos fiber was evaluated in $10,000{\times}$ magnification. The atomic contents was analyzed by X-ray analyzer (TEM-EDX). Asbestos fibers were further assessed using electron diffraction (ED) patterns to provide an additional criterion for classifying the asbestos fibers. Twenty asbestos fibers were initially randomly selected for morphological evaluation; based on an aspect ratio (length : diameter = 3:1). Then the fibers were determined for their EDX spectrums and ED patterns. Our results showed that only chrysotile fiber has a hollow tube structure to be distinguished from other asbestos fibers. Although asbestos fibers had similar morphology, they had different EDX spectrums and ED patterns. Our results on the atomic content of asbestos fibers were very similar to those of other researchers, but amosite and crocidolite had a little difference in atomic content compared with the results from other researchers. The difference may be due to the difference in equipment or asbestos sample selection. A study on asbestos samples from biological specimens to establish a criterion for determining occupational asbestos exposed diseases should be done in the near future.