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Welcome to SPI Supplies Video Resources.
This video will demonstrate how to effectively cleave mica substrates.
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals are characterized by having a nearly perfect
basal orientation allowing the material to be easily cleaved.
This is very advantageous for those in the microscopy community who want to have an easily
obtained smooth surface for electron and atomic force microscopy applications.
SPI Supplies primarily sells the muscovite form of mica and then only those falling into
the ASTM classification of grades V-1, V-4, and V-5.
This not only ensures a high quality product, but also gives a variety of materials for
research and performance applications depending on your needs.
SPI Supplies Mica can be obtained as squares, rectangles, and discs.
The cleaving of mica can be more difficult than may first meet the eye and may take a
bit of trial before you are comfortable with the technique.
For the typical laboratory applications, you can use a clean sharp razor blade, such as
the GEM blades sold by SPI Supplies. By carefully using the blade edge, you can
start on an edge of a mica substrate and begin cleaving on a plane through the material,
slowly sliding the blade along as the planes separate.
Note that other than starting the seperation of the mica planes, the sharp edge is really
used more to slide through the piece and seperate the pieces, rather than
doing any actual cutting. Trying to cut mica in either orientation will
likely cause fracturing of the material and create smaller mica flakes and particles,
something not desired in a substrate. This should yield two fresh surfaces.
Repeated cleavings of a single piece can be done so that with practice, you could obtain
quite a few fresh substrates from a single substrate.
The freshly cleaved surface is now available for use.
As always, be sure to wear proper safety eyewear while performing this process and safely dispose
of all used razor blades.
This completes our SPI Supplies Cleaving Mica Video. Be sure to view our other videos regarding
installation and operation of our brand of products