A Method for Preparing Rubber Latex Specimens for the Electron Microscope

The preparation of natural and synthetic rubber latex specimens for examination with an electron microscope is difficult because the individual particles are easily deformed and, under the usual conditions of specimen preparation, the particles tend to agglomerate. Von Ardenne and Beischer and others used a method which consisted of depositing a drop of highly diluted latex on a collodion film and allowing the drop to dry completely. In some instances the drop was withdrawn again into a glass capillary. It was found that in either case the latex particles were flattened at their areas of contact with the collodion film. The collodion film method was tried in this laboratory with the same poor results observed by Hendricks, Wildman, and McMurdee. Figure 1 is an electron micrograph of a natural rubber latex particle deposited by evaporating latex diluted 200 to 1 on a collodion film. The film has broken and curled to give a profile view of the particle which is observed to be badly flattened at its area of contact with the film. Figure 2 is a typical electron micrograph of natural rubber latex particles deposited on a collodion film. The blurred outlines of the particles are explained by the effect shown in Figure 1. It was obviously impossible to make good particle-size measurements from micrographs of this type. It was found further that severe aggregation of particles usually took place when a drop of the diluted latex was dried down. The latex particles which were left behind when the drop was removed with a glass capillary usually were not badly agglomerated, but it was felt that there was some possibility that the latex particles might adhere selectively according to size to the collodion film. An attempt was made to reduce the amount of agglomeration by incorporating in the diluting water various amounts of such wetting or dispersing agents as sodium oleate, orvis paste, Aerosol-OT, and ammonium caseinate. None of these materials helped very much in reducing the agglomeration of particles. It was found also in this study that very often the latex particles appeared granular around their edges due to foreign material being swept in during the evaporation of the water and crystallizing out upon the surface of the particle. This effect may also be observed in Figure 1.