Abstract
Description is given of how and why the scanning electron microscope can be used to determine certain physical and chemical properties of individual respirable dust particles, such as size, shape, volume, surface topography, agglomeration characteristics, surface contamination, and elemental makeup, and to deduce mineral content, mass and porosity. Discussion is also made of how the elements contained in each individual dust particle are being identified by means of energy dispersive X-ray analysis, thus leading to tentative identification of the mineral or minerals present. The advantage of the scanning electron microscope is that both physical and chemical information can be obtained for individual dust particles from the same instrument.
