Question About Petrographic Thin Section Problem

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 15 00:49:01 EDT 2007

Dear Friends,

Recently, a friend of mine prepared three thin
sections for me of some rock samples. However,
about a week after he finished them, it was
noticed that something had gone wrong with the
epoxy, which was used to cement the rock billets
to the glass slide. Over a period of a week, it
had started crystallize causing numerous linear
strings of crystals to form between the 0.3 micron
layer of rock and the glass slide and clouding
what should have been a clear cement. Needless
to say, there is now nothing, which can done
about these slides and as thin epoxy crystallizes,
they will be a total loss. (Note: this is the
second time a batch of this brand of epoxy has
caused this problem.)

However, he noticed this problem right after he
had glued another billet to the glass slide and
before he done any trimming of the billet in
preparation for grinding. Since the epoxy used
in mounting this slide will crystallize in time,
we concluded that there was not any point in
proceed any further with the preparation of
this thin section.

Is there any way which I can remove the glass
slide from the prepared billet in case of this
sample?

If I could, then I could grind off the epoxy
cement, polish the billet, and glue it again to
a glass slide and prepare a thin section using
good epoxy, which will not crystallize. Getting
the sample cost me considerable time and effort
and would be difficult to recollect. Thus,
finding a way to remove the glass slide, so I
can prepare a thin section whose epoxy will not
crystallize from this billet would be quite
helpful.

The sample consists of sandstone.

Any suggestions about how can remove the glass
slide and start over with this sample would
greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Paul