The Formation and Distinction of Erroneous Dispersion Staining Colors for Refractive Index Determination Using the Dispersion Staining Method
THE MICROSCOPE
2024, Volume 71:3, pp. 99–112
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/BUGV6635
AUTHOR
Shu-Chun Su
ABSTRACT
The dispersion staining method is widely used to measure and determine the refractive index (RI) of non-opaque solid materials, especially asbestos minerals. A common problem with applying the central stop dispersion staining (CSDS) technique is the observance and appearance of a variety of CSDS colors for a given solid material’s actual refractive index possibly leading to incorrect refractive index determinations. This paper explores the formation of these erroneous dispersion-staining colors and proposes a solution to distinguish the actual CSDS colors from the erroneous dispersion staining colors, with the goal of preventing the misinterpretation of erroneous CSDS colors or the misuse of erroneous dispersion staining colors for the intended purpose of inaccurately reporting actual RI values.
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