Microscopical Identification of Asbestos 1-Day Refresher (1601V), May 12, 2026 Online
This one-day course will be conducted live via Zoom. For more details, email registrar@mcri.org.
“The course greatly improved my familiarity with compensator plates and the Michel-Lévy chart, and I will be able to use these critical tools more confidently in the future.” — R.A.
“Excellent visuals, demos, and interactions, especially given the challenge of remote delivery!” — R.A.
COURSE OUTLINE & SYLLABUS
Course schedule: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Central Time, U.S. and Canada). There will be a one-hour break for lunch and several short breaks throughout the day.
This online course is designed to reacquaint students with the basic polarized light microscopy (PLM) skills necessary to identify the six different regulated asbestiform minerals and other substances likely to occur (and often confused) with asbestos. The procedures for basic sample preparation and fiber identification will also be explained.
Skills covered will include proper setup and alignment of the microscope, Becke lines and refractive index determination, color/pleochroism, dispersion staining, crossed polars, birefringence, extinction characteristics, and sign of elongation.
A start-to-finish analysis of chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite, as well as several asbestos look-alikes, will be discussed and demonstrated.
This online course is designed to reacquaint students with the basic polarized light microscopy (PLM) skills necessary to identify the six different regulated asbestiform minerals and other substances likely to occur (and often confused) with asbestos. The procedures for basic sample preparation and fiber identification will also be explained.
Skills covered will include proper setup and alignment of the microscope, Becke lines and refractive index determination, color/pleochroism, dispersion staining, crossed polars, birefringence, extinction characteristics, and sign of elongation.
A start-to-finish analysis of chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite, as well as several asbestos look-alikes, will be discussed and demonstrated.