Abstract
It is well known that ordinary SEM investigations require specimens free from water. If we want to study objects in their original, undisturbed water swollen state, the dehydration must be performed under the condition free from surface tension.
For this purpose, several methods have been introduced, such as solvent exchange, freeze drying, critical point drying, t-butyl alcohol freeze drying, cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) and low vacuum scanning electron microscopy (LV-SEM).
In this paper, applications of these methods to pulp and paper specimens (wet fibers, handsheets, etc.) were demonstrated, It was found that each method had both merits and demerits, so the optimum method had to be selected for the specimen to be observed.
