METHOD FOR CHARACTERISING THE POROSITY OF A POROUS MATERIAL BY ANALYSING AN IMAGE OBTAINED BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

摘要

The invention concerns a method for characterising the porosity of a porous material sample by analysing at least one image obtained by scanning electron microscopy, said method comprising the following steps: - preparing a porous material sample having a polished and electrically conductive face, said face having an area of interest; - acquiring, by means of a scanning electron microscope, at least one image of the area of interest of the polished face of the sample; - capturing the image delivered by the scanning electron microscope and processing said image in such a way as to characterise the porosity of the sample; said method being characterised in that the preparation step comprises the following operations: a) providing a sample having a polished face; b) metallising said face, so as to obtain a metallised polished face having higher electrical conductivity than the polished face that has not been metallised; and c) eliminating the metal deposited on the metallised face at the area of interest by localised polishing carried out by means of at least one accelerated ion beam and localised polishing of the area of interest uncovered in this way by means of said at least one accelerated ion beam, in such a way as to obtain an area of interest of which the surface roughness and electrical conductivity are lower than those of the metallised face.