Focused Ion Beam - Rock Imaging by Dr. Tomutsa

 

 

 The Focused Ion Beam machine uses gallium ions to shave-off 10 nm-thick (or more) layers of a rock sample (on top of a holder in the lower-left corner), while preserving the fines details of pore walls.  Each freshly exposed rock surface is then imaged with EM or the same ions.  When 100 or more rock surface images are acquired, the rock's  pore space is reconstructed in 3D.

The FIB method is the only means of imaging fine-grained rock: chalk, shale, diatomite, etc.
The surface of the fragile Lost Hills diatomite exposed with gallium ions.  The details are ~10 nm
A North Sea chalk sample reconstructed in 3D from the FIB images.  The resolution is ~100 nm. 

 
Depositional model
Rock mechanics
Robust description of pore space
Rock/fluid wettability
Direct percolation on images
Absolute perm prediction
Relative perm prediction
Capillary pressure prediction
ALS: Micro tomography
Focused Ion Beam
ALS: X-Ray backscattering
Petrophysics
Publications
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