Asbestos fibre identification by Raman microspectroscopy

Abstract

Raman microspectroscopy has been shown to be a very powerful technique for the identification and characterization of small mineral fibres, with little or no sample preparation. Such spectra are sensitive to the composition of the mineral and can often be used to distinguish between similar species. The technique can be employed for the identification of single micrometre-sized fibres. Vibrational spectra were obtained from five asbestos reference standards for comparison with four non-fibrous analogues. The different species such as amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite and tremolite give distinct spectra. Apparently no important differences appear between spectra of asbestos fibres and their non-fibrous forms, except in the OH- stretching region. For each spectrum, all peaks were listed in order to determine spectral features. The reference spectra were used for the identification of known and unknown (industrial samples) fibres on cellulose acetate filters. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.