Substrate properties affect the mass loss rate in collodion at liquid helium temperature.

A previous measurement showed that mass loss from collodion supported by thin carbon films was linear with electron exposure at liquid helium temperature. No other organic solid had shown a linear loss of mass at any temperature. When measurements of collodion were done using titanium supports, the loss of mass proceeded exponentially with exposure at liquid helium temperature. This result suggested that the differing electrical conductivities of these substrates might be the cause of the different mass loss effects. Carbon films, which are typically used at ambient temperatures, have much lower electrical conductivity at very low temperature than titanium films. This suggested that specimen preparation materials and techniques used routinely for room temperature studies may need to be modified when microscopy is done using superconducting objective lenses. For both substrates, the rate of mass loss is slowest at liquid helium temperature.