Tissue that has been received in the laboratory needs to be prepared for

sectioning. A variety of instruments are used to cut the sections and the
protocol depends on the application. In most cases the tissue
requires embedding in a medium, which allows thin sections to be cut
cleanly; most tissues for routine histology are embedded in wax blocks. This
requires that water is removed from the tissue and progressively replaced by
wax, which can be solidified later to make a tissue block suitable for
sectioning. The tissue is progressively dehydrated by immersing it in
successively higher concentrations of alcohol (ethanol), before transfer to
the organic solvent xylene and finally embedding in wax. Xylene is used at
the final stage because wax is soluble in xylene, but not alcohol, so the wax
can readily permeate the tissue. In a large pathology laboratory, much of this
tissue processing is automated in order to save time and to produce
consistent results.
A number of devices are available for cutting sections:

Microtome cuts thin sections (1-50m) from fixed, embedded tissue

(1m =10-6metres)

Vibratome uses a vibrating blade to cut thicker sections from fresh or

fixed tissue (up to 200m).

Cryostat cuts sections from deep-frozen blocks of unfixed tissue.

Most sectioning in routine histopathology departments is done with a

microtome producing sections of ~3m thickness, from tissue that has been
embedded in wax.
The vibratome and cryostat are often used to cut unfixed sections, and these
are often more suitable for antibody staining, but they are not the first choice
for routine sectioning (antibodies are expensive and the staining procedure
takes several hours. H&E is inexpensive and the staining can be done within
minutes). Normally a H&E-stained section is examined first, before deciding
whether additional tests or staining procedures are required. Even then, the
antibody-staining is normally done on wax-embedded sections, using
antibodies that are known to work on fixed sections.

Tissues that come off the tissue processor are still in the cassettes and must be
manually put into the blocks by a technician who must pick the tissues out of the
cassette and pour molten paraffin over them. This "embedding" process is very
important, because the tissues must be aligned, or oriented, properly in the block of
paraffin.

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/science/biology/introductionhistology/content-section-2.2

Tissue embedding.
Tissue embedding.

Alternatives to paraffin embedding include various plastics that allow thinner sections.
Such plastics include methyl methacrylate, glycol methacrylate, araldite, and epon.

Methyl methacrylate is very hard and therefore good for embedding undecalcified bone.
Glycol methacrylate has the most widespread use since it is the easiest to work with.
Araldite is about the same as methacrylate, but requires a more complex embedding
process. Epon is routinely used for electron microscopy where very thin sections are
required.

Plastics require special reagents for deydration and clearing that are expensive. For this
reason, and because few tissues are plastic embedded, the processing is usually done
by hand. A special microtome is required for sectioning these blocks. Small blocks must
be made, so the technique lends itself to small biopsies, such as bone marrow or liver.
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/HISTHTML/HISTOTCH/HISTOTCH.html

For mechanical support during the sectioning process,

tissue must be infiltrated with an embedding medium.
The usual embedding media are paraffin for light
microscopy and an epoxy resin for EM samples. Paraffins
are available that differ in melting point and hardness.
Some products contain added plasticizers to make the
blocks easier to cut. In general, the higher the melting
point, the harder the wax. Waxes which melt at 55-58C
generally produce good sectioning results.

In paraffin embedding, the tissue is infiltrated with the

paraffin and placed in a mold containing molten paraffin
which is then allowed to cool. Often a vacuum is applied
inside the tissue processor to assist penetration of the
embedding agent. It is important to orient the tissue in
the paraffin to facilitate sectioning along the desired
axis.
Epoxy resins were introduced to provide the high
strength, ultrathin, thermostable sections required by
electron microscopy. Araldite, Epon and others are
available from a number of sources. Each has a different
profile of strength, permeation rate, convenience, etc.
The user is referred to the suppliers of these materials
for technical information.
Plastics require special reagents for dehydration and
clearing that are expensive, limiting their use in light
microscopy. The processing is usually done by hand and a
special microtome is required for sectioning these blocks.
Typically the technique is used for small biopsies, such as
bone marrow or liver.
https://www.nationaldiagnostics.com/histology/article/embedding