Head: Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Somsen

Analytical transmission and scanning electron microscopy are the central characterization methods at the Chair for Materials Science and Engineering. The key properties of all structural and functional engineering materials are determined by microstructures, whose characteristic length scales often lie in the nanometer range. Essential details of the microstructure can only be quantitatively captured with the help of electron microscopes. For this purpose, we use, for example, dislocation and precipitation analyses in transmission electron microscopy through diffraction, diffraction contrast, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. At the scanning electron microscope, we quantitatively determine orientation distributions by backscatter electron diffraction and image microstructures with a sufficiently large field of view by means of orientation contrast imaging. Such image data captured are also digitally segmented and quantitatively evaluated.

We link this information with knowledge about thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanical properties, and elements of the microstructures of materials. Their acquisition is intensive, both in terms of costs of the equipment and supervision effort. However, only these methods allow research at the forefront of modern materials science. The methodology of electron microscopy requires an infrastructure that allows the production of high-quality samples. Such an infrastructure is available at the Chair for Materials Science and Engineering and can be used by all members of the Institute for Materials and by other materials scientists at RUB.