Microstructural analysis overview

The first detailed book to describe the practice and theory of stereology was assembled by two Americans, DeHoff and Rhines (1968) both these men were famous practitioners in their day. There has been a steady stream of books since then a fine, concise and very clear overview is that by Exner (1996). In the last few years, a specialised form of microstructural analysis, entirely dependent on computerised image analysis, has emerged - fractal analysis, a form of measurement of roughness in two or three dimensions. Most of the voluminous literature of fractals, initiated by a mathematician, Benoit Mandelbrot at IBM, is irrelevant to materials science, but there is a sub-parepisteme of fractal analysis which relates the fractal dimension to fracture toughness one example of this has been analysed, together with an explanation of the meaning of fractal dimension , by Cahn (1989). 

We begin with a brief overview that attempts to make sense of the wide variety of microstructures that are found in materials (primarily metallic). This part of our task should be seen as taxonomical we aim to observe and classify with the hope that certain classes of microstructures will suggest broad classes of models. The observations of these structures will then be supplemented by an analysis of how by exploiting the twin strategies of heating and beating a material, microstructures can be tailored to a desired form. 

Optical microscopy is also used for post-test analysis based on cut, ground, and poHshed samples. Fields of application are the analysis of layer thicknesses for layers thicker than 10 qm, contact areas, microstructures, geometric aspects such as tolerances and distances, and overview pictures for further SEM/EDX... 

This edited volume provides the cement science community with a state-of-the-art overview of analytical techniques used in cement chemistry to study the hydration and microstructure of cements. Each chapter focusses on a specific technique, not only describing the basic principles behind the technique, but also providing essential, practical details on its application to the study of cement hydration. Each chapter sets out present best practice, and draws attention to the limitations and potential experimental pitfalls of the technique. Databases that supply examples and that support the analysis and interpretation of the experimental results strengthen a very valuable ready reference. 

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