Thin foils

Figure 5 shows a typical metallic foil strain gauge. It consists of an etched grid of very thin foil attached to a thin insulating backing material. The... 

The evaluation of the various XRF measurements will be discussed for different effects in EDXRS the spectra evaluation is perfonned by different programs with varying assumptions, partially different mass attenuation coefficients are used, the calibration procedures are principally different (e.g., thin foils with given thickness, or, infinitely thick samples), measurement under atmospheric pressure or in vacuum, secondary excitation (enhancement) mainly of Al by Si radiation. 

To make martensite in pure iron it has to be cooled very fast at about 10 °C s h Metals can only be cooled at such large rates if they are in the form of thin foils. How, then, can martensite be made in sizeable pieces of 0.8% carbon steel As we saw in the "Teaching Yourself Phase Diagrams" course, a 0.8% carbon steel is a "eutectoid" steel when it is cooled relatively slowly it transforms by diffusion into pearlite (the eutectoid mixture of a + FejC). The eutectoid reaction can only start when the steel has been cooled below 723°C. The nose of the C-curve occurs at = 525°C (Fig. 8.11), about 175°C lower than the nose temperature of perhaps 700°C for pure iron (Fig. 8.5). Diffusion is much slower at 525°C than it is at 700°C. As a result, a cooling rate of 200°C s misses the nose of the 1% curve and produces martensite. 

Solids, powders, and composites size limited only by the stage in SEM, EPMA and XRF liquids in 5GIF 3 mm diameter thin foils in TEM... 

Probably the most difficult, yet at the same time, most important aspect of the TEM technique is the preparation of high-quality thin foils for observation. This is an old, ever-expanding, complicated, and intricate field of both science and art. There is no simple way to treat this subject briefly. We will merely mention its importance and list some references for further details. It is important to realize (managers, take notice) that the most labor intensive aspect of TEM is the preparation of a useful sample. 

In the early days of TEM, sample preparation was divided into two categories, one for thin films and one for bulk materials. Thin-films, particularly metal layers, were often deposited on substrates and later removed by some sort of technique involving dissolution of the substrate. Bulk materials were cut and polished into thin slabs, which were then either electropolished (metals) or ion-milled (ceramics). The latter technique uses a focused ion beam (typically Ar+) of high-energy, which sputters the surface of the thinned slab. These techniques produce so-called plan-view thin foils. 

In TOP systems, particle energies are usually determined by SBDs in addition to particle velocities being obtained with a TOP set-up which primarily measures the time needed by a particle to pass the distance between two thin foils 0.5-1 m apart [3.170, 3.171]. The first foil delivers a start signal, the second a stop signal. The stop signal can also be obtained from the SBD, but usually foils provide better timing signals. 

Slugs of lithium, coated with paraffin oil, are hammered into thin foil. They are washed free of oil with dry ether and cut by scissors into slips which are allowed to fall directly into the ether in the reaction flask. 

Strain Gages. Strain gages are used to measure the strain or elongation caused by the stress on a material. They are usually made of a thin foil grid laid on a plastic support as shown in Figure 4-259. They are the size of a small postal stamp and are glued to the structure to be stressed. 

This appears as a random non-branching white tunnel of corrosion product either on the surface of non-protected metal or beneath thin surface coatings. It is a structurally insensitive form of corrosion which is more often detrimental to appearance than strength, although thin foil may be perforated and attack of thin clad sheet (as used in aircraft construction) may expose the less corrosion resistant aluminium alloy core. Filiform corrosion is not commonly experienced with aluminium, as reflected by the insignificance afforded it in reviews on the phenomena (Section 1.6). 

The vapor pressure of a molten metal can be measured with a device called a Knudsen cell. This is a container closed across the top by a thin foil pierced by a small, measured hole. The cell is heated in a vacuum, until the vapor above the melt streams from the small hole (it effuses). The weight of the material escaping per second tells the rate at which gaseous atoms leave. 

To keep the consumption of the valuable platinum low, thin foils have been glued to a graphite support [34] or thin-layers of platinum have been sputtered on to a glass base [59]. Platinum can be used in a particle electrode by plating silica gel with platinum [60], or in a solid polymer electrolyte where platinum is incorporated into a nafion ion exchange membrane [61]. 

The wave-front shearing interferometric method can be applied to transparent melts which do not attack cell windows made of silicate glass. The principle of this method has been given by Gustafsson. " A thin foil is placed vertically, a laser beam passing in the -direction along the plane. The heat is transferred in a melt in the direction of x. The slope of the... 

The spatial resolution of X-ray analysis carried out in the EPMA is limited to the size of the sampling volume, which is around 1 pm3. There may be many important features of a specimen which are smaller than 1 pm, and one way of overcoming the problem is by the use of thin specimens. We have seen (Figure 5.7) that the lateral spread of the electron beam increases with depth of penetration, so that in a sufficiently thin specimen the beam spread is much less. We will therefore next consider the analysis of thin foil specimens in the TEM. 

Li et al. (2000) have employed nanometer scale analysis in a FEG-TEM operating at 200 kV to distinguish between true GP zones in an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy and GP zone-like defects caused by electron beam irradiation in the TEM. They studied an Al-6.58Zn-2.33Mg-2.40Cu (wt%) alloy, in which it is well known that the decomposition of supersaturated solid solutions takes place via the formation of GP zones, using conventional techniques to produce thin foil specimens of aged material. 

Cliff and Lorimer (1975) used this equation to form the basis for X-ray microanalysis of thin foils, where the constant kAB contains all the factors needed to correct for atomic number differences. kAB varies with operating voltage, but is independent of sample thickness and composition if the two intensities are measured simultaneously. Its value can be determined experimentally with accuracy, using specimens of known composition. The value of kAB can be determined by calculation more rapidly, but with less accuracy. 

The Cliff-I,primer and the f methods break down when the thin foil assumptions are invalid. Absorption and fluorescence corrections may have to be made if thicker foils are employed. 

Composition Profile Measurement. Results of Zieba et al. (1997) will be given as an example of the measurement of solute distribution in an alloy undergoing a phase transformation. They studied discontinuous precipitation in cobalt-tungsten alloys, in which a Co-32 wt% W alloy was aged in the temperature range 875 K to 1025 K, and high spatial resolution X-ray microanalysis of thin foils by STEM was used to measure the solute distribution near the reaction front. 

The cellular reaction product consisted of alternating plates of C03W lamellae in a solute-depleted Co matrix (eCo). Ffomogenized ingots were cut into slices 1 mm thick and then heat-treated. Spark erosion was used to trepan 3 mm diameter discs which were then jet electropolished to form thin foils for TEM examination in a Philips EM 430 STEM instrument operating at 300 kV in the nanoprobe mode with a probe size of 5 to 10 nm. 

In order to explore the microchemical changes accompanying the growth process of the discontinuous precipitates high spatial resolution thin foil microprobe analyses were made by Zieba et al. (1997) across the moving cell boundary and across each set of several eCo and Co3W lamellae. 

ERDA (HFS) only requires the addition of a thin foil (of carbon, mylar or aluminium) to separate forward scattered hydrogen from forward scattered primary He++ ions. The analytical information obtained consists of hydrogen concentration versus depth. The sample is tilted so that the He++ beam strikes at a grazing angle, giving a HFS depth profile resolution of about 50 nm. The surface hydrogen content... 

The development of X-ray microanalysis in the TEM has been driven by the improvement in spatial resolution in comparison with EPMA. This arises because thin specimens are used, so less electron scatter occurs as the beam traverses the specimen, and also because of the higher electron energy in the TEM also reduces scatter. The disadvantage is that the specimen has to be prepared in the form of a thin foil, and the problems involved in this process have already been discussed. 

Result Since aluminium is a soft metal and the thin foil gets eroded easily due to the bursting of bubbles on its surface, holes are created. 

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