Advanced Techniques For Materials Characterization

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters BCI (WoS). Nowadays, an impressively large number of powerful characterization techniques is being used by physicists, chemists, biologists and engineers in order to solve analytical research problems; especially those related to the investigation of the properties of new materials for advanced applications. Although there are a few available books which deal with such experimental techniques, they are either too exhaustive and cover very few techniques or are too elementary to provide a solid basis for learning to use the characterization technique. Moreover, such books usually over-emphasize the textbook approach: being full of theoretical concepts and mathematical derivations, and omitting the practical instruction required in order to permit newcomers to use the techniques.

Experts must be able to analyze and distinguish all materials, or combinations of materials, in use today-whether they be metals, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors, or composites. To understand a material's structure, how that structure determines its properties, and how that material will subsequently work in technological applications, researche

This book covers state-of-the-art techniques commonly used in modern materials characterization. Two important aspects of characterization, materials structures and chemical analysis, are included. Widely used techniques, such as metallography (light microscopy), X-ray diffraction, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, are described. In addition, the book introduces advanced techniques, including scanning probe microscopy. The second half of the book accordingly presents techniques such as X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (commonly equipped in the scanning electron microscope), fluorescence X-ray spectroscopy, and popular surface analysis techniques (XPS and SIMS). Finally, vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR and Raman) and thermal analysis are also covered.

This book focuses on the widely used experimental techniques available for the structural, morphological, and spectroscopic characterization of materials. Recent developments in a wide range of experimental techniques and their application to the quantification of materials properties are an essential side of this book. Moreover, it provides concise but thorough coverage of the practical and theoretical aspects of the analytical techniques used to characterize a wide variety of functional nanomaterials. The book provides an overview of widely used characterization techniques for a broad audience: from beginners and graduate students, to advanced specialists in both academia and industry.

The book focuses on advanced characterization methods for thin-film solar cells that have proven their relevance both for academic and corporate photovoltaic research and development. After an introduction to thin-film photovoltaics, highly experienced experts report on device and materials characterization methods such as electroluminescence analysis, capacitance spectroscopy, and various microscopy methods. In the final part of the book simulation techniques are presented which are used for ab-initio calculations of relevant semiconductors and for device simulations in 1D, 2D and 3D. Building on a proven concept, this new edition also covers thermography, transient optoelectronic methods, and absorption and photocurrent spectroscopy.

The book covers various methods of characterization of advanced materials commonly used in engineering including understanding of the working principle and applicability of devices. It explores the techniques implemented for advanced materials like superalloys, thin films, powders, nanocomposites, polymers, shape memory alloys, high entropy alloys, and so on. Major instruments covered include X-ray diffraction, near-field scanning optical microscopy Raman, X-ray photospectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectrosphotometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, profilometer, and thermogravimetric analysis. Features: Covers material characterization techniques and the development of advanced characterization technology Includes multiple length scale characterization approaches for a large variety of materials, from nano- to micron-scale, as well as their constraints Discusses advanced material characterization technology in the microstructural and property characterization fields Reviews both practical and theoretical explanations of approaches for characterizing microstructure and properties Offers fundamentals, basic instrumentation details, experimental approaches, analyses, and applications with case studies This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in materials science and engineering.

The behavior of nanoscale materials can change rapidly with time either because the environment changes rapidly or because the influence of the environment propagates quickly across the intrinsically small dimensions of nanoscale materials. Extremely fast time resolution studies using X-rays, electrons and neutrons are of very high interest to many researchers and is a fast-evolving and interesting field for the study of dynamic processes. Therefore, in situ structural characterization and measurements of structure-property relationships covering several decades of length and time scales (from atoms to millimeters and femtoseconds to hours) with high spatial and temporal resolutions are crucially important to understand the synthesis and behavior of multidimensional materials. The techniques described in this book will permit access to the real-time dynamics of materials, surface processes and chemical and biological reactions at various time scales. This book provides an interdisciplinary reference for research using in situ techniques to capture the real-time structural and property responses of materials to surrounding fields using electron, optical and x-ray microscopies (e.g. scanning, transmission and low-energy electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy) or in the scattering realm with x-ray, neutron and electron diffraction.