New Developments in Automated Particle Analysis in the Electron Microscope - from Micro to Nano

Tuning the heterophase junction in Bi2O3 hybrid crystals with enhanced photocatalytic activity

“…The above arguments might explain the observed dark areas from the polyhedron γ-Bi 2 O 3 crystals. A similar shadowing effect that caused a dark image in the element mapping has been reported by Mahltig et al and Lang et al 31,32 A low-magnification TEM image of B1 is shown in Fig. 5(a).…”

Evolution of micro-chemistry during solidification and homogenisation of AA 3xxx aluminium–manganese alloys

“…More in-depth information on both distribution and chemical composition of the different particles was gathered with the help of area measurements in the SEM using the software package AZtecFeature from Oxford Instruments [26]. In doing so, the second-phase particles were automatically identified in the backscatter image through their grey values (see Figure 1), which allows determining the shape and size of the individual particles (e.g.…”

“…In a recent paper, we have analysed the phase selection upon solidification and homogenisation of the base alloy AA 3103 (AlMn1) with several complementary characterisation methods [25]. Most notably, we have utilised a recent methodology to probe size distribution, area density and chemical composition of the second-phase particles by means of statistical area measurements in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with the software package AZtecFeature from Oxford Instruments [26].…”

Formation of intermetallic particles during solidification and homogenisation of two Al–Mg–Si alloys

“…More in-depth information on size, density, spatial arrangement and, particularly, the chemical composition of the second-phase particles was gathered by means of area measurements in an SEM. To this end, we employed the field-emission SEM Zeiss Merlin equipped with the silicon drift detector SSD X-Max 80 and the software package AZtecFeature from Oxford Instruments [37,38]. SEM samples were prepared by argon ion beam milling using a Hitachi IM4000 cross-section polisher.…”

“…The evolution of microchemistry during solidification and one and two-step homogenisation of the two alloys was studied by means of optical and electron microscopy as well as measurements of the specific electrical resistivity. Most notably, we apply statistical area measurements in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to probe the size distribution, area density and chemical composition of the second-phase particles [37,38]. The interpretation of the experimental findings was supported by an appraisal of the constituent phases forming during solidification with a microstructure model termed Alstruc which is built on standard solidification theory [39].…”