Revealing the three dimensional internal structure of aluminium alloys

Thompson, G.E.; Hashimoto, Teruo; Zhong, Xiangli; Curioni, Michele; Zhou, Xiaorong; Skeldon, P.; Withers, Philip J.; Carr, James; Monteith, Alexander G

doi:10.1002/sia.5221

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The needle was removed to prevent damage to the microtome knife. The SBFSEM process was performed using a Gatan 3View® system housed within an FEI Quanta FEG 250 instrument [21].…”

Section: Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison and combination of imaging techniques for three dimensional analysis of electrical trees

Schurch

Rowland

Bradley

et al. 2015

IEEE Trans. Dielect. Electr. Insul.

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Imaging of electrical trees has been an important tool for studying the phenomenon. The authors have previously shown that electrical trees can be three-dimensionally (3D) imaged and virtual replicas generated using X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) or Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy (SBFSEM). Here these techniques are evaluated and compared for 3D analysis of electrical trees along with conventional optical methods. A number of types of laboratory created trees showing range of morphologies were grown and examined to delineate the capabilities of each technique. Cross-sectional images and virtual replicas of the electrical trees from XCT and SBFSEM techniques were compared both qualitatively and quantitatively. SBFSEM provides greater detail than XCT, evidenced by imaging smaller sub-branches and when comparing parameters such as the number of tree channels, tree length or tree volume captured. On average, SBFSEM captures almost double the number of tree channels per slice than XCT, and virtual replicas in most of the cases have larger volumes. However, SBFSEM is a destructive technique, which makes the imaging process less reliable than XCT and not suitable for multi-stage of tree growth experiments. For full analysis, a combination of imaging techniques is proposed. Optical methods are used first to monitor tree growth. Then, micro-XCT which provides pixel size down to ~0.4 µm with a field of view of around 1 mm × 1 mm, can be used to reveal the overall 3D structure of a normal/mature electrical tree. Nano-XCT can be used to explore in more detail regions of interest, with a pixel size of ~65 nm, but a limited field of view of 65 µm. Finally, sections of the tree can be analyzed in even greater detail using SBFSEM, which can provide resolutions below 50 nm. Using this approach, a deeper and more complete analysis of the structure of electrical trees can be achieved.

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“…The needle was removed to prevent damage to the microtome knife. The SBFSEM process was performed using a Gatan 3View® system housed within an FEI Quanta FEG 250 instrument [21].…”

Section: Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison and combination of imaging techniques for three dimensional analysis of electrical trees

Schurch

Rowland

Bradley

et al. 2015

IEEE Trans. Dielect. Electr. Insul.

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“…The selected TiO 2 containing waterborne paint samples were prepared from the AkzoNobel Dulux Trade Weathershield commercial product line with nominal composition of 38% (nominal solid in weight by pigment/(pigment + binder)) TiO 2 pigment and an acrylic emulsion binder in water solvent, which is also one of the most representative materials in the field of paint research [12]. In the reported study, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) [13,14,15] used in the investigation of biological [16,17,18] and material [19,20,21] specimens, was used to reveal the three-dimensional (3D) spatial structure of the TiO 2 pigment containing waterborne paint. SBFSEM system obtains 3D serially parallel electron micrographs of the TiO 2 pigmented waterborne paint by imaging the freshly exposed surfaces of the samples that are generated by serial-sectioning using an indoor ultra-microtome.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Three-Dimensional Structure and Pigment Surrounding Environment of a TiO2 Containing Waterborne Paint

et al. 2019

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Serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) has been used to investigate the three-dimensional (3D) structure of a cured waterborne paint containing TiO2 pigment particles, and the surrounding environment of the TiO2 pigment particles in the cured paint film was also discussed. The 3D spatial distribution of the particles in the paint film and their degree of dispersion were clearly revealed. More than 55% of the measured TiO2 particles have volumes between 1.0 × 106 nm3 and 1.0 × 107 nm3. From the obtained 3D images, we proposed that there are three different types of voids in the measured cured waterborne paint film: voids that exist in the cured paint themselves, voids produced by particle shedding, and voids produced by quasi-liquid phase evaporation during measurement. Among these, the latter two types of voids are artefacts caused during SBFSEM measurement which provide evidence to support that the pigment particles in the cured paint/coating films are surrounding by quasi-liquid environment rather than dry solid environment. The error caused by particle shedding to the statistical calculation of the TiO2 particles was corrected in our analysis. The resulting 3D structure of the paint, especially the different voids are important for further systematic research, and are critical for understanding the real environment of the pigment particles in the cured paint films.

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“…This is because both the sample preparation and imaging methods are well-matched with soft-condensed matters and materials, for which the SBFSEM was initially developed. Meanwhile, the investigation of hard-condensed materials using SBFSEM is in progress [ 30 , 31 ]. However, there is still no report on studying the cement components such as C 3 S, tricalcium aluminate(C 3 A), dicalcium silicate(C 2 S) or cement-based materials by SBFSEM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Three-Dimensional Microstructure of Tricalcium Silicate (C3S) by Electron Microscopy

et al. 2018

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A serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) system, composed of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an ultra-microtome installed within the SEM vacuum chamber, has been used to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) microstructure of tricalcium silicate (C3S) grains embedded in epoxy resin. A selection of C3S grains were segmented and rendered with 3D-image processing software, which allowed the C3S grains to be clearly visualized and enabled statistically quantitative analysis. The results show that about 5% of the C3S grains have volumes larger than 1 μm3 and the average volume of the grains is 25 μm3. Pores can also be clearly seen in the biggest C3S grain, the volume of which is 3.6 × 104 μm3, and the mean volume and total volume of all the pores within this grain are 4.8 μm3 and 3.0 × 103 μm3, respectively. The reported work provides a new approach for the characterization of the 3D spatial structure of raw C3S materials, and the resulting 3D structure of the raw C3S is important for further systematic research on the relationships between the spatial microstructure and the hydration kinetics of C3S and other cement minerals.

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Revealing the three dimensional internal structure of aluminium alloys

Cited by 21 publications

References 12 publications

Comparison and combination of imaging techniques for three dimensional analysis of electrical trees

Comparison and combination of imaging techniques for three dimensional analysis of electrical trees

Investigation of Three-Dimensional Structure and Pigment Surrounding Environment of a TiO2 Containing Waterborne Paint

Investigation of Three-Dimensional Microstructure of Tricalcium Silicate (C3S) by Electron Microscopy

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