Kikuchi diffraction and Atom Probe Tomography: a holistic characterisation approach

 

Pictorial representation of the samples plotting elements and atom probe image

A team led by Dr Benjamin M Jenkins, and collaborating with researchers from Rolls Royce, National Nuclear Laboratory and the University of California, undertook a holistic approach towards a variety of materials.  The results are published in Volume 528 of Applied Surface Science under the title 'A more holistic characterisation of internal interfaces in a variety of materials via complementary use of transmission Kikuchi diffraction and Atom Probe Tomography'.

In this paper, the team demonstrates how complementary use of transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) and atom probe tomography (APT) can provide a more holistic characterisation of grain boundaries in a variety of materials.  They report on structural information from TKD data for a model steel, a titanium alloy, and a multicrystalline silicon sample, and that they used complementary APT analyses to determine the segregation behaviour to these interfaces.

The novel specimen preparation protocol allowed for the grain boundary to be positioned more reliably within the apex of the APT specimen, and the team proposes using a method which allows a grain boundary's five macroscopic degrees of freedom to be determined from TKD data alone.