The Impact of Electron Microscopy on Materials Research

We live, work and play in a world of materials. Modern technology depends critically on the availability of advanced materials, in such areas as transportation, communications, data processing, and production systems, and more and more emphasis is being placed on the research and development of materials. In the world of sports, records fall as a result of the continual improvement in equipment, e.g., composites for field sports, skiing, etc. Industrial laboratories and even some production facilities, in addition to universities and leading research centers, have become heavy users of electron microscopes. There are well over 10, 000 instruments in use in the Western world. Materials research and development in metals, ceramics, and composites (including designing for better mechanical and physical properties, processing, forming, joining, catalysis, etc.) require analyses by scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) because of the small scale of relevant microstructures and composition. Because TEM instruments are central to all fields of structural characterization, electron microscopy is perhaps the most interdisciplinary field in today’s complex world. [2] Biologists, materials scientists, engineers, physicists, chemists, etc., all rub shoulders at national and international meetings.