Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Specialized Crystalline Orientation and Particle Analysis Capability (Materials Research)

将购买一种新的扫描电子显微镜，它将包括专门的快速微晶定向和颗粒分析能力，这是杨百翰大学四个主要研究项目正在进行的研究项目所需的。对现有设备的分辨率的普遍改进也将很好地服务于许多其他教职员工和研究生。该显微镜将配备布里斯托尔大学最近开发的新的微光电子背向散射衍射技术。这项技术使小晶体的快速晶体取向成为可能。机械工程系的材料研究组迫切需要这种能力，以便提出一种新的多晶材料细观结构理论，该理论有望在预测金属和陶瓷合金的性能和优化加工方面有广泛的应用。这项技术目前还没有安装在美国的任何其他实验室。该显微镜还将配备最先进的微量化学分析系统，能够对微晶和颗粒的化学和形态进行计算机控制的多颗粒分析。杨百翰大学目前的扫描电子显微镜仅限于分辨率约2微米的单颗粒化学分析。所提出的系统在多粒子图像的大小和组成的分辨率方面提高了四倍。在我们目前对催化剂颗粒和孔中碳沉积的化学和形态的研究中，提高分辨率和多粒子统计是确定催化剂失活的重要机制所必需的。

A new scanning electron microscope will be purchased which will include specialized rapid crystallite orientation and particle analysis capability needed for on-going research programs in four major groups at Brigham Young University. The general improvement in resolution over the present facility would also serve well many other faculty and graduate students. The microscope will be equipped with new low-light electron backscattering diffraction technology recently developed at Bristol University. This technology permits rapid crystallographic orientation of small crystals. The Materials Research Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has a critical need for this capability in order to advance a new theory of mesostructure in polycrystalline materials which is expected to have numerous applications in predicting the properties and optimal processing for metal and ceramic alloys. This technology is not presently installed at any other laboratory in the United States. The microscope will also be equipped with a state-of-the-art microchemical analysis system capable of computer controlled multiple particle analysis of the chemistry and morphology of crystallites and particles. The present scanning electron microscope at BYU is limited to single particle chemical analysis with a resolution of about 2 micrometers. The proposed system offers a four-fold improvement in the resolution of sized and composition for multiple particle images. In our current studies of the chemistry and morphology of carbon deposits in catalyst pellets and pores (BYU Catalysis Laboratory) the improved resolution and multiple-particle statistics are necessary to identify the important mechanisms of catalyst deactivation.