U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research in Ceramics and Holography

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This award supports Dr. R. W. Carpenter, Director of the Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University (ASU), to link the work of his research group in two related lines of materials science with two outstanding German research groups, the ceramics research laboratory of the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DFVLR), headed by Dr. Wolfgang Braue, and a group headed by Dr. Hannes Lichte of the University of Tubingen. With DFVLR, the ASU group will investigate the relationships among structures and properties and processing in structural ceramics. With Dr. Lichte, they will pursue a direct experimental investigation of conventional and holographic high resolution electron imaging of crystal lattice defects in specimens important for materials science. In both projects common specimens will be used for particular parts of each project. It is well known and central to materials science that the microstructure of all material objects such as structural ceramics or solid state electronic materials is quite dependent on the synthesis process. Arizona State University has novel and uncommon capabilities for analyzing the geometry of microstructures. DFVLR has unusual capabilities for processing and analyzing and measuring the properties of ceramics from starting materials through finished structural materials. This unique array of capabilities at the two cooperating laboratories enables detailed and controlled study of microstructural properties and their relationship to processing in this important class of structural materials. Collaboration with the group at the University of Tubingen focuses on the need to obtain better spatial resolution in the imaging of defects in crystal lattices to advance the frontiers of materials science research. Lattice defects, or interruptions in the periodicity of crystals, such as grain boundaries and interfaces, have major influences on the properties of materials. These are not easily predicted from theory, and experimental data are badly needed. The University of Tubingen possesses capability for electron holographic high resolution imaging. However, the apparently greatly enhanced data on lattice defects obtained by this new experimental method must be interpreted and compared to the most closely related data obtainable by existing and reliable methods. ASU possesses state of the art conventional high resolution electron microscopes that can be used for this purpose.