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

将购买一台新的扫描电子显微镜，它将包括杨百翰大学四个主要小组正在进行的研究项目所需的专业快速晶体定向和颗粒分析能力。在现有设备的基础上，分辨率的普遍提高也将使许多其他教师和研究生受益。该显微镜将配备布里斯托尔大学最近开发的新型弱光电子后向散射衍射技术。该技术允许小晶体的快速晶体取向。机械工程系的材料研究小组迫切需要这种能力，以推进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最佳加工方面有许多应用。这项技术目前没有安装在任何其他实验室在美国。该显微镜还将配备最先进的微化学分析系统，能够对晶体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单粒子化学分析，分辨率约为2微米。该系统在多粒子图像的大小和组成分辨率上提高了四倍。在我们目前对催化剂颗粒和孔隙中碳沉积的化学和形态的研究中（杨百翰大学催化实验室），提高分辨率和多粒子统计对于确定催化剂失活的重要机制是必要的。

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.