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A D V A N C E D
M A T E R I A L S
&
P R O C E S S E S |
A P R I L
2 0 1 7
3 1
College of Engineering, and with the
help of our scientists, students are
getting hands-on experience with the
latest EDS and EBSD technology while
developing real-life materials analysis
project management skills.
Over the course of the project,
which spans the 2016-2017 academic
year, students will have analyzed multi-
ple sample preparation techniques, ex-
perimentally determining which is most
effective. Each sample undergoes the
same test. The student selects a point in
the weld area and makes 3000 consecu-
tive acquisitions, using an automated
sequencer that varies the beam current
and measurement duration. The goal is
to determine the ideal sample prepara-
tion technique and the settings or pat-
terns that achieve the highest level of
measurement success with the shortest
acquisition times.
AM&P: What is driving
the need to develop and
disseminate best practices for
using advanced equipment?
KT:
Not long ago, the majority of
materials scientists in industry had a
Ph.D. and years of training on sophisti-
cated equipment that they alone used.
Today, however, companies want more
of their employees to be able to op-
erate advanced instrumentation and
they want it to be relatively easy. As a
result, makers of scientific instruments
are expected to provide not only highly
automated equipment that tunes and
calibrates itself, but also application
processes and workflows that nearly
anyone can put to use.
~AM&P
For more information:
Keith Thomp-
son is product manager of microanal-
ysis, Thermo Fish-
er Scientific Inc.,
525 Verona Rd.,
Madison, WI 53711,
6 0 8 . 2 7 6 . 5 6 0 3 ,
keith.thompson@ thermofisher.com, www.thermofisher. com/pathfinder.
the lateral direction and examining the
grains to see if they buckle.
Insights obtained at the micro-
structural level are particularly helpful
in the strategically important area of
lightweighting. Aluminum is a very light
material, but it lacks the strength of
iron. To make up for that, manufactur-
ers often add strengthening elements,
such as manganese or copper. These
impurity atoms are mobile, though,
and may be driven away from weld
joints by the heat of the process. As a
result, the aluminum in the vicinity of
the weld joint may revert to its original
weaker state. Manufacturers can screen
for that as well, however, using EDS
(energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy)
in conjunction with EBSD to simultane-
ously examine the microstructure and
chemical composition of the weld joint.
The concentration of the impurity ele-
ments in the area of the weld, revealed
by EDS, is an indicator of the joint’s rel-
ative strength.
AM&P: What can be done to
make advanced weld testing
more accessible to industry?
KT:
Like anything new, it starts
with education. Industry, academia,
and professional organizations need to
work together to train both the current
and future workforce, teaching engi-
neers and technicians how to use new
analytical tools and how to develop and
implement best practices for weld test
procedures. This, in fact, is the goal of a
joint effort between Thermo Fisher and
the University of Wisconsin, in which
some of our appli-
cations scientists
are working with
und e r g r a du a t e
MSE students an-
alyzing aluminum
welds and devel-
oping test proto-
cols. Under the
direction of Sindo
Kou, professor of
materials science
and
engineering
at the UW-Madison
Sindo Kou, profes-
sor of materials sci-
ence and engineer-
ing at the University
of Wisconsin-
Madison College of
Engineering.
Thompson