APT Studies of Carbon-related Materials
Atom probe tomography (APT) is a technique that provides a combination of highly resolved chemical and spatial information in three dimensions with the ability to detect all the elements (and their isotopes) in the periodic table. This seminar will address its use in recent research at Deakin to investigate three different types of materials, each with a focus on carbon.
Carbide precipitates in Ti-Mo microalloyed steel
Interphase precipitation of carbides imparts major strengthening effects in microalloyed steels. The precipitates formed in Ti-Mo steels are particularly known for their fine scale (~5 nm) and excellent thermal stability, which therefore makes them attractive for structural parts in the automotive industry, however the role of Mo is not clearly understood.
Molecular-scale analysis of carbon fibre
APT is a very suitable technique for analysis of carbon fibres, which are mostly comprised of light elements (namely C, H, N, and O) that are otherwise challenging to detect in combination with each other using other microscopy and microanalysis techniques.
Pulsed-voltage APT analysis of biological cells
APT has recently demonstrated its unique capability of near-atomic resolution, 3D compositional mapping of biological samples, however a pulsed laser has to be deployed to facilitate field evaporation, and complexity in this thermal evaporation process with respect to the sample still prevents the proliferation of this approach to study biological cells. We have developed novel approaches to coat needle-shaped specimens of low-conductive materials - namely ultrathin metallic coating using PVD, and most recently also graphene coating - to fulfil the electrical conductivity requirement for field ionisation and evaporation, and enable imaging with conventional pulsed-voltage APT.
Dr. Ross K. W. Marceau
Institute for Frontier Materials
Deakin University
Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus
75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216
Australia
| Phone | +61 3 522 71283 |
| Dr. Ross K. W. Marceau | |
| Http | Dr. Ross K. W. Marceau |
| Institute for Frontier Materials | |
| Deakin University |