Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives The student will develop an appreciation of the capability, advantages and disadvantages of the use of several light and electron microscopes in the microstructure characterisation of engineering materials. The importance of metallography and the interpretation of phase diagrams as important tools in such investigations will be stressed.
Synopsis Interpretation of phase diagrams and microstructure. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium solidification in metals and alloys. Segregation. Crystal growth and instability. Constitutional supercooling; cellular and dendritic solidification. Solid-solid phase transformations. Iron-carbon phase diagram, microstructures of steels and cast irons. Optical microscopy: reflection and transmission. Coherence, contrast, magnification and resolution. Wave optics, defects of optical systems. Scanning electron microscopy and microanalysis: energy dispersive spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy.