Materials Characterization

When the term "characterization" is employed in the field of materials science, it describes the comprehensive and all-encompassing process of probing and measuring a material's structure and characteristics. Without it, it would be impossible to gain a scientific understanding of engineering materials. It is an essential procedure in the field of materials research. The term's range of application varies widely; some definitions restrict its use to methods that examine the microscopic structure and characteristics of materials, while others use the term to describe any process of materials analysis, including macroscopic methods like mechanical testing, thermal analysis, and density calculation. The scale of the structures seen in materials characterisation spans from angstroms, such in the imaging of individual atoms and chemical bonds, up to centimetres, like in the imaging of metals' coarse grain structures. While several characterisation methods, such fundamental optical microscopy, have been used for decades, new methods and techniques are continually being developed. Particularly in the 20th century, the development of the electron microscope and secondary ion mass spectrometry revolutionised the field by making it possible to image and analyse structures and compositions on much smaller scales than was previously feasible. This has greatly increased our understanding of why various materials exhibit various properties and behaviours. In the past 30 years, atomic force microscopy has significantly raised the greatest resolution that may be used to analyse specific materials.