Structural and Chemical Analysis of Materials

Since the discovery of X-rays by Roentgen at the end of last century, most of our knowledge about the structure of solids has been acquired by means of methods based upon radiation-matter interactions. Those methods have seen a tremendous development during the last decade. This development is due mainly to the progress in electronics and computer science, induced by the requirement to produce and to test more and more sophisticated materials. This book deals with the use of radiations which are best suited for determining the structure and the composition of materials: X-rays, electrons, thermal neutrons and ions, with energies ranging from a few electronvolts to a million electronvolts. Information on matter is provided by radiations in different ways, depending on the kind of interaction, on their nature (electromagnetic waves of matter waves), on their energy. Structural data are obtained by means of X-ray-, electron- and neutron scattering and diffraction, as also by electron microscopy. Chemical data are obtained by X-ray-, electron- and ion spectrometry. A minimum of theoretical knowledge is required in order to take the best advantage of the various techniques.
The basic theory is dealt with in part one of the book. Elementary crystallography and optics are assumed to be known. Production, detection and measurement of radiations are common to the various techniques, and are described together in part two. Part three deals with structural methods, based on diffraction, mainly of X-rays and electrons. Neutron diffraction is limited to its complementary aspect. Part four is dedicated to the main analytical techniques, based on spectrometry of X-rays, electrons and ions. Special attention is given to surface analysis which is becoming increasingly important in research and industry. Part five deals with the different aspects of electron microscopy. Imaging techniques, mainly with electrons, are probably the field where the most spectacular developments have been achieved in material science during the last years. Depending on the type of electron microscope, imaging is based on electron scattering and diffraction or on various secondary emissions. Modern electron microscopes are increasingly fitted with spectrometric devices, whereas spectrometric techniques have more and more the possibility to display analytical datas as images.
It follows that parts four and five are closely related through imaging processes.