Effectively characterize material at the macroscale and gain insights related to geometric defects, surface roughness, cracks, voids and inclusions. Use a combination of ZEISS light and X-ray microscopes (XRM). While light microscopy provides rapid information from the surface over a wide area, X-ray methods enable peering into the sub-surface non-destructively and deliver three-dimensional information on complex microstructural features. Generate a deep understanding of metals samples using light microscopy contrasts including brightfield, darkfield and polarization.

Capture the microstructural information in 3D in a single snapshot with ZEISS XRMs. 

• Investigate new-age manufacturing methods, more precisely 3D printing materials, where structural parts with an ever-increasing structural complexity are being produced.  
• Characterize specimens in 3D at the nanoscale and benefit from XRMs providing you with information on nanoprecipitates or eutectic microstructures. 
• Unlock crystallographic secrets. Non-destructive 3D crystallographic grain characterization is possible with advances in diffraction contrast tomography delivering information on grain size, crystallographic orientation and morphology.
  

Think of the possibilities it would open if you found a solution to characterize materials from micro- to nanometer with one instrument. You would be able to set up a workflow for root cause analysis enabling you to study the relationship between microstructure and fracture resistance or understand structural failures of critical parts. You could determine fracture modes and analyze crack propagation. What if you could analyze the chemical composition of precipitates and inclusions in detail over multiple length scales; describe grain characteristics including size, crystal orientation, shape, boundaries, and phase distribution; understand deformation behavior of metals and alloys? And, finally, modify the materials processing route and chemistries and fine tune their properties and performance? In fact, scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and their accessories have become an integral part of the materials characterization workflow. To many researchers the SEM is the go-to instrument, the “Swiss-knife“. 

Investigating metals and alloys down to the level of individual atomic arrangements while keeping the full context over a scale of millimeters is critical. Only the combination of both, overview over millimeter- and detailed insight into micro- or nanometer-scaled areas, enables you to understand the linkage between structure and properties. This is the point where it becomes necessary to add the meso-scale to your workflow. When you seek to understand properties at the nanoscale, when you want to prepare minute devices like atom probe tips or ultra-thin TEM lamellae, when it is your objective to precisely target a unique void, a precipitate located along a certain grain boundary, or the region around a crack tip you will need a precision tool that is tailored for advanced imaging and sample manipulation. Site-specific characterization below the surface plus fast and precise material removal combined with high resolution imaging and a seamless workflow is what you need. 
 
ZEISS FIB-SEMs (focused ion beam scanning electron microscopes) unite the high resolution imaging ability of an SEM with the ability to prepare samples.  

• Perform precise serial milling or sectioning to reveal the sub-surface features or produce 3D nanotomography datasets.  
• Access the meso-scale regime by equipping your ZEISS FIB-SEM with a device tailored for massive material ablation or for the preparation of extremely large sections, a femto-second laser.  
• Combining this LaserFIB from ZEISS with EDS or EBSD, allows for 3D multi-modal nanotomography, giving you the best of sample preparation at high throughput, and advanced imaging and analytics – an extremely powerful combination for the investigation of grains, precipitates, fractures, corrosion, or thermal and electrical properties.