X-ray mapping and post processing

Characterisation of materials frequently involves the determination of variation in composition, structure and microstructure, by the use of a variety of imaging and analysis techniques. There is an increasing need to understand materials phenomena and processes and to learn more about exploiting subtle changes in the distribution of elements in materials technology. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) and the combination of these techniques through x-ray mapping (XRM) has become an excellent tool for characterising the distribution of elements and phases in materials. This analytical technique provides a high magnification image related to the distribution and relative abundance of elements within a given specimen and thus makes XRM particularly useful for: "¢ identifying the location of individual elements and "¢ mapping the spatial distribution of specific elements and phases within a sample (material surface). Quantitative x-ray mapping (QXRM) enables reliable quantitative results that can be an order of magnitude better than traditional analysis and is also far superior to regions of interest x-ray maps (ROIM) where low levels of an element or elemental overlaps are present.