The Tool Shop or Characterising Your Material

Publisher Summary This chapter offers an approach to the characterization of all the materials. It gives a sort of toolkit to help explore and investigate many different materials. It outlines the thought processes that need to be running through one's head while thinking about characterizing any material. Everything described is material independent and applies equally to polymers, metals, ceramics semiconductors, or composites. The nature of the question relating to characterization determines the nature of the technique that provides the answer. The choice can be made only with an understanding of the existence, principles, and limitations of each technique. The aim is to cover the key ideas that enable to assess confocal light microscopy, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and many others.