The KEYENCE Digital Microscope with Elemental Analysis Attachment to Enhance GTRI Material Research Capabilities
Abstract
Preeminence in fundamental material science research and engineering is one of the foundation stones which helps the U.S. to establish and maintain its leading position on the world economic arena. The U.S. national defense also depends on advances in material research since advanced materials are crucial to the improved performance and reliability of U.S. weapons to keep the U.S. prevalence on ground, air, and space. Disruptive breakthroughs in almost every technological field is preceded by a single substantial discovery in material development. The creation of game-changing materials is driven by the understanding of the characteristics that a material must have to enable the implementation of an idea and understanding the underlying fundamental traits that result in a material’s bulk characteristics. Insight into both of these concepts can be gained by subjecting materials to extreme environments and probing the fundamental changes that occur. To disentangle competing processes taking place under any real-world multivariate environment, the scientist must design several unambiguous, simultaneous probes of a material’s chemical and physical state without inducing further change in the material via the characterization itself. The KEYENCE VHX 7000N Digital Microscope with Elemental Analysis attachment requested under this Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) proposal will leverage the existing capabilities of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to access otherwise inaccessible insights into material performance and failure characterization. The proposed instrument is a fully-automated dual-head 3D digital microscope system. The imaging head featuring high resolution lenses spanning 100x – 6000x range is easily replaced with the independent laser-based elemental analyzer head. Surface and chemical analysis capabilities of the instrument combine advantages of analytical instrumentation based on atomic force, scanning electron, and optical microscopy, as well as elemental analysis techniques. The proposed instrument will augment spacecraft materials research led at the GTRI for the benefit of the U.S. Army, Air Force and Space Force. As space becomes increasingly congested and contested, the proliferation of resident space objects (RSOs) drives the requirement for object identification and characterization based on remote observation. Continuous exposure of external spacecraft materials to the space environment causes changes in their physical, chemical, and optical properties. The all-in-one characterization suite of the proposed instrument is capable of simultaneous high-spatial resolution measurements of surface morphology, structural integrity, and elemental composition of space-degraded materials. Knowledge of more accurate material parameters of various spacecraft materials at different stages of space weathering will improve the prediction accuracy of simulation efforts. In addition, an understanding of space-weather-induced changes in materials is essential for the assistance with unknown RSOs cataloguing for satellite collision risk mitigation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310151
Entities
People
- E. Plis
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation
- United States Air Force