Grain size quantification by optical microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and magnetic force microscopy

Hansheng Chen; Yin Yao; Jacob A Warner; Jiangtao Qu; Fan Yun; Zhixiao Ye; Simon P Ringer; Rongkun Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.micron.2017.06.001

Grain size quantification by optical microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and magnetic force microscopy

Micron. 2017 Oct:101:41-47. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2017.06.001. Epub 2017 Jun 13.

Authors

Hansheng Chen¹, Yin Yao², Jacob A Warner², Jiangtao Qu¹, Fan Yun¹, Zhixiao Ye³, Simon P Ringer⁴, Rongkun Zheng⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia; Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
² Electron Microscope Unit, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, The University of New South Wales, New South Wales, 2052, Australia.
³ Hengdian Group DMEGC Magnetics Co. Ltd, Zhejiang, 322118, China.
⁴ Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁵ School of Physics, The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia; Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Electronic address: rongkun.zheng@sydney.edu.au.

PMID: 28622600
DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2017.06.001

Abstract

Quantification of microstructure, especially grain size, in polycrystalline materials is a vital aspect to understand the structure-property relationships in these materials. In this paper, representative characterization techniques for determining the grain size, including optical microscopy (OM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy/magnetic force microscopy (AFM/MFM), are thoroughly evaluated in comparison, illustrated by rare-earth sintered Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. Potential applications and additional information achieved by using aforementioned characterization techniques have been discussed and summarized.

Keywords: Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD); Grain size; Magnetic force microscopy (MFM); Nd-Fe-B; Optical microscopy (OM).