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Integrated Characterization at a Canadian National Facility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

G. McMahon
Affiliation:
Materials Technology Laboratory, Natural Resources Canada568 Booth St., Ottawa, CanadaK1A 0G1
Z. Wronski
Affiliation:
Materials Technology Laboratory, Natural Resources Canada568 Booth St., Ottawa, CanadaK1A 0G1
T. Malis
Affiliation:
Materials Technology Laboratory, Natural Resources Canada568 Booth St., Ottawa, CanadaK1A 0G1
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Extract

The pressure of shrinking budgets and downsizing has made it increasingly difficult to meet requests for comprehensive microstructural characterization. In many laboratories, especially those in industry, the expense of maintaining and staffing electron, X-ray and ion beam facilities has resulted in fewer analytical capabilities. At the same time, modern materials and products continue to diversify and increase in complexity, requiring increasingly sophisticated techniques. This growing paradox has increased the need for multiclient, shared-access ‘clusters’ of microanalytical instruments.

The above federal laboratory is mandated to serve both the Canadian public (in a broad sense) and Canadian industry (in the specific sense of collaborative and contract research projects). As a result, the Characterization Group has evolved into an integrated lab competency which compliments other competencies in materials processing (full-scale foundry, industrial rolling facility, Gleeble processing simulator) and mechanical behavior (fracture mechanics, stress and deformation modeling). Building on established expertise in metallography, microprobe, X-ray and TEM, the group has doubled in size (to 20 professionals and 10 major capabilities) and now includes SIMS and surface analysis (Table 1).

Type
Shared Resources: Access to Critical Instrumentation
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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References

1.Packwood, R.et al., Proc. Ann MSA Meeting 54 (1996) 502.Google Scholar
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3.Wronski, Z.et al., Electrochem. Soc. Proc. 96-14 (1996) 177.Google Scholar
4.Shehata, M. and Carpenter, G.J.C., Microstructural Science 23 (1996) 207.Google Scholar