In Situ hot-stage high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscope studies of the mechanisms and kinetics of precipitation reactions

Abstract

In situ hot-stage high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) provides unique capabilities for quantifying the mechanisms and kinetics of precipitation reactions at the atomic level. Such information is required to understand phase transformations and the behavior of material interfaces. This paper provides a brief summary of the in situ hot-stage HRTEM technique and illustrates the use of this technique to obtain information about heterogeneous nucleation processes in precipitation and crystallization reactions. Examples of other types of in situ HRTEM studies can be found in previous papers by Sinclair et al. and Howe et al.The specimen and microscope requirements for in situ hot-stage HRTEM are the same as those for static HRTEM except that one must have a hot-stage specimen holder and equipment for recording and analyzing dynamic images. A high-resolution television-rate camera connected to a standard videocassette recorder (VCR) can be used to store hours of data for low cost. The dynamic images can then be analyzed directly during playback or sent to a computer for image processing and analysis.