| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/D077664/1 |
| Title: |
An advanced 3D atom probe analysis facility |
| Principal Investigator: |
Smith, Professor G |
| Other Investigators: |
|
| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
|
| Project Partners: |
|
| Department: |
Materials |
| Organisation: |
University of Oxford |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research |
| Starts: |
22 January 2007 |
Ends: |
21 January 2011 |
Value (£): |
1,627,379
|
| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Characterisation |
|
|
| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
|
| Related Grants: |
|
| Panel History: |
|
|
Summary on Grant Application Form |
|
New materials increasingly rely on chemical effects at a very fine scale, sometimes at the atomic level. Understanding how these materials work, how they degrade in service and how we can improve them requires knowledge of how they are put together at this scale. The three-dimensional atom probe (3DAP), first developed at Oxford University, is the only way of seeing the microstructure of materials, atom-by-atom in 3-dimensions. In this way, the 3DAP can be thought of as giving scientists the molecular biology of materials and so helping them understand how materials work. This project aims to greatly improve the existing 3DAP analysis facilities and so provide advanced capabilities for materials analysis at the atomic-scale for scientists in the UK. The instrumentation developed in the project will allow larger volumes of material to be analysed in much shorter times than previously, so that more of the material microstructure can be seen, and also allow semiconductor materials and devices to be studied. Once the new instrumentation is developed, it will be used to study a number of technologically important materials science problems, such as the formation of copper clusters in steels used for the pressure vessels in the reactors on nuclear-powered submarines. The multilayer materials which are being developed for the next generation of read heads in computer hard disks will also be investigated, in order to understand better the way that the structure and the chemistry of these layers control their properties. By linking experiments and modelling at the atomic scale, this project will produce better tools for the design and development of new materials and nanotechnology devices.
|
|
Key Findings |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Potential use in non-academic contexts |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Impacts |
|
| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
|
| Date Materialised |
|
|
|
|
Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
| Project URL: |
|
| Further Information: |
|
| Organisation Website: |
http://www.ox.ac.uk |