Method · SEM-EDX
SEM with EDX in the Netherlands
Scanning electron microscopy combined with elemental point analysis or mapping. What it answers, what it cannot establish on its own, what a laboratory will ask, and how many Dutch facilities publish it.
What it answers
- What does a defect, particle or inclusion look like, and which elements does it contain?
- How are elements distributed across a surface or a cross-section?
- Does a foreign particle come from the process, the environment or the material itself?
What it cannot establish alone
Before you contact a laboratory
What a laboratory will ask.
A laboratory can say whether it can help only when these are known. Unknowns are fine; say so.
A question a laboratory can answer
We find black particles of 5–50 µm embedded in a polymer coating on metal panels. We need images and elemental spectra of five particles from two panels to see where they come from.
Potential Dutch facilities
9 facilities publish SEM-EDX capability in Noordwijk, Amsterdam, Delft, Eindhoven, Enschede, Petten, Utrecht and Wageningen.
Leads are based on published capabilities; current suitability and availability must be confirmed with the laboratory.
Describe your sample and question. The first answer is free and needs no account; laboratory names are shown in a free workspace.
Often combined with
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopyElemental composition and chemical state of the near-surface region, optionally with sputter depth profiling.
Problems where it helps
- Coating delamination: finding the causeHow to investigate a coating that lifts, blisters or peels: which measurements show where the failure runs and why, and what to prepare.
- Coating failure analysis: from symptom to causeHow to analyse a coating that cracks, discolours, corrodes or wears: compare failed and intact parts and test the likely explanations.