WW9 bachelor student receives best poster award
During the international microscopy congress MC2019 in Berlin, the work presented by Jan Rosiwal about his Bachelor thesis, entitled “Correlative FIB/SEM-informed high-resolution x-ray tomography: a case study on a Co-base superalloy oxide scale” was awarded the best poster prize in the instrumental session.
In his work at the Institute of Micro- and Nanostructure Research (WW9), Jan performed X-ray nano-tomography to unravel the complex 3D structure of oxide scales in Co-based superalloys. One of the grand challenges in X-ray nano-tomography is how to confidently and properly interpret the contrast (i.e., gray levels) of the 3D tomogram datasets in terms of the physical objects in the sample (e.g., voids, precipitates of different phases). Theoretically, one can simulate the image/contrast formation for simple objects. This is however very difficult to validate for complex scenarios like in the current case of superalloy oxide scales comprising multinary phases.
The “Tomo team” at WW9 has contributed in the last years to the development of an experimental approach: correlating the multi-dimensional information from different tomographic techniques from the identical sample, i.e., correlative microscopy. Particularly in Jan’s work, the advantage of three methods have been combined to render the full picture of the microstructure of the sample: large analyzable sample volume of X-ray tomography, elemental information from energy dispersive X-ray mapping in SEM, high-resolution of FIB slice-and-view. The results provide quantitative information at statistic-relevant volume and nano-scale resolution on the depth-dependent distribution, size and shape of the oxides scales in the sample, making one step further to understand the oxidation behavior and to improve the oxidation resistance of the of Co-based superalloy.
It’s worth to note that the related work of FIB slice-and-view on the same oxide scales by Nadine Buchinger, also a Bachelor work at WW9, was recognized by the scientific community and awarded a best poster price during the materials science congress MSE 2018 in Darmstadt.
“At the WW department we have the unique situation that our students can participate in actual research projects already in a very early stage of their career, e.g. as student research assistants during their Bachelor studies”, says Prof. Erdmann Spiecker. “Jan and Nadine were both student research assistants at WW9 before starting their Bachelor project.”
Above that, during the MC2019, PhD candidate Peter Schweizer won the second prize in the scientific image contest.
