Nondestructive Methods for Materials Characterization

Characterization of material properties is critical for understanding the material's mechanical behavior and design performance under its operating conditions. The necessity to characterize materials for a myriad of applications has spurred the development of many new methods and instruments. However, many of these tools require destructive sectioning of the material to provide characterization and do not provide key information about material parameters in their operating environments. An ideal characterization tool would provide data about the material properties that affect micro- and macro-structural behavior without the need to destructively section the sample. Such data can only be obtained using nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methodologies; therefore NDE is essential for almost any advanced industrial product. NDE offers the possibility to determine/gauge material parameters and defects at nearly any point, line, surface or volume element of interest. This book brings together researchers to focus and report on multidisciplinary approaches to solving materials characterization problems. Topics include: process control and deformation behavior via X-ray techniques; NDE for fracture, fatigue and corrosion; electric and dielectric NDE; structure-sensitive properties for NDE characterization; NDE for silicon wafers and thin films and optical and infrared techniques.