Material characterization techniques in engineering applications: A review

In recent years, significant advances have been made in material characterization technologies. Particularly in the last decade, focus has shifted, from achieving higher spatial resolutions to achieving higher temporal resolutions at high spatial resolutions; from ex-situ characterization and static analyses to in-situ characterization and analyses of dynamic processes and mechanisms in materials, down to the sub-nanometer scale. This paper focuses on key advances in material characterization technologies, including technologies in the scanning electron microscope such as high resolution electron back-scatter diffraction and electron channeling contrast imaging that have brought scanning electron microscope into the terrain hitherto dominated by transmission electron microscopy; imaging of ultrafast dynamics at the sub-nanometer scale, which is rapidly progressing as techniques in ultrafast electron microscopy improve; efforts to directly record electron dynamics using attomicroscopy and the advancements in micro-electromechanical systems technology that has unlocked the path towards in-situ characterization. Various challenges and advances in X-ray and atomic probe tomography have also been discussed.