Free poster on SARS-CoV-2 variants Download now › Search All Home›Materials Science›Technical Cleanliness with Electron Microscopy MATERIALS SCIENCE Technical Cleanliness with Electron Microscopy Cleanliness testing of manufactured components by automated SEM. Contact us Techniques Samples Products Resources Contact Us Aluminum mineral grain found with SEM during parts cleanliness testing. The continued innovation and improvement of manufactured components relies on the ability of manufacturers to create products quickly and reliably without sacrificing quality. With increasing standards of cleanliness, ever more thorough analyses of parts are required to ensure they meet these high expectations. Additionally, the surface cleanliness of components is critical for the adhesion of additional coatings and treatments, directly correlating to the final quality of the part. In fact, cleanliness has been shown to correlate so closely to field failure rate that the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the International Organization of Standards (ISO) developed comprehensive standards specifically for characterizing the cleanliness of automotive components. Overall, this means that common methodologies for technical cleanliness, which offer limited analytical detail, may be unnecessarily restrictive. Inevitably, this leads to increased diagnostic time as manufacturers try to find the origin of the contamination from incomplete information, consequently increasing the cost to manufacture the part. Scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), meanwhile, provides the chemical composition of individual particles. This allows the manufacturer to set different cleanliness limits for particles that are most harmful for the component, whereas limits for benign particles can be more relaxed. Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a range of instrumentation and software that not only simplifies your cleanliness analysis, but also greatly reduces your production time as you bring the quality control process inhouse. By no longer relying on outsourcing for your QC analysis, production cycle time can increase up to ten-fold while giving you the peace of mind of controlling your valuable and confidential data. Resources Images Publications 10-micron silicon-rich particle found during the cleaning of a manufactured component. Such small but hard particles can result in premature wear of the part. Aluminum sliver, several 100 micrometers in length, generated due to wear of a part as it was used. Shape and chemistry of debris provides valuable information on part degradation and cleanliness over time. Cotton fiber, with embedded mineral particles, imaged during cleanliness analysis. Samples Battery Research Battery development is enabled by multi-scale analysis with microCT, SEM and TEM, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and digital 3D visualization and analysis. Learn how this approach provides the structural and chemical information needed to build better batteries. Learn more › Polymers Research Polymer microstructure dictates the material’s bulk characteristics and performance. Electron microscopy enables comprehensive microscale analysis of polymer morphology and composition for R&D and quality control applications. Learn more › Metals Research Effective production of metals requires precise control of inclusions and precipitates. Our automated tools can perform a variety of tasks critical for metal analysis including; nanoparticle counting, EDS chemical analysis and TEM sample preparation. Learn more › Automotive Materials Testing Every component in a modern vehicle is designed for safety, efficiency, and performance. Detailed characterization of automotive materials with electron microscopy and spectroscopy informs critical process decisions, product improvements, and new materials. Learn more › 2D Materials Novel materials research is increasingly interested in the structure of low-dimensional materials. Scanning transmission electron microscopy with probe correction and monochromation allows for high-resolution two-dimensional materials imaging. Learn more › Techniques Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy EDS Elemental Analysis Particle Analysis Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) collects detailed elemental information along with electron microscopy images, providing critical compositional context for EM observations. With EDS, chemical composition can be determined from quick, holistic surface scans down to individual atoms. Learn more › Products Phenom XL G2 Desktop SEM For large samples (100x100 mm) and ideal for automation <10 nm resolution and up to 200,000x magnification; 4.8 kV up to 20 kV acceleration voltage Optional fully integrated EDS and BSE detector View product Download datasheet Phenom ParticleX TC Desktop SEM Versatile desktop SEM with automation software for Technical Cleanliness Resolution <10 nm; magnification up to 200,000x Optional SE detector View product Download datasheet ParticleMetric Integrated software in ProSuite for online and offline analysis Correlating particle features such as diameter, circularity, aspect ratio and convexity Creating image datasets with Automated Image Mapping View product Download Datasheet Contact us Electron microscopy services for the materials science To ensure optimal system performance, we provide you access to a world-class network of field service experts, technical support, and certified spare parts. 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