Microstructural Characterization of Hard Ceramics

This chapter reviews recent developments in the microstructural characterization of hard ceramics. It begins with a survey of the most important microstructural features that can be derived from characterization experiments. These include grain size, grain shape, contiguity, texture, grain boundary character distribution, and curvature. In each case, the parameters are illustrated by examples of data. The remainder of this chapter focuses on recent advances in three-dimensional microstructural characterization. Examples of progress in the areas of three-dimensional atom probe, electron and X-ray tomography, dual beam focused ion beam analysis, and X-ray diffraction microscopy are all discussed.