The first plasma-focused ion beam (FIB) scanning electron microscope (SEM) in Finland has just become operational at VTT in Espoo, Finland. This multi-million investment will significantly contribute to materials research for applications such as hydrogen economy, microelectronics, and the marine industry, as well as to material damage investigation.
Atomic force microscopy (AFM), is a widely used technique that can quantitatively map material surfaces in three dimensions, although its accuracy is limited by the size of the microscope’s probe. A new artificial intelligence (AI) technique overcomes this limitation and allows microscopes to resolve material features smaller than the probe’s tip.
See the AutoEM (Artificial-Intelligence-Guided Transmission Electron Microscope) developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that combines machine learning with the microscope’s advanced automation to achieve in one hour what used to take a team of humans 1000 hours.
This video from Kinetic Precision NH shows the heat treatment of 52100 steel, a chromium steel alloy used in ball bearings and gage blocks.
Researchers at Kobe University, Japan, in partnership with National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, developed a new electrical power converter design that provides considerably better efficiency at reduced cost and maintenance than before.
