Imaging Microstructure Contest - 2008

Wen Tu, Grand Prize Winner - Scientific Merit

Jeff Hendricks, Grand Prize Winner - Artistic Merit

Gerri Bernard, 1st Place - Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy

Charles Shaw, 2nd Place - Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy

$This image shows a mounted fracture surface (bottom edge) cross-section of a ductile iron (SAE J434) axle tube. This axle tube was made using an experimental lost foam process to manufacture a one-piece axle tube assembly. This particular axle tube fractured under beaming fatigue. The section was removed and prepared for metallographic evaluation in accordance with ASTM E3. A light 2% nital etch was applied. The image shows a transition (left-to-right) from a pearlitic core nodular structure, to a martensitic region with no nodularity, returning to a nodular structure with a pearlitic core, finally transitioning to a nodular structure with a primarily ferritic core. The region with no nodularity was determined to be the primary cause for fracture. This atypical microstructure was determined to be the ground location during the welding process, which overheated and caused a microstructural change, therefore leading to premature failure.$ Steve Coryell, 3rd Place - Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy

Kangwon Lee, 1st Place - TEM, X-Ray Imaging and Surface Probe Techniques

Jessica TerBush, 2nd Place - TEM, X-ray Imaging and Surface Probe Techniques

Lee Sears, 3rd Place - TEM, X-ray Imaging and Surface Probe Techniques

Chloe Funkhouser, 1st Place - Simulated Microstructures as Products of Computational Materials Science

Alex Perez-Bergquist, 1st Place - Digitally Enhanced or Colorized Images of Microstructures

$The colorized image is a focused ion beam induced secondary electron image taken of Indium crystallites. Those crystallites were found growing out of the indium solder bond between a GaAs wafer sample and the coated molybdenum MBE sample puck it was bonded to. The crystallites were imaged after the sample had been cooled to room temperature following an AlAs growth experiment and transferred in vacuo to the Mirecki-Millunchick group's UHV FEI Magnum FIB instrument. The image was taken using a 7.5 pA gallium ion beam at an accelerating voltage of 30 kV. Noting that the indium structures resemble underwater plant-life or coral, the image was colorized accordingly. The purple-white "plants" are the indium crystallites, the blue-green "water" is the surface of the MBE sample puck, and the brown-grey "rock" is the fractured edge of the GaAs wafer. Colorization was carried out in Adobe Photoshop by separating each feature into its own layer and then by applying a different color gradient to each layer.$ Kevin Grossklaus, 2nd Place - Digitally Enhanced or Colorized Images of Microstructures

Jessica Bickel, 3rd Place - Digitally Enhanced or Colorized Images of Microstructures