Application Note

Correlated mechanical microscopy is a powerful technique for materials science investigations.

By correlating indentation properties maps with orientation maps obtained by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), composition-property relationships can be extracted. By correlating indentation properties maps with orientation maps obtained by electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), orientation property relationships can be extracted. In this application note, an approach for performing correlative mechanical microscopy using both EDX and EBSD is outlined and demonstrated on a meteorite fragment. Using displacement-controlled indentations allowed consistent sampling from both mechanical, EDX, and EBSD sampled volumes. This demonstrates the potential of this correlative approach for complex microstructures.