Selectively electron transparent microstamping toward concurrent digital image correlation and high resolution EBSD analysis

Abstract

High resolution digital image correlation (HRDIC) and high resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HREBSD) provide valuable and complementary data concerning local deformation at the microscale. However, standard surface preparation techniques are mutually exclusive, which makes combining these techniques in situ impossible. This paper introduces a new method of applying surface patterning for HRDIC, namely a urethane rubber microstamp, that provides a pattern with enough contrast for HRDIC at low accelerating voltages, but is still virtually transparent at the higher voltages necessary for HREBSD and conventional electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. Furthermore, microstamping is inexpensive and repeatable, and is more amenable to application of patterns to complex surface geometries and larger surface areas than other patterning techniques.