Where's the Electrical Engineer?

This week at Chalmers saw us come close to the end of our practical investigations. Some time was spent preparing all the samples by a process known as etching, which allows the grains to more visible under the optical microscope. However we had some problems with the equipement, with our lack of electrical skills letting us down. This meant the process took a little bit longer than expected.

A day was also spent completing the SEM work, for which it is required that we assistance for our PhD advisor Giulio at all time. We examined some samples of interest, including the troublesome Stainless Steel 353 sample, and we were eventually able to confirm the presence of carbides which had been expected throughout the investigations!

In terms of reporting we completed the write up of XPS as well as the introduction and background of SEM.

Next week should see the end of our practical investigations, with only a small analysis in grain sizing still on the 'to do' list!