Materials Science and Nanotechnology

Materials Characterization

In terms of materials science, characterization refers to the comprehensive and all-encompassing process of probing and measuring a material's structure and properties. Without it, no scientific understanding of engineering materials could be established. It is an essential procedure in the field of materials research. The range of the term's application varies greatly; for example, some definitions restrict its use to methods that examine the microscopic structure and characteristics of materials, whereas others use the term to describe any process of materials analysis, including macroscopic methods like mechanical testing, thermal analysis, and density calculation. The size of the structures seen during materials characterisation can range from angstroms, as in the imaging of individual atoms and chemical bonds, up to centimetres, as in the imaging of large-scale structures.