For many years, the Douai Ecole des Mines (post graduate engineering school) has been conducting studies and research on material analysis and characterization, something which requires the perfect knowledge of the composition and microstructure of the materials. Accordingly, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of the school has set up a platform for the fine characterization of all types of materials, on scales ranging from the macroscopic to the nanometric. The linchpin of the platform is a new latest generation Hitachi Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), which was officially presented last June 4.
The new microscope of which only forty exist in the world, mainly in the United States and Japan, has high magnifying power, up to 500,000 times original size. This means materials can be observed and characterized on a nanometric scale while minimizing sample damage and enhancing accurate analysis. This is a priceless feature for polymer or fragile materials. By enabling improved knowledge of materials and pollutants in the soil and sediments, the SEM also takes account of sustainable development concerns.
