technology report 04

Research & Development
Materials need to
be understood
Development workers with material analysis competence
In order to promote materials development and optimize
the properties of materials, the materials must be understood,
starting from the atoms and working up to the
macroscopic scale. „Our Technology Center offers diverse
possibilities with its motivated team, laboratories and
technical centers, as well as different material-specific
analysis and testing methods,“ says Annette Lukas, Head
of the Heraeus Technology Center at the Hanau site. „With
this technical equipment, we assist our customers in
developing and optimizing tailored products, and support
them in solving material-specific problems or analyzing
damage.“
The service areas for material testing include surface
analytics, a bonding laboratory for testing bonding wires
and substrates for the automotive and microelectronics
industries, and metallography. Further areas include gas
analysis in solid materials, destructive and non-destructive
tests on materials, as well as melting and heat-treatment
technologies. All departments work together very closely,
and materials being tested sometimes go through almost
all the departments before being approved for use by the
customer. „The wide range of analytical methods and
our materials competence allow us not only to supply our
customers with maximum quality and quality assurance,
but also to assist them with advisory services,“ concludes
Annette Lukas.
Surface analytics: SEM, EDX and SAM give deep insights
One of the most important industrial catalysis processes
is the chemical reaction of ammonia to nitric acid for the
fertilizer industry, using large catalytic gauzes made of
platinum-rhodium alloys. The catalytic effect of the gauzes
has continuously improved over recent decades. In order
to improve the catalytic surface activity of the gauzes,
developers from Heraeus utilize state-of-the-art techniques
An employee during an examination using the Scanning Auger Microanalysis (SAM).
such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Scanning Auger
Microanalysis (SAM). This allows the microstructures and
surface contamination of the precious metal catalysts to
be examined and their mode of operation to be optimized,
entirely in the interests of the users.
„The properties and functions of many products such as
catalysts are quite decisively determined by the surface
and the layers close to the surface. It is therefore critical
to obtain a great deal of information about the surfaces.
For this purpose, we offer a wide range of testing methods,
for example SEM, EDX, SAM and others,“ explains Dr.
Oliver Pompe, Head of the Materials Testing Department
in the Heraeus Technology Center.
technology report Issue 4 | 2013
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