After two years of preparations, on January 19, 2022, we put into operation a new top transmission electron microscope. At the Institute of Physics of Materials of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Brno, the device with the ability to see individual atoms will be used for research and development of new materials.
Even microscopic deformations of materials can have fatal consequences. The importance of materials research can be demonstrated not only on the example of aerospace. At the Institute of Physics of Materials of the CAS, we have been researching materials in both basic and applied research for more than half a century.
A special instrument has now been added to the electron microscopes and experimental testing machines at our workplace: a new transmission electron microscope, financed by the Czech Academy of Sciences and adapted to the requirements of our scientific team. It will serve research groups throughout the institute, for example, to research the causes of material failure, the development of new materials, research into nanoparticles and to clarify the relationship between the behaviour and properties of materials and their structure. The microscope achieves atomic resolution, has an extremely fast and accurate detector of local chemical composition and will have equipment for electron holography, which is unique in the Czech Republic.
„Researchers at the Institute of Physics of Materials the CAS, Petr Lukáš and Mirko Klesnil, were involved in the discovery of persistent slip bands at the end of the 1960s, which is now included in a number of textbooks on material fatigue. At that time, the first transmission electron microscope that the institute managed to obtain helped them to discover,” says Ludvík Kunz, the director of the institute. „Today, Brno is not only the centre of the world’s manufacturers of electron microscopes, but also the centre of their top users for materials research. Therefore, I believe that the new device will contribute to discoveries with a similar impact,“ emphasizes Ludvík Kunz.
The ceremonial opening of the laboratory with the newly installed transmission electron microscope was also attended by the President of the CAS, prof. Eva Zažímalová, who in her speech highlighted the results of the IPM in the theoretical research and in cooperation with industry. The Talos microscope (Thermo Fisher Scientific CZ) was developed and manufactured in Brno.
