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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 17/07/2026

New paper: "Characterizing Dislocation Substructures in Creep-Deformed Olivine Using Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging" by M. Haroon Qaiser, Jessica White, David Wallis and @bmatb.expmicromech.com in JGR Solid Earth doi.org/10.1029/2026... 🧪🔬⚒️

The paper graphical abstract which shows how we can understand the structure of olivine and associated deformation with advanced microscopy based observations

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 16/06/2026

🚨New paper: "The significance of an unknown Pd-Ni-Bi telluride mineral from the Gochager Lake Ni-Cu deposit (Saskatchewan, Canada)" by P. Alexandre and T.B. Britton doi.org/10.1180/mgm....

A ternary phase diagram for the Ni-Pd-Bi system, which shows that the found mineral belongs on this diagram as an extreme member of the system

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 28/05/2026

🚨New Preprint: Brendan V. Dyck, Xavier Chang, and @bmatb.expmicromech.com "Supersaturation dynamics govern crystallographic orientation inheritance during mineral nucleation: insights from aqueous salt systems" essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10....

A figure showing that the crystals which grow on a substrate have a fixed orientation relationship with the substrate

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 19/05/2026

🚨🔬 New paper: "Dynamical simulation of on-axis transmission Kikuchi and spot diffraction patterns, based on accurate diffraction geometry calibration" @tbizh95.bsky.social, Raynald Gauvin, Aimo Winkelmann, @bmatb.expmicromech.com doi.org/10.1111/jmi....

$Example figure from the paper - which shows experimental and simulated patterns (grey scale images with spots and bands) with the diffraction patterns well matched$

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 12/05/2026

🚨New #Preprint - some really beautiful electron microscopy of olivine (an important mineral): M. Haroon Qaiser, Jessica White, David Wallis, and T. Ben Britton "Characterizing Dislocation Substructures in Creep-Deformed Olivine Using Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging" arxiv.org/abs/2605.09398

Graphical abstract of the work - showing the workflow, micrographs, and interpretation of the data

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 12/05/2026

This paper has been accepted for publication in Ultramicroscopy T Ben Britton, M. Haroon Qaiser, Ruth M. Birch "Channeling-in channeling-out revisited: selected area electron channeling and electron backscatter diffraction" Ultramicroscopy (2026) arxiv.org/abs/2603.27082 and doi.org/10.1016/j.ul...

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 01/05/2026

🚨New Preprint: "Polar Topologies in a Ferroelastic Metal Membrane" by R Haria, N Schnitzer, TB Britton, Y Li, TJP Irons, S Linssen Pitsaros, E Banyas, G Topore, A Hoyes, M Palos, S M Griffin, K Inzani, MS Conroy arxiv.org/abs/2604.28120

Figure 1 of the paper - where we show multiscale correlative electron microscopy of the freestanding and restrained thin film

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 17/04/2026

🚨 new #PrePrint: "Correlative Microstructural Analysis of a Weathered Nantan Meteorite Fragment" by Graeme J. Francolini, Brendan V. Dyck, Paul Mack, @bmatb.expmicromech.com arxiv.org/abs/2604.14187

Graphical abstract showing a range of characterization methods to understand the structure of the meteorite fragment

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 31/03/2026

🚨 New #PrePrint: T Ben Britton, M. Haroon Qaiser, Ruth M. Birch "Channeling-in channeling-out revisited: selected area electron channeling and electron backscatter diffraction" arxiv.org/abs/2603.27082

Graphical abstract of the paper - shows the way that patterns can be formed through scanning of the electron beam through a variety of angles, and the resulting EBSD-like maps that show this data.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 25/03/2026

🚨 New #ArXiv PrePrint: @tbizh95.bsky.social, Raynald Gauvin, Aimo Winkelmann, @bmatb.expmicromech.com "Dynamical Simulation of On-axis Transmission Kikuchi and Spot Diffraction Patterns, Based on Accurate Diffraction Geometry Calibration" #ElectronMicroscopy #Microscopy arxiv.org/abs/2603.22628

$A graphical abstract for the work which showcases the diffraction pattern capture, detector calibration, geometrical analysis, and then the full intensity simulations of the resulting patterns$

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 10/03/2026

🚨New preprint: "The role of austenite twins on variant selection during decomposition in low carbon steels" by @drruthb.bsky.social, @bmatb.expmicromech.com and Warren Poole from UBC Materials Engineering. 📝: arxiv.org/abs/2603.07378 📽️: www.youtube.com/shorts/IC-Pa... #Microscopy

youtube.com

Isolated PAG Grain - and pattern quality - steel

Collected and created by Dr Ruth Birch @ UBC (advised by Dr Ben Britton and Dr Warren Poole)

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 03/03/2026

🚨 New Paper (open access) - published in the Journal of Applied Crystallography: "AstroECP: towards more practical Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging" by M. H. Qaiser, L. Berners, R. Scales, T. Zhang, M. Heller, J. Dluhos, S. Korte-Kerzel, and B. Britton journals.iucr.org/j/issues/202...

journals.iucr.org

AstroECP: towards more practical electron channeling contrast imaging

We explore and address many of the major challenges associated with using electron channeling contrast imaging in a scanning electron microscope, with the goal of more easily revealing and characteriz...

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 21/01/2026

🔬paper: W Peng, A Singh, MH Qaiser, P Fahler-Muenzer, F Watson, L Si, Y Xie, KE Sopińska, DA Chaney, AM Sanchez, @bmatb.expmicromech.com , @richbean0.bsky.social , M Hadjimichael, M Alexe "Electron channeling contrast imaging of ferroelastic domains" Advanced Materials (2026) doi.org/10.1002/adma...

Micrographs which show ferroelastic domain structure, and the associated crystallography

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 01/01/2026

New paper: "Large volume ‘chunk’ lift out for 3D tomographic analysis using analytical plasma focussed ion beam – scanning electron microscopy" by Ruth Birch, Shuheng Li, Sharang Sharang, Warren J. Poole, and @bmatb.expmicromech.com doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...

Graphical abstract of the lift out process

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 04/11/2025

We have two funded PhD positions in the group (based at UBC, Vancouver, Canada) - for a May or September 2026 start date - in advancing electron microscopy & materials for clean energy + transportation - to find out more: www.expmicromech.com/people/oppor...

expmicromech.com

Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group - Opportunities

NEW OPPORTUNITIES: 2 Fully Funded PhD Positions: Advanced Electron Microscopy for Materials Engineering @ UBC (Vancouver) – www.expmicromech.com/people/opportunities Join the Experimental Micromechani...

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 30/09/2025

🚨New Preprint: "Angular Resolution Enhancement of Electron Backscatter Diffraction Patterns" by @bmatb.expmicromech.com and @tbizh95.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2509.23039

Figure from the paper which shows that you can get an angular improvement in the EBSD pattern by using a super resolution method, above what is expected from simply counting longer.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 28/09/2025

🚨Preprint: "Exploring the potential for scanning electron microscopy/focused ion beam - based diffraction for screening cryo-transmission electron microscopy samples" EV Woods, C Wigge, Y Zhao, R de Kloe, TM Schwarz, @bmatb.expmicromech.com, S Zaefferer, @batgo.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...

$Workflow of the paper - showing a multi panel image, (a) plug freezing set up; (b) transfer of samples into the SEM-holder; (c) diffraction set ups; (d) post plunge analysis routes$

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Reposted by Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group

Tianbi Zhang @handle.invalid · 10/07/2025

On behalf of @expmicromech.com - the latest version of AstroEBSD is released, adding the newly developed AstroECP tool to our toolbox (see our preprint announcement). Also we (finally) tidied up the readme files, added descriptions of new features over the years, and created a change log.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 28/08/2025

🚨📜: "Practical Considerations for Crystallographic and Microstructure Mapping With Direct Electron Detector-Based Electron Backscatter Diffraction" by @tbizh95.bsky.social, Ruth Birch, Graeme Francolini, Ebru Karakurt, @bmatb.expmicromech.com in Microscopy and Microanalysis doi.org/10.1093/mam/...

Graphical abstract showing the experimental overview, and a brief overview of the results from the paper.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 02/07/2025

🚨 New Preprint: "AstroECP: towards more practical Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging" M. Haroon Qaiser, Lukas Berners, Robin J. Scales, @tbizh95.bsky.social, Martin Heller, Jiri Dluhos, Sandra Korte-Kerzel, @bmatb.expmicromech.com arxiv.org/abs/2507.00354

Figure 1 from the paper which shows the electron column and microscope layout required to collect and understand and electron channelling pattern

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 01/07/2025

🚨New #PrePrint - "Characterization of WSe2 films using reflection Kikuchi diffraction in the scanning electron microscope and multivariate statistical analyses" @tbizh95.bsky.social, J Holzer, T Vystavěl, M Kolíbal, E Paiva de Araújo, C. Stephens & @bmatb.expmicromech.com arxiv.org/abs/2506.22575

$Graphical abstract - showing the experimental set up for the analysis of WSe2 films, the data clustering method, analysis of the diffraction patterns, and diffraction patterns from one, two and three layer WSe2 films$

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 24/06/2025

🚨 new preprint - arxiv.org/abs/2506.17534 🔬 "Large volume 'chunk' lift out for 3D tomographic analysis using analytical plasma focussed ion beam -- scanning electron microscopy" by @drruthb.bsky.social Shuheng Li, Sharang Sharang, Warren J. Poole, @bmatb.expmicromech.com

A graphical abstract showing the steps required to do a lift out experiment - where a chunk of Mg is extracted and then images in 3D

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 24/04/2025

New paper: Long, D., Dessolier, T., @bmatb.expmicromech.com Pedrazzini, S., and Dunne, F. P.E., "Zirconium Δ-Hydrides: Strain Localisation, Ratcheting, and Fatigue Crack Propagation" published in the International Journal of Plasticity (2025) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Figure 1 from the paper - which shows the instrument sample design for in situ optical digital image correlation analysis of zircaloy 4

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 17/04/2025

🚨New Preprint - "Practical considerations for crystallographic and microstructure mapping with direct electron detector-based electron backscatter diffraction" by @tbizh95.bsky.social, Ruth Birch, Graeme Francolini, Ebru Karakurt Uluscu, @bmatb.expmicromech.com arxiv.org/abs/2504.11624

A graphical abstract from the work that shows the microscope set up, examples of the systematic studies that form part of the paper, and three example application areas

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 21/03/2025

Exciting times - a brand new Thermo Fisher Scientific Apreo Chemisem scanning electron microscope, equipped with EDX and EBSD, is being commissioned for us at UBC - with support from Systems for Research. This instrument will enable us to develop highly automated materials characterization methods.

A photograph of a new scanning electron microscope in the lab

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 22/02/2025

🚨New published paper: "Comparison of Kikuchi Diffraction Geometries in Scanning Electron Microscope" by @tbizh95.bsky.social, Lukas Berners, Jakub Holzer, @bmatb.expmicromech.com - where we use and compare direct electro detector configurations for electron crystallography doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...

$A figure from the paper which shows different geometries of the experimental set up and the collected diffraction patterns.$

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 14/02/2025

🚨New paper - "Microstructural characterization to reveal evidence of shock deformation in a Campo del Cielo meteorite fragment" by Graeme Francolini and @bmatb.expmicromech.com - accepted for publication in Materials Characterization doi.org/10.1016/j.ma... 🧪🔬🌠

A black and white micrograph revealing deformation twins and other features from the shocked meteorite sample

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 21/11/2024

🚨New #ArXiv #PrePrint: "Comparison of Kikuchi Diffraction Geometries in Scanning Electron Microscope" by @tbizh95.bsky.social, Lukas Berners, Jakub Holzer, @bmatb.expmicromech.com Exploring on- and off-axis TKD, EBSD and RKD geometries for crystallographic analysis arxiv.org/abs/2411.13018

$Figure 2 from the paper that shows: "Experimental stages and typical raw, background corrected Kikuchi patterns from the four diffraction geometries. Indexed patterns with pattern centre and selected bands overlaid are also shown."$

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 19/11/2024

🚨New paper: "Improving parent-austenite twinned grain reconstruction using electron backscatter diffraction in low carbon austenite" by @drruthb.bsky.social @bmatb.expmicromech.com and Warren Poole in Scripta Materialia (2025) - we use #EBSD and improve the analysis of steel doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

A graphical abstract that shows how we go from an initial microstructure map and apply a reconstruction algorithm, which we improve using a 'resort' procedure. The new algorithm has a better looking and more realistic microstructure.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 12/11/2024

🚨New paper: "Effect of chromium doping on the grain boundary character of WC-Co" by Max Emmanuel et al., where we measure how the variations in processing parameters influence the microstructure in hard metal cutting tool materials. doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...

Screenshot of the paper headline from the linked article - showing the full title, journal, and author list.

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Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group @expmicromech.com · 12/11/2024

This is a BlueSky feed for the @expmicromech.com research group, who are based at the University of British Columbia and Imperial College London. This will be a low traffic feed, where we'll post news group the group here (which is also pushed to our website - www.expmicromech.com).

expmicromech.com

Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group

Welcome to the home pages of the Experimental Micromechanical Characterisation Research Group, including Dr Ben Britton and team. We are based both at Imperial College London (UK) and at UBC, Vancouve...

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