Springer Handbook of Materials Measurement Methods

In its most general context, the term ‘materials measurements’ denotes operations to distinguish qualitatively and to determine quantitatively characteristics of materials. As materials constitute the physical matter of all products – machines, devices, plants, commodities, means of information, communication, transport, habitation and energy supply – materials measurements have a wide scope and impact for science and technology, economy and society.

This Handbook compiles advanced methods for materials measurement and characterization from the macroscopic to the nano-scale. Materials science and its industrial applications require the highest level of accuracy and reliability in the measurement of the properties of materials and the assessment of their safety and reliability. Indeed, major technological nations fund large laboratories for testing and measurements that set standards, assess the safety and reliability of materials, and oversee the use of dangerous materials. But behind and beyond the data themselves are the underlying methods whose sophistication and proper use are absolutely necessary to achieve the accuracy, reliability, and safety required by modern technologies. In addition, the acceleration of the design and creation of new materials via techniques such as molecular modeling and simulation, especially on the nanoscale, makes the measurement of new materials properties and their characterization ever more critical.

So materials professionals need not only handbooks of materials data but clear guidelines and standards for how to measure the full spectrum of materials characteristics of new materials and systems. Since materials science forms a bridge between the more traditonal fields of physics, engineering, and chemistry, unifying the varying perspectives and covering the full gamut of properties also serves a useful purpose. This handbook is the first dedicated to these practical and important considerations.