Abstract
Microscopy has been used to help categorize materials and discover trends and properties that help deepen the understanding of materials. Techniques such as using optical and light microscope have been used for centuries but now with scanning electron microscopes (SEM), new ways to study materials are used and help study materials in new ways. By using a mixture of microscopic, scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and mass spectrometry on an uncategorized unknown Ti-6Al-V4 sample, many properties were found without needing to destroy the sample. More advanced techniques are explored and by using a mixture of SEM and EBSD to help identify the Ti-6Al-V4 phases, grain maps. Using the data, photos and comparing it to other previously done samples can determine how the sample was processed or prepared before observing. Observations show that the material has a majority coarse beta phase when which concludes the material wasn’t heat treated enough to get a majority of alpha phases. Studies have already shown SEM and EBSD are great tools for characterizing complex sample, however this thesis will go over the process of characterizing unknown samples and the methodology if this can be used for future experiments.