Investigating the distribution and bonding of light elements alloyed in carbonaceous materials using EELS in the TEM/STEM Original Research Article

Carbon-boron-nitrogen (CBN) alloys prepared by pyrolysis have been characterized using electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Particular attention was paid to the homogeneity in the chemical composition over the nanometre length scale and to the extraction of local bonding information which are both of prime importance for properties such as strength, oxidation resistance as well as for subsequent materials processing. Further examples of the power of EELS analysis are provided by studies of elemental distributions in C fibres prepared from polymeric precursors, the investigation of the structure of vapour grown C fibres and the identification of interfacial reactions in C fibre/SiC composites.