In their quest for quality, the personnel at Ford’s Dunton
Technical Centre in Brentwood, Essex, England, use a scanning
electron microscope. In their quest for quality, the personnel
at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in Brentwood, Essex, England,
use a scanning electron microscope. Explained Roger Davis, who
performs materials engineering and testing at the site, “We need
to investigate possible reasons why a development part may not
meet our stringent requirements. In some cases that reason can
be the smallest anomalies, something that can be found by using
the scanning electron microscope. The machine can magnify a part
by up to 200,000 times and make it look quite surreal, but to
the trained eye any defects become quickly apparent at these
levels of magnification.” The SEM works by using electrons
rather than light waves, as is the case with conventional
microscopes. Parts are placed in a vacuum chamber, and then an
electron beam is scanned across the part surface through the use
of a series of electromag