FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED MICROSCOPY - SOME ADVANCES IN TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTERIZATION AND STRUCTURE-PROPERTY ELUCIDATIONS OF INDUSTRIAL MATERIAL

FTIR-microscopy has become one of the foremost vibrational spectroscop y techniques for problem-solving and analysing and mapping the chemica l structure and physical characteristics associated with industrial ma terials and their fabricated products. Many recent advances have utili sed the attributes of reflection techniques, such as specular reflecti on spectroscopy approaches, while emerging capabilities becoming avail able to the industrial spectroscopist include both spectral imaging an d use of synchrotron radiation as a source. This paper seeks to illust rate each of these recent advances and developments through applicatio ns of FTIR-microscopy to industrial problem-solving case studies.