Scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPFM) is used in corrosion studies to quantify the relative nobility of different mi crostructural features present within complex metallic systems and thereby elucidate possible corrosion initiation sites. However, Volta potential differences (VPDs) measured via SKPFM in the literature for metal alloys exhibit large variability, making inter pretation and application for corrosion studies difficult. We have developed an improved method for referencing SKPFM VPDs by quantifying the closely related work function of the probe relative to an inert gold standard whose modified work function is calculated via density functional theory (DFT). By measuring and tracking changes in the probe vs. gold VPD, this method compensates for some of the complex effects that cause changes in an individual probe's work function. Furthermore, it provides a path toward direct, quantitative comparison of SKPFM results obtained by different researchers. Application of this method to a Cu-Ag-Ti eutectic braze of a steel sample imaged with multiple SKPFM probes of differing compositions led to enhanced repeatability both within and among probe types, as well as enabled the calculation of modified work function values for each of the microstructural constituents present.

Crystalline barbituric acid dihydrate (BTADH) was previously thought to undergo a subtle temperature-dependent phase transition from a high-temperature orthorhombic Pnma space group to a nonmerohedrally twinned monoclinic P21/n phase below a transition temperature of ∼217 K. Questions remain on the true nature of the unusual transformation and the structure of the high-temperature crystal phase due to difficulties in resolving the Pnma structure from X-ray diffraction data and because of the subtlety of the structural transition. In this study, terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and solid-state density functional theory (DFT) were utilized to explore this suspected phase transition and uncover the principle physical mechanisms contributing to this anomalous transition. Our findings suggest that at temperatures above the previously reported phase transition temperature of 217 K, the crystal does not exist in the Pnma space group configuration. However, two equivalent favorable energetic states with P21/n symmetry related by the twinning plane lie on either side of the proposed Pnma structure. It is these same local potential energy minima that guide the crystal system to a nonmerohedrally twinned configuration identified in the low-temperature crystal structures. At temperatures above 217 K, the system possesses the thermal energy necessary to readily transition between these degenerate states separated by the low-lying Pnma structural barrier. The evidence acquired by THz spectroscopy and DFT indicate the absence of a true temperature-dependent phase change, and rather a system that exists in a tenuous thermally disordered state above the previously alleged transition temperature.

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