Thermal properties of materials characterized by scanning electron-acoustic microscopy

A modified technique of scanning electron-acoustic microscopy is employed to determine thermal diffusivity of materials. Using the dependence of the electron-acoustic signal on modulation frequency of the electron beam, the thermal diffusivity of materials is characterized based on a simplified thermoelastic theory. The thermal diffusivities of several metals characterized by the modified scanning electron-acoustic microscopy are in good agreement with the referential values of the corresponding materials, which proves that the scanning electron-acoustic microscopy can be used to characterize the thermal diffusivity of materials effectively. In addition, for micro-inhomogeneous materials, such as biological tissues, the macro-effective (average) thermal diffusivities are characterized by the technique.