Spherical submicron particles of materials produced by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) atomization have been used to study a variety of materials processes including nucleation of alternative crystallization phases in iron-nickel and nickel-chromium alloys, amorphous solidification in submicron droplets of pure metals, and quasi-crystal formation in nickel-chromium alloys. Some experiments on pure nickel, nickel oxide single crystals, the nickel/nickel(II) oxide interface, and grain boundaries in nickel monoxide have been performed by STEM. For these latter studies, HREM is the most direct approach to obtain particle crystal structures at the atomic level. Grain boundaries in nickel oxide have also been investigated by HREM. In this paper, we present preliminary results of HREM observations of NiO growth on submicron spheres of pure nickel.Small particles of pure nickel were prepared by EHD atomization. For the study of pure nickel, 0.5 mm diameter pure nickel wire (99.9975%) is sprayed directly in the EHD process. The liquid droplets solidify in free-flight through a vacuum chamber operated at about 10-7 torr.
