BID - Energy Dispersive Spectrometer_EDS & Electron Backscatter Diffration_EBSD 2007

This document is a request for proposal (RFP) for an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) system. The system should include a comprehensive software package for the analysis of orientation imaging microscopy scans. The software should have multiple routines, including a Confidence Index (CI), to determine the success rate of pattern indexing. It should provide indexing results such as the identification of orientation, a numerical measure for confidence in the orientation solution, and the angular fit of orientation. The software should also have the capability to save Hough data during automated data collection and support polygonal, hand-drawn map shapes. It should be a separate program from the data collection software and should be able to process hexagonally sampled data without converting or re-sampling to other formats. Additionally, it should offer noise reduction and clean-up procedures to correct incorrectly indexed or unindexed EBSPs without altering the microstructure. The software should support various map types, including confidence measure, crystal orientation, detector signal, EDS, elastic modulus, grain average confidence measure, grain average image quality, grain average misorientation, grain average video signal, grain orientation spread, grain shape aspect ratio, grain shape orientation, grain size, image quality, inverse pole figure, kernel average misorientation, phase, Schmid factor, and Taylor factor. It should also allow for determining and drawing boundary lines on maps with user-selectable widths, colors, and multiple boundary types and ranges. In terms of computer hardware requirements, the system should include 2 X AMD Opteron 2.2 GHz or better processors, 4 GB RAM expandable to 8 GB, a 500 GB hard drive, Ethernet, wireless keyboard and mouse, a 19" flat panel LCD monitor, and Windows XP Professional operating system with the Microsoft Office package. The proposal should be submitted to Virginia Tech's Purchasing Department and should include a complete response to the RFP, signed by an authorized representative of the offeror. The proposal should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward description of capabilities. It should be organized in the order of the requirements presented in the RFP and should include a table of contents. The proposal should be bound in a single volume, and ownership of all data and materials originated for Virginia Tech shall belong exclusively to Virginia Tech. The proposal may require an oral presentation to clarify or elaborate on the proposal, but the original proposal should be complete.