Traditionally the vast majority of materials characterization techniques have been destructive, e. g., chemical compositional analysis, metallographic determination of microstructure, tensile test measurement of mechanical properties, etc. Also, traditionally, nondestructive techniques have been used almost exclusively for the detection of macroscopic defects, mostly cracks, in structures and devices which have already been constructed and have already been in service for an extended period of time. Following these conventional nondestructive tests, it has been common practice to use somewhat...