AbstractThere is an increasing number of industrial applications where the performance of either existing or new specialised materials, often in hostile operating conditions, is critical to safe operation. There is frequently a need for both rigorous quality control in production and careful inspection throughout service-life. Unfortunately. changes in microstructure during fabrication or in service can have unpredictably deleterious effects on overall material or component performance. It is therefore essential to have non-destructive measurement techniques to relate microstructural effects to bulk properties. In this paper. a number of selected microstructural and NDE techniques (some novel) are reviewed, and their results are interrelated to show where such combinations of diagnostic methods make possible more complete assessments of component material microstructure and performance during service life.