Urchulutegui, M.Piqueras De Noriega, Francisco Javier2023-06-202023-06-201990-01-010021-897910.1063/1.346087https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/59298© American Institute of Physics. This work has been supported by the Volkswagen Foundation and by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (Project. No. PB86-0151). The help of Dr. J. Llopis in this work is acknowledged.MgO crystals have been studied by scanning‐electron acoustic microscopy under different experimental conditions. Contrast mechanisms in imaging are discussed and compared. The experimental results obtained by earthing or nonearthing the specimen‐transducer interface suggest the existence of a signal generation mechanism that is related to the ionic nature of these kind of crystals. Electron‐acoustic microscopy appears then to be a useful tool for the characterization of ionic materials.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.346087http://scitation.aip.orgopen access538.9PhysicsAppliedFísica de materiales