MATERIALS PREPARATION FOR MICROSTRUCTURAL ANALYSIS.

CERAMICS

Specimen Number BB10

Specimen - Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide __________________________________________ Etching - This material is resistant to most solvents and acids with the exception of hydrofluoric and other strongly oxidizing acids. Etching is rather difficult and the method of phase identification by differential abrasion is recommended as a first choice. The specimen shown is one such sample where the unetched structure has been revealed by differential interference contrast.

Sectioning Series 20 LC Wafering Blade

METHOD
Planar Grinding Sample Integrity Ultra-prep Nickel Metlap 4 Lubricant Size/Type 20m diamond 15m oil-based diamond suspension 6m water-based diamond suspension

Encapsulation Epoxide Resin

Direction Platen Speed rpm 300 Head Speed rpm 120 Lbs/n per sample 5 Time/m Until Plane

Water

Contra

Contra

60

60

4 mins

Texmet 1000

Comp

250

120

4 mins

Polishing

Ultrapol

1m water-based diamond suspension

0.05m colloidal silica

Comp

80

60

4 mins

Characteristics This material is manufactured by a conventional powder technology route. The silicon carbide ceramic and free silicon material can be die or isostatic pressed. Machining can take place in the unfired state. This fine grained (10m), high strength engineering ceramic (retention up to 1350C) finds applications as mechanical seal face materials with its longer worker seal life. Compared with other materials such as alumina, wear rates can be as low as one-tenth. Other characteristics of this material are : Hardness (harder than tungsten carbide or alumina) High thermal conductivity High stiffness Good thermal shock resistance This fine graded material is usually fully dense and can be polished to give a high surface reflectivity. The specimen used in this example has shown slight porosity; this, however, must not be confused with specimen induced pullout. _______________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright BUEHLER KRAUTKRAMER 1998