A&A COMPANY, INC.

WORKING INSTRUCTION:
AAWI003
PROPRIETARY ISSUED:
MayNovember 2811, 20112
REVISION:
01

INTERNAL WORKING PROCEDURE FOR METALLOGRAPHY

INDEX
1. SECTIONING..................................................................................................................2
2. MOUNTING...................................................................................................................2
3. GRINDING.....................................................................................................................3
4. POLISHING....................................................................................................................3
4.1. Rough Polishing...........................................................................................................3
4.2. Final Polishing..............................................................................................................4
5. MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS........................................................................................4
1. SECTIONING.................................................................................................................2
2. MOUNTING...................................................................................................................2
3. GRINDING.....................................................................................................................3
4. POLISHING....................................................................................................................3
4.1. Rough Polishing..................................................................................................3
4.2. Final Polishing......................................................................................................4

Page 1 of 5
Disclaimer:
This document is based on general practice followed in metallography industry. This document is intended solely for the internal use of
A&A Company Inc. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document is strictly prohibited for anyone except A&A
Company Inc. authorized personnel. In such case, please notify to the A&A Company personnel immediately.
A&A COMPANY, INC. WORKING INSTRUCTION:
AAWI003
PROPRIETARY ISSUED:
MayNovember 2811, 20112
REVISION:
01

INTERNAL WORKING PROCEDURE FOR METALLOGRAPHY

This procedure provides the guidelines that are needed to be followed for metallography.

These guidelines are based on the common industrial practice. The procedure may be altered

in order to achieve optimum result.

1. SECTIONING

 Metallographic sample needs to be sectioned to the area of interest and for easier

handling. A section of 0.75 to 1.00 inch long by 0.25 to 0.50 inch wide shall be cut

from the prepared panel.

 Low speed diamond saw or equivalent equipment can be used for sectioning sample.

 The sectioning operation can be obtained by diamond wafer cutting. Diamond wafer

blade can cut almost all kind of materials/coatings.

2. MOUNTING

 The mounting operation accomplishes three important functions (1) it protects the

specimen edge and maintains the integrity of a materials surface features (2) fills

voids in porous materials and (3) improves handling of irregular shaped samples.

 The metallographic specimen mounting is done by casting the specimen into ambient

castable mounting resins i.e. Epoxy resins. It is recommended to use Cast and Vac

system for removing air bubbles.

Page 2 of 5
Disclaimer:
This document is based on general practice followed in metallography industry. This document is intended solely for the internal use of
A&A Company Inc. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document is strictly prohibited for anyone except A&A
Company Inc. authorized personnel. In such case, please notify to the A&A Company personnel immediately.
A&A COMPANY, INC. WORKING INSTRUCTION:
AAWI003
PROPRIETARY ISSUED:
MayNovember 2811, 20112
REVISION:
01

INTERNAL WORKING PROCEDURE FOR METALLOGRAPHY

 Hold the specimen with support clip for stability during mounting process if

necessary.

 The mounting compounds are typically two component systems (1-resin and 1-

hardener). Mixing ratio and curing time is product specific and hence refer to

manufacturer’s recommendation.

3. GRINDING

 Grinding is required to planarize the specimen and to reduce the damage created by

sectioning. Manual or automatic grinder and polisher shall be used for grinding and

polishing processes.

 The planar grinding step is accomplished to obtain surface finishes that are ready for

polishing either by decreasing the abrasive grit/ particle size sequentially (For metals

and alloys) or using diamond grinding disc (For harder material like ceramic and

carbide). The grinding media and steps can be altered in order to get optimized

grinding.

 Care must be taken to avoid being too abrasive in this step, and actually creating

greater specimen damage than produced during cutting.

 Water shall be used as coolant to dissipate the heat produced during grinding.

Page 3 of 5
Disclaimer:
This document is based on general practice followed in metallography industry. This document is intended solely for the internal use of
A&A Company Inc. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document is strictly prohibited for anyone except A&A
Company Inc. authorized personnel. In such case, please notify to the A&A Company personnel immediately.
A&A COMPANY, INC. WORKING INSTRUCTION:
AAWI003
PROPRIETARY ISSUED:
MayNovember 2811, 20112
REVISION:
01

INTERNAL WORKING PROCEDURE FOR METALLOGRAPHY

4. POLISHING

4.1. Rough Polishing

 The purpose of the rough polishing step is to remove the damage produced during

cutting and planar grinding.

 Proper polishing will maintain specimen flatness and retain all inclusions or

secondary phases. By eliminating the previous damage and maintaining the

microstructural integrity of the specimen at this step, a minimal amount of time

should be required to remove the cosmetic damage at the final polishing step.

 Rough polishing is accomplished primarily with diamond abrasives ranging from 9

micron down to 1-micron diamond.

 Monocrystalline/Polycrystalline diamond solution/paste can be used as polishing

media on the polishing cloth.

4.2. Final Polishing

 The purpose of final polishing is to remove only surface damage. It should not be

used to remove any damage remaining from cutting and planar grinding. If the

damage from these steps is not completely removed then, the rough polishing step

should be repeated or continued.

Page 4 of 5
Disclaimer:
This document is based on general practice followed in metallography industry. This document is intended solely for the internal use of
A&A Company Inc. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document is strictly prohibited for anyone except A&A
Company Inc. authorized personnel. In such case, please notify to the A&A Company personnel immediately.
A&A COMPANY, INC. WORKING INSTRUCTION:
AAWI003
PROPRIETARY ISSUED:
MayNovember 2811, 20112
REVISION:
01

INTERNAL WORKING PROCEDURE FOR METALLOGRAPHY

 Monocrystalline/Polycrystalline diamond or silica solution/paste of submicron size

can be used as final polishing media on the polishing cloth.

 This step may not be necessary if the sample has a good rough polishing.

5. MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS

 Review the mount under microscope for porosity, oxides (if applicable), bondline

contamination, unreacted globular particles.

 Repeat grinding and polishing process if the prepared surface is not optimum.

Page 5 of 5
Disclaimer:
This document is based on general practice followed in metallography industry. This document is intended solely for the internal use of
A&A Company Inc. Any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document is strictly prohibited for anyone except A&A
Company Inc. authorized personnel. In such case, please notify to the A&A Company personnel immediately.