TY - JOUR

T1 - Qualifying Electrically Conductive Cold Embedding-Media for Scanning Electron Microscopy

AU - Besserer, Hans Bernward

AU - Boiarkin, Viacheslav

AU - Rodman, Dmytro

AU - Nürnberger, Florian

N1 - Funding information: The authors thank the German Research Foundation for the financial support of the work carried out within the scope of the transregional research centre SFB/TR 73 in sub-project C6 “Fatigue behavior” and the additional sub-project C6 “Optimization of the fatigue behavior.” Special thanks go to Ms. Ute Teuber and Ms. Kristin Kreuzarek for their support with the metallographic analysis.

PY - 2016/8

Y1 - 2016/8

N2 - The choice of embedding-media for metallographic specimen preparation, where subsequent scanning electron microscopy will be performed, is highly important since the quality of the analytical results in the specimen’s near-surface region is limited by the properties of the embedding-material. Due to their high electrical conductivity and only slight tendency to form gaps between near the sample surface, warm curing embedding-media are usually best suited. Hot embedding-presses use relatively high pressures at elevated temperatures that can be detrimental for sensitive materials or coatings. Cold embedding with conventional embedding-media, which does not require high pressure mounting, requires compromising for a material with a lower electric conductivity, a higher amount of pores in the material, and inferior interfacial connectivity to the specimen. For this reason, the development of alternative electrically conductive and cold hardening embedding-media is of great interest for metallographic sample preparation of electron microscopy specimens. In the present study, various embedding-media were evaluated with respect to their suitability for scanning electron microscopy and a novel conductive mounting compound has been identified and qualified.

AB - The choice of embedding-media for metallographic specimen preparation, where subsequent scanning electron microscopy will be performed, is highly important since the quality of the analytical results in the specimen’s near-surface region is limited by the properties of the embedding-material. Due to their high electrical conductivity and only slight tendency to form gaps between near the sample surface, warm curing embedding-media are usually best suited. Hot embedding-presses use relatively high pressures at elevated temperatures that can be detrimental for sensitive materials or coatings. Cold embedding with conventional embedding-media, which does not require high pressure mounting, requires compromising for a material with a lower electric conductivity, a higher amount of pores in the material, and inferior interfacial connectivity to the specimen. For this reason, the development of alternative electrically conductive and cold hardening embedding-media is of great interest for metallographic sample preparation of electron microscopy specimens. In the present study, various embedding-media were evaluated with respect to their suitability for scanning electron microscopy and a novel conductive mounting compound has been identified and qualified.

KW - Cold embedding

KW - Metallographic preparation

KW - Scanning electron microscopy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84980041554&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s13632-016-0286-9

DO - 10.1007/s13632-016-0286-9

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84980041554

VL - 5

SP - 332

EP - 341

JO - Metallography, Microstructure, and Analysis

JF - Metallography, Microstructure, and Analysis

SN - 2192-9262

IS - 4

ER -