The Metallographic Lab has a long history within ASM International’s training center, undergoing many upgrades throughout the years to align with state-of-the-art industry standards. Contributions from Allied High Tech, Buehler, and LECO, allow students to see a selection of the equipment available from the manufacturers for mounting equipment and semi-automatic grinder polishers. During a metallography lab education courses, students spend time perfecting skills discussed during lecture. Experienced instructors share their best techniques in hot and cold mounting, grinding and polishing, and etching. Grinding steps begin with fundamental hand techniques, ending with the advantages of a semi-automatic grinder/polisher or a vibratory polisher. Students will learn what different etchants and methods yield the best microstructures for their material of interest. In the general lab courses, students have the choice to prepare hard, soft, ferrous, and non-ferrous alloys. Students are highly encouraged to bring their own samples.

Recent additions to the metallography lab include a suite of chemical analysis instruments. Elemental characterization of materials are essential for verification of alloy composition and impurities in metal alloys, especially important in the additive manufacturing process. The instruments include a carbon/sulfur (CS) analyzer, an oxygen/nitrogen/hydrogen (ONH) analyzer, and a laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS). The new additions augment our existing capabilities for powder characterization and enhance our ability to measure bulk chemistry.

The Metallographic Lab is equipped with the following:

Take a tour of the Metallographic Lab at ASM International World Headquarters!