In a metallography laboratory, one of the main activities consists in creating metallographic specimens. The aim of this kind of activity is to examine a particular kind of material from a structural point of view. Metallographic specimens can be prepared with different materials such as metals, polymeric materials or ceramics. Whatever the type of material used, all specimens have one thing in common: they all need to go through a preparation process.

The samples are sanded gradually in order to make them as polished as a mirror. In fact, this phase prepares the metallographic specimen for the microscope inspection.

It is necessary to clean the samples between the different phases; for some materials in particular, such as polymeric materials, it is possible to optimize the cleaning process by using an ultrasonic bath which eliminates any foreign material. This whole process is illustrated below.

Figure 1: two metallographic specimens after the first polishing phase and before the ultrasonic cleaning.

Figure 2: use of ultrasonic cleaning to remove any residual material.

Figure 3: detail of a metallographic specimen that didn't go through the ultrasonic cleaning process. This sample still has residual materials from the polishing process

Figure 4: detail of a metallographic specimen that went through the same polishing process and was cleaned with the ultrasonic cleaner. In this case there are no residual materials.

As it can be observed in figures 3 and 4, the sample that has been washed with the ultrasonic cleaner didn't have any residual materials from the polishing process.

Dr. Roberta Moglia – Laboratory Technician, electronic testing area

Gruppo Istituto Italiano della Saldatura

Lungobisagno Istria, 15 – 16141 Genova – Phone n: 010 8341.1 – Fax: 010 8367780 – www.iis.it – iis@iis.it