Metallurgical Mounting Press: All You Need To Know
One of the quality control processes manufacturers using various metals need is microscopy analysis. This process allows you to examine the structure and surface of a particular material to ensure quality and integrity are optimized. These qualities are vital in today's competitive world, and no business can thrive without them. Microscopy requires you to mount metallic or other specimens into a unique medium for protection and preservation. The best equipment for this task is a metallurgical mounting press.
What is a Metallurgical Mounting Press?
A metallurgical mounting press is primarily designed to handle and protect a coated breakable material during metallographic sample preparation. This type of sample preparation, otherwise known as metallurgical sample preparation for metallographic specimen preparation, is crucial for metallurgical testing, which covers the evaluation of a specific material's microstructure using optical magnification. In a nutshell, you need a mounting press if the sample is too small or has a complicated shape, layers, or coatings. This type of equipment is also necessary for applications where edge retention is essential, or you need a specimen with a uniform size.
Types of Metallurgical Mounting Presses
1. Hot mounting press
Most manufacturers prefer using hot mounting specimens because typically, the resin used is more affordable and the entire process quicker and more manageable. With this technique, the sample and resin are combined using a mounting press. The appropriate resin for hot mounting can either be thermoplastic or thermosetting.
2. Cold mounting press
If your specimens are fragile enough to be damaged by heat or pressure, cold mounting is the way to go. With this option, a suitable resin gets poured onto a specimen placed in a mold. But first, you need to mix the resin with an accelerator or hardener. Some of the best resins available for metallurgical cold mounting include epoxy and polyester resins. The equipment that makes this entire process possible is a cold mounting press.
Why Use a Metallurgical Mounting Press
There are numerous reasons to use a metallurgical mounting press, including:
1. Speed
The metallurgical mounting presses available today have been optimized for speed. Therefore, if you need equipment to mount material specimens without wasting crucial time, these machines are guaranteed to meet and exceed your expectations. Besides, if you deal with a significantly large number of samples, a mounting press makes your work more manageable by allowing you to mount multiple specimens simultaneously.
2. Protection
Metallographic specimen preparation mainly aims at protecting delicate samples, a function executed by a suitable mounting press. However, besides protecting the whole specimen, it also preserves vital features, including the layers and edges of a sample. And to make things better, you can tailor the protection offered by a mounting press to serve you at the time of testing or indefinitely.