Electropolishing Challenge
Mechanical preparation of soft materials like Al and Mg is challenging, simply due to a characteristic response to mechanical impact. Electropolishing eliminates the risk of introducing surface deformation, and therefore this is an efficient materialographic technique for materials investigation in high resolution microscopy, where any mechanical artifacts from sample preparation are unacceptable. Handling water-reactive materials like magnesium also benefit from the very fast electrochemical preparation.
Solution:
A materialographic microstructure is obtained with a very short process time of less than five minutes. Two grinding steps, electropolishing and electrochemical etching, are the elements of the process, which also take care of the water-reactive Mg by cleaning without water. A deformation-free surface of a Mg and an Al alloy is obtained, ready for analysis.
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Electropolishing preparation insight | Struers.com
Learn how to perform electropolishing and electrochemical etching in very soft materials. Our application specialists demonstrate a 5-minute metallographic method for preparing soft materials for investigation by high-resolution microscopy.