Metallographic Specimen Preparation

CLASS 2 - VERY SOFT, LOW DUCTILITY MATERIALS

Examples include refractory metals (tungsten, rhenium, niobium, molybdenum), rare earths, precious metals (gold, silver, platinum).

Description:
Class 2 materials include refractory metals such as rhenium, niobium and tungsten have very high melting temperatures; however, they are typically very soft and require the same specimen preparation considerations as other very soft metals.

Preparation Challenge:
For very soft materials, any loose or fractured abrasive particles can easily become embedded. This makes specimen preparation very difficult because it gums up diamond grinding disks or the specimen can become embedded with fractured SiC particles when ground with SiC papers. The key to preparation of these materials is to use tougher alumina abrasives and to chemically etch the specimen in between each grinding step. The purpose of etching is to remove the embedded particles so as not to carry them over to the next grinding step as contamination.