Different samples benefit from different preparation methods, there is no single solution which works on all samples. The table below gives some general guidelines for different sample types and the resources below contain information about specific samples and examples of preparation methods.
Mechanical Polishing |
|||||
Technique |
Standard Metallographic Polishing |
Colloidal Silica |
Vibromet |
Electropolishing (post mechanical polish) |
Ion Milling (Ideally post mechanical polish)* |
Metals | |||||
Single phase |
✔ |
✔ |
Optional |
✔ |
✔ |
Multi phase |
✔ |
✔ |
Optional |
No, may cause preferential etching |
✔ |
Soft metals e.g. Cu, Al |
✔ |
✔ |
Very useful |
Very useful |
✔ |
Steels |
✔ |
✔ |
Optional |
✔ |
✔ |
Ceramics | |||||
Single phase |
✔ |
✔ |
Very useful |
Not required |
✔ |
Multi phase |
✔ |
✔ |
Very useful |
Not required |
✔ |
Geological | |||||
Multi phase |
✔ |
✔ |
Very useful |
Not required |
✔ |
* Ion milling should ideally be post mechanical polishing. It can be performed on an unprepared sample however the milling time will be significantly longer.
This application note describes a method of combining Oxford Instrument’s OmniProbe tools and AZtec EBSD system for the manipulation and analysis of a 5μm diameter gold microelectronic wire sample.
This application note describes how EBSD patterns evolve during various mechanical polishing stages of duplex steel and sintered alumina as well as electrolytical polishing of the duplex steel sample.
This technical bulletin describes some simple recipes outlining the techniques sample preparation for EBSD Analysis.
This poster shows how Broad Beam Ion Milling has been used to produce excellent samples from zirconium and magnesium alloys and galvanized zinc coatings, usually difficult to prepare by mechanical routes only.
This study is an attempt to illustrate how EBSD patterns evolve through the various metallographic preparation steps using duplex steel and alumina samples as examples.
This study illustrates the methodology for
mechanically polishing an automotive spark plug, utilising both bright field and differential interference contrast optical microscopy to assess the surface condition, prior to SEM/EBSD characterisation.
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