Industrial pure titanium is a very soft and ductile metal, and the preparation of metallographic samples is very difficult. During the sample grinding and polishing process, mechanical twinning, plastic deformation, embedding of grinding particles, incomplete scratch removal, and other defects are easily generated. When using manual grinding and polishing methods for preparation, it is more likely to cause surface roughness of the sample, resulting in the inability to present the true microstructure. Therefore, in order to quickly and conveniently prepare titanium metallographic samples with clear organization, scratch free, deformation free, and embedding free, not only mature technology is required, but also the consumables used in each step of preparation need to be selected. In our laboratory, the two types of metallographic polishing cloths used in the polishing process, combined with diamond polishing fluid, have been very stable in polishing industrial pure titanium samples. We would like to share them with friends and hope to provide some help to those who do metallography.

Of course, we use an automatic polishing machine to grind and polish the samples, usually using a four step method to prepare, using SatinCloth metallographic polishing cloth and MicroMet metallographic polishing cloth from QMAXIS (Kemai) in the United States, respectively.


SatinCloth metallographic polishing cloth with 3µ M diamond suspension, cooled by polishing cooling lubricant


MicroMet metallographic polishing cloth with 1µ M diamond suspension, cooled by polishing cooling lubricant

The specific preparation method is as follows:


Cutting: precision cutting machine/grinding wheel cutting machine, QMAXIS diamond cutting blades and grinding wheel cutting blades for cutting non-ferrous metals


Embedding: Hot press inlay machine METPRESS A, PhenoPowder phenolic resin


Grinding and polishing: automatic grinding and polishing machine METPOL-A, P240 and P1200 diamond grinding discs, 3 μ M and 1 μ M diamond suspension, SatinCloth and MicroMet metallographic polishing cloth

Tip:

Due to the low grinding and polishing rate of industrial pure titanium, erosion polishing agents should be added in the fine polishing step to achieve ideal polishing results. If there are high requirements for sample preparation, vibration polishing can be used during fine polishing to remove internal stress on the shallow surface of the sample.

Experience has shown that the preparation of industrial pure titanium samples using these two types of metallographic polishing cloths from QMAXIS has a very stable effect! For detailed information on the selected SatinCloth metallographic polishing cloth and MicroMet metallographic polishing cloth, as well as other applications, please contact the application engineer of pulse detection for consultation. This will not be introduced here, as they are more professional.