1. The isolation of the workpiece is the key to metallographic cutting:

    The sample must be able to extract the characteristics of the workpiece;

    During cutting, the cutting wheel cannot be locked;

    When cutting, the grinding wheel blade only needs to withstand less wear;

    After cutting, the sample must be thoroughly cooled;

    The surface of the sample should not have burns/thermal damage;

    2. For cutting itself, many different methods can be used, but to meet the needs of material phase cutting, only a few techniques are feasible, among which wet cutting is as follows:

    Wet cutting is the most appropriate metallographic cutting method, because this method causes the least damage in the time relative to the process. Wet cutting includes the cutting wheel. Use coolant to wash the cutting wheel to avoid damaging the sample due to heat generated by friction. Coolant can also remove debris in the cutting area.

    3. How to choose a cutting machine?

    The size of the workpiece determines the size of the cutting machine, as the workpiece should be embedded in the cutting chamber and the diameter of the cutting wheel should be large enough to cut the workpiece

    4. Fixture solutions

    The main purpose of fixtures is to fix the workpiece during cutting, which can be completed in various ways and has a significant impact on cutting quality;

    The time spent in the entire cutting process is largely influenced by the selection of fixtures, as it may be very time-consuming when involving one or more fixture operations;

    When considering fixture solutions, it is necessary to consider simple or complex geometric structures, one or more samples to be cut, brittle or sensitive materials, and repeated cutting of many different samples or the same parts;

    5. The layout of the workpiece relative to the cutting wheel also affects the cutting quality of the sample

    Clamp the sample below the front of the cutting wheel to optimize the use of coolant;

    The clamping on both sides of the cutting wheel can avoid burrs at the bottom of the cutting piece, prevent materials with high internal stress from clamping the cutting wheel or preventing it from rotating in worse situations;

    For most materials, only slight clamping is required to cut the area that will be cut.

    6. Selection of cutting wheels

    The characteristics of the cutting wheel are key factors, and the selection of the cutting wheel mainly depends on the material to be cut.

    7. Selection of cutting mode and parameters

    Feed rate: For metallographic cutting, the feed rate is usually less than 1mm/s and can be adjusted for the specified cutting wheel and cutting sample. If the feed rate is too slow, it will prolong the cutting process, while if the feed rate is too high, it will increase the risk of sample burns;

    Rotation speed: When cutting different materials, the rotation speed of the cutting wheel can be adjusted to shorten the range of necessary consumable cutting wheels. This method does not replace the cutting wheel, but adjusts the rotation speed, and by reducing the rotation speed, the hard wheel can be used as a soft wheel, and vice versa.

    8. Cooling

    Cutting fluid is an essential consumable for wet cutting, and its functions include cooling, flushing, lubrication, anti-corrosion, and antibacterial media

    The positioning of the workpiece and the selection of cutting mode will help guide the cutting coolant into the cutting area. If there is a flexible water pipe available in the cutting machine, the optimal layout of the water outlet is perpendicular to the cutting wheel

   9. Cutting equipment

    The cutting process should be as simple, fast, and precise as possible. In pulse detection, you can see a metallographic cutting machine used for fast and deformation free cutting of various sizes of workpieces, which can provide extremely high durability and maximum user convenience. You can choose from various cutting schemes, from small to large, from manual to automated.