We all know that in the preparation process of metallographic specimens, there are many difficulties in directly grinding and polishing the specimens, which require inlaying. The commonly used specimens for inlaying include irregularly shaped specimens, wires and plates, and small workpieces; Surface treatment and infiltration layer, coating, etc. Embedding is the process of transforming metallographic specimens that are difficult to grind or have irregular shapes into regular and convenient specimens for sample preparation. Inlaying can be divided into hot inlaying and cold inlaying, and hot inlaying generally uses a pulse metallographic inlaying machine; Cold embedding is composed of embedding molds, metallographic curing agents, and metallographic adhesive powder. What is the difference between them?

    Different temperatures during inlay:

    The QMAXIS metallographic inlay machine generally uses heating and pressure to melt the inlay material and metallographic samples together. The inlay material needs to be heated to around 130 degrees Celsius to melt, so metallographic samples are generally heat-resistant metal parts.

    Cold embedding is carried out at room temperature. First, the sample is fixed in the embedding mold, and then the metallographic curing agent and metallographic adhesive powder are stirred into a slurry and poured into the mold, waiting for them to solidify. Generally, materials that are afraid of heating, such as circuit boards, require cold embedding.

    The time used for inlaying varies:

    The metallographic inlay machine takes about ten to half an hour to insert a sample. There is a METPRESS A fully automatic hot pressing inlay machine that can simultaneously insert two samples, with the entire process only taking 8 minutes. It is also programmable and more suitable for repeated sample preparation.

    Cold inlay usually takes half a day, and if cold inlay is needed, enough time needs to be allowed for subsequent operations.

    Although the QMAXIS metallographic inlay machine is relatively fast, if the material is really afraid of high temperatures, it can only adopt the cold inlay method.