Sample Prep - Plasma Sprayed Tungsten Carbide

We have been in the lab working on a new prep route testing the coating on plasma sprayed tungsten carbide.

We are very happy with the results! take a look

The samples were sectioned using a precision cutter, in the direction from the coating towards the substrate (the opposite direction might damage the coating). Spectrographic have a wide range of cutting machines but we found the precision cutter (precicut700) is the one noted for producing the least damage. Abrasive wheel cutting, we used a resin bonded diamond wheel.

The sectioned samples were then mounted using our epoxy resin.

The grinding/polishing preparation is as below: -  

We then used our Panthera microscope and software to take the micrographs and produce our findings.