Metallographic investigations
Need support in the field of metallurgy?
Look no further…you’ve found the right laboratory!
Microstructural transformations induced by thermal cycles or plastic deformation, or even just the simple evaluation of the microstructural suitability of a material are difficult to manage in a company’s in-house quality control department. What’s more, in many cases, they involve unacceptable expenditure of resources in terms of both costs and production time.
The behaviour of the materials during construction and operation is closely correlated to the microstructural aspects of metal alloys. Our team of metallurgists are on hand to allow your company to find improved solutions and increase knowledge in a structured and collaborative way.
Metallographic investigations make it possible to determine the microstructure of metals on several levels of investigation (at a macrographic or micrographic level); through such analysis it’s possible to determine the size of the grain and the shape of the crystals, the presence and/or distribution of the phases, and the inclusional state. It’s also possible to detect the presence of heat treatments (surface or full depth), the direction of any plastic deformation lines, the measurement of the coating thicknesses, and obviously the presence of metallurgical anomalies within the material being analysed. This type of analysis involves a very exacting sample preparation phase, geared specifically towards the material and investigation to be carried out. This means cutting, polishing up to and including chemical preparation of the sample and high degree of metallurgical competence.
Among other things, our laboratory expertise is oriented towards the diagnostics of failures and corrosion phenomena (failure analysis) with the aim of solving problems and not merely taking a “snapshot of the situation” which caused the anomaly.