Cold and Hot Mounting
About Mounting: Protect and Perfect Your Specimens
Mounting is a critical step in metallurgical sample preparation, designed to protect fragile or coated materials and ensure perfect edge retention during grinding, polishing, and analysis. By embedding specimens in resin, mounting not only provides structural support but also makes handling small, sharp, or irregularly shaped samples safer and more convenient.
Why Mount? Achieve the Best Possible Results
Mounting is essential when the integrity of specimen layers is critical. Specimens are embedded in resin to facilitate handling and improve preparation outcomes. For optimal adhesion of the resin to the specimen, it’s crucial to clean the sample thoroughly before mounting to remove any grease or contaminants.However, the decision to mount should be guided by the size, geometry, and heat tolerance of the specimen. If mounting proves unnecessary or challenging due to these factors, it may be more efficient to avoid mounting altogether, saving time and resources.
When and Why to Use Mounting:
- The specimen is small and hard to handle.
- The specimen has a complex or irregular shape.
- Edge retention is necessary for accurate analysis.
- The specimen has surface hardening, coatings, or layers that require protection.
- The specimen is porous, cracked, or fragile, such as ceramics, powder metallurgy samples, or petrographic specimens.
- Failure analysis requires precise edge protection.
- Uniform specimen size is needed for certain automatic preparation holders.
Unless a specimen meets these criteria, mounting may be unnecessary, as it adds time and cost to the preparation process.
Mounting Techniques: Hot and Cold Mounting
There are two primary mounting techniques—hot mounting and cold mounting—each with specific advantages depending on the task, number of specimens, and quality requirements.
1. Hot Mounting: Efficient and High-Quality Results
Hot mounting uses a mounting press that combines heat and pressure to encapsulate the specimen. This method is ideal for labs with high specimen throughput, as it produces mounts of uniform size and shape in a short process time. Hot mounting is best suited for:
- Large numbers of specimens processed successively.
- Ensuring high-quality, consistent mounts.
- Specimens that can withstand high temperatures.
2. Cold Mounting: Versatile and Gentle Handling
Cold mounting is preferred for heat-sensitive specimens or when handling a series of specimens simultaneously. This method, often enhanced with vacuum impregnation, reinforces materials such as ceramics, plasma-sprayed coatings, and delicate specimens that need extra protection during preparation. Cold mounting is suitable for:
- Single specimens or large batches.
- Specimens requiring special care during preparation.
- Maintaining the integrity of fragile or porous materials.
Both hot and cold mounting techniques provide robust protection for samples, ensuring excellent edge retention and supporting more accurate final analysis.
Our Mounting Equipment, Accessories, and Consumables
Our comprehensive range of mounting equipment and consumables ensures fast, high-quality results for both hot and cold mounting processes.
- High-Quality Presses and Impregnation Units: Designed for efficient hot and cold mounting with precise control.
- Mounting Accessories: Enhance sample handling with our full line of accessories, including cups, dyes, fixation clips, protection caps, and engravers.
- Consumables: Choose from a wide selection of resins, including clear, transparent, fast-curing, and no-shrinkage options available in various hardnesses, colors, and formulations.
Hot Mounting Resins:
- Thermoplastic Resins: Ideal for hot mounting, providing clear visibility of specimens and suitability for electrolytic polishing.
- Thermosetting Epoxy and Melamine Resins: High mineral and glass filler content ensures robust mounts.
- Conductive Bakelite Resins: Carbon-filled resins for conductive mounting applications.
Cold Mounting Resins:
- Epoxy and Acrylic Resins: A full range for various cold mounting needs, including heat-sensitive specimens.
- Consumable Kits: Complete kits with dispensing tubes and protection chambers for easy maintenance and operation.
Maximize Your Sample Preparation Efficiency
With Struers' complete line of mounting equipment, accessories, and consumables, you can achieve high-quality, repeatable results while ensuring the safety and protection of your specimens. Our solutions are designed to optimize every step of your preparation process, giving you the precision and reliability you need for accurate analysis.