Microstructures Gallery

A microstructure is what the structure looks like in a material on the microscopic scale.

This involves preparation of a sample by polishing, followed by etching the sample with specific chemicals and viewing under a microscope.

Below are a selection of microstructures we have examined.

: Brass #1
Poor structure for brass plumbing fittings – prone to dezincification corrosion

: Brass #2
Good structure for brass plumbing fittings – dezincification resistant (DR)

: Grinding Burn
Grinding burn

: Decarburisation
Decarburisation at the surface of normalised AISI 1050 medium carbon steel

: Ductile cast Iron
Ductile cast Iron

: Crack after welding
Cracking in heat affected zone (HAZ) of a weld

: Microhardness after welding
Microhardness in weld and HAZ

: Grey cast iron
Fracture along graphite flakes in grey cast iron

: Modified cast Aluminium
Modified aluminium-silicon casting alloy

: Unmodified cast Aluminium
unmodified aluminium-silicon casting alloy

: NiHard
NiHard

: Tempered Martensite
Tempered martensite

: Plating on brass
chromium-nickel-copper plating on brass

: Duplex Stainless
2205 Duplex stainless 500x

: Carbides
carbides in knife blade

: Carburised Case
Carburised case 200x

: Corrosion and cracking
Corroded and fractured ball valve

: Weld in SS Sheet
Cross section through weld in 0.6mm stainless steel sheet

: Conrod
Failed conrod on Piston

: Brake Disc
Fractured brake disc

: Capscrews
Fractured-cap-screws

: Incipient melting
Incipient elting

: Banding
Martensite pearlite ferrite banding

: Microhardness – Chromium plating
Microhardness indents in Chromium plating 500x

: Phosphor Bronze
Phosphor Bronze

: Stripped gear
Stripped gear

Interesting Electron Microscope images we have captured.

: Corrosion – Copper #1
Corrosion products in copper pipe – cuprous oxide Cu2O

: Corrosion – Copper #2
Corrosion products in copper pipe – cubic cuprous oxide higher magnification

: Brittle weld
Brittle cleavage in weld

: Rust
Rust – iron oxide 8000x magnification

: Swarf
Swarf

: Cleavage
Cleavage

: Ductile and brittle
Ductile and brittle

: Grinding spark
Grinding spark