PDT122 Material Science Faculty of Engineering Technology

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS

Faculty of Engineering Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology

Lab Title:
MICROSTRUCTURE ANALYSIS

1) Objectives

1. To introduce the equipment used for microstructure analysis.

2. To learn and gain practices in using the reflected light microscope.
3. To view and study the morphology, composition and other distinguish characteristics of
ferrous or non-ferrous metal.

2) Introduction

Metallographic can be defined as the visual study of the constitution and structure of
materials. Metallographic examinations can be broadly classified into two types namely
macroscopic examinations and microscopic examinations.

Macroscopic examinations refer to the observation carried out at a magnification of 10x or

less. Microscopic examinations, on the other hand, refer to the examination of structure at a
magnification greater than 10x.

Microscopic examinations, depending on the nature of information to be extracted, can be

accomplished using an optical microscope (up to 2,000x) or scanning electron microscope (up to
50,000x) or a transmission electron microscope (up to 500,000x). For most of the routine
purposes in optical microscope is used to obtain first-hand information on the geometric
arrangement of the grains and phases in a material.

The study of microstructure on details is important due to its correlation with the ensuing
mechanical properties of the material. As an example, if material A exhibits a more homogenous
and refined microstructure than material B, it may very well be anticipated that material A will
exhibit better room temperature properties when compared to material B.

In this experiment, the students will learn about and gain practice in using reflected light
microscope for microstructure analysis on materials science and engineering.

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Reflected Light Microscope

This type of metallographic examination is carried out with visible light, reflected from the
specimens surface. Reflected light microscopy can be used to determine the nature and
distribution of phases (microstructural constituents) in metallurgical specimens as well as
examine features such as grains boundaries, twins and cracks.

Frequently, features of interest in a metallurgical specimen are between 1 m and 100 m in

size too small to be seen by unaided eye. For this reason, the reflected light microscope is used.
These microscopes typically provide magnifications from 60x to 600x (this is linear
magnification how many times the length of a line is magnified). A cross-sectional view of
such a microscope is shown in Figure 1.

When examining a specimen, it is good to use a range of magnifications. Starting with low
power, and examining particular aspects of the microstructural at higher power, will reduce the
likelihood of important features being overlooked. Note the light source, the objective lens, and
the eyepiece. To clearly see an image, the microscope must also be turned on (it provides the
light that is reflected off the samples surface). It is advised that all course focusing be done at
low magnification; at high magnification use only fine focus. This reduces the chances of having
a lens accidentally contact the sample (as will be seen, the 40x objective lens comes very close to
the sample surface). There are other features and adjustments on these microscopes, which we
will not be using.

Figure 1: Cross-sectional view of microscope.

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PDT122 Material Science Faculty of Engineering Technology

There are some features of interest to materials engineers, which are too small to be seen in a
light microscope (which is limited to features about 5 x 10-7 m, one-half the wavelength of the
illuminating light). Other techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM),
Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) and X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) are available.

3) Equipment

The list of equipment and tools required in the microstructure analysis are:

1. Specimens
2. Microscope
3. Computer

4) Procedures

1. Place the specimen on the stage of the microscope.

2. Overstate the microscope lens closer to the specimen to produce coloured light red.
3. Adjust the coarse or fine focusing knob, left or right eyepiece and choose the right filter plate
to get a clear image of the specimen.
4. Capture the best images of specimen and save them in the computer.
5. Move or shift the specimen a bit to capture the other images at different locations.

5) Results

The results of analysis are presented in terms of specimen microstructure images captured by
using microscope with three different magnifications (50x, 1,000x, and 2,000x).

6) Discussion

Please answer and discuss the following questions in the lab report.

1. How is the microstructure of the metallic alloy investigated?

2. Briefly discuss the composition and applications of other two types of metallic alloy
investigated in the experiment.
3. Explain the work operation for the optical microscope.
4. What is the lowest and highest magnification available in the microscope?
5. Is focusing more critical at high or low magnification? Explain your answer.
6. Describe the precautions taken in handling the microscope.

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7) References

1. William D. Callister, Introduction to Materials, John-Wiley & Sons.

2. Serope Kalpakjian, Steven R. Schmid (2010). Manufacturing Engineering and Technology.
6th Edition. Prentice Hall.
3. William F. Smith, Javad Hashemi (2006). Foundation of Materials Science and
Engineering. 4th Edition. McGraw Hill.