The editor received a call for help from a classmate from the School of Materials at a certain university two days ago:; Xiao Li, during the grinding process of my sample, I used silicon carbide metallographic sandpaper, size 800. There was always an embedding phenomenon of grinding particles, which was not removed by any means. Can you help me find a way to solve this problem;

This problem has often been encountered in my work over the past few years. Every time, users encounter this situation, they become extremely anxious. They grind it again and again, replacing coarse metallographic sandpaper with finer ones and finer metallographic sandpaper with finer ones. I don't know how many times they have repeated it, but there is no effective solution to this embedding problem, which delays the entire metallographic analysis process. It seems that, This problem is still quite common. I would like to give you some suggestions here, which may help you solve this problem effectively. Isn't it a good thing!

The abrasive paper commonly used for grinding metallographic specimens includes silicon carbide metallographic abrasive paper, alumina metallographic abrasive paper, and mixed abrasive metallographic abrasive paper. These grinding particles are adhered to different sizes of sheet, disc, and strip paper to make grinding abrasive paper.

Firstly, the quality of metallographic sandpaper is one of the main reasons for embedding. The manufacturing process level of metallographic sandpaper directly affects its quality. A high-quality metallographic sandpaper should have uniform abrasive particle distribution, sharp grinding, excellent grinding performance, rapid material removal, consistent surface finish, strong durability, and must be water milled. Otherwise, the particles are uneven, poorly bonded, and the grinding particles are prone to detachment. Not only are they prone to embedding, but they also cause new burns and scratches on the grinding surface, making it difficult to grind the ideal sample surface.

Secondly, the occurrence of embedding phenomenon is directly related to the hardness of the material being ground. For softer materials such as Pb, Sn, Cd, and Bi aluminum, embedding is more likely to occur when ground with finer metallographic sandpaper.

So how can we avoid or solve this embedding problem?

For the reasons for embedding, high-quality silicon carbide abrasive paper can be selected for metallographic grinding during grinding. For soft materials in the polishing process, polishing cloth with fluff and alloy diamond polishing fluid should be used as much as possible to effectively avoid embedding.

The above is for everyone's reference and suggestion. If there are any inappropriate areas, we welcome everyone to criticize and correct!

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