Holiday notice: Our offices will be closed from midday on December 24th to January 2nd
We are able to conduct site visits to investigate materials and failures that are in-situ or cannot be submitted to the lab. Visits are fully documented including taking images, gathering deposits and taking sections for laboratory analysis. We have a range of onsite techniques and these include: acetate replication of microstructures, XRF chemical analysis, surface roughness testing and Leeb hardness testing.
Name: (XRF) X-Ray Fluorescence
Instrument: Bruker S1 Titan
XRF enables rapid, non-destructive identification and quantification of elements in various samples, from metals to minerals and coatings. The technique is used for identifying metal alloy grades, restricted materials and for testing in accordance with ROHS requirements.
Acetate replication is a predominantly non-destructive method of resolving the microstructure of metals that cannot be sectioned and physically examined. The method involves grinding and polishing the surface of interest in-situ before etching with a relevant reagent to reveal the microstructure. Etched surfaces have variations in topography, typically the grain boundaries are eroded to leave troughs. This variation in topography is transferred onto acetate by melting the surface of the acetate using acetone and allowing a trapped vacuum to pull the sheet to the surface to conform. The method is considered to be semi non-destructive as the surface of a part is abraded and this may or may not be detrimental in service.
Leeb hardness is a portable method of hardness testing. It works by measuring the rebound velocity of a hardened metal ball after impacting the test surface. A limitation of the technique is that the material tested needs to be of sufficient thickness to not influence the rebound properties of the material.
Surface roughness testing can be conducted in-house or onsite using a portable tester. The tester works by pulling a stylus with a known geometry across the surface to attain Ra (Average Roughness) and Rz (Maximum Height of the Profile) values.
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