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Specimen Preparation for Metal Matrix Composites with a High Volume Fraction of Reinforcing Particles for EBSD Analysis

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Abstract

The paper deals with a procedure of preparing a specimen surface for the EBSD analysis of a metal matrix composite (MMC) with a high volume fraction of reinforcing particles. Unlike standard procedures of preparing a specimen surface for the EBSD analysis, the proposed procedure is iterative with consecutive application of mechanical and electrochemical polishing. This procedure significantly improves the results of an indexed MMC matrix in comparison with the standard procedure of specimen preparation. The procedure was verified on a MMC with pure aluminum (99.8% Al) as the matrix, SiC particles being used as reinforcing elements. The average size of the SiC particles is 14 μm, and their volume fraction amounts to 50% of the total volume of the composite. It has been experimentally found that, for making the EBSD analysis of a material matrix near reinforcing particles, the difference in height between the particles and the matrix should not exceed 2 µm.

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Acknowledgments

The work was partially financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 14-19-01358) in the part of developing the specimen preparation procedure for EBSD analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Engineering Science, Russian Academy of Science (Ural Branch), 34 Komsomolskaya str., 620049, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    A. S. Smirnov, G. A. Belozerov, E. O. Smirnova, A. V. Konovalov, V. P. Shveikin & O. Yu. Muizemnek

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  1. A. S. Smirnov
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  2. G. A. Belozerov
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  3. E. O. Smirnova
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  4. A. V. Konovalov
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  5. V. P. Shveikin
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  6. O. Yu. Muizemnek
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Correspondence to A. S. Smirnov.

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Smirnov, A.S., Belozerov, G.A., Smirnova, E.O. et al. Specimen Preparation for Metal Matrix Composites with a High Volume Fraction of Reinforcing Particles for EBSD Analysis. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 25, 2907–2913 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-016-2164-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-016-2164-7

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