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Metallographic Mounting Technology Guide: Advantages and Practical Applications of Cold Mounting and Hot Mounting
2026-01-27
In metallographic analysis, sample mounting is a critical step for obtaining accurate microstructural images, especially for irregular, small, or easily damaged samples. Currently, the mainstream mounting technologies are cold mounting and hot mounting, each with its unique advantages and suitable applications. This article introduces these two technologies and presents Nabo's professional solutions for both processes.
I. Cold Mounting
Cold mounting refers to the process of placing a sample into a mold at room or low temperature, pouring in a liquid resin mixture, and allowing it to solidify through a chemical reaction (typically the polymerization of epoxy or acrylic resins).
Advantages:
Low Cost: When the number of samples to be tested is small or projects are not fixed, cold mounting is an ideal flexible solution for laboratories, eliminating the need for expensive hot mounting equipment.
Safe Operation: The use of specialized curing agents enables an efficient, low-odor, and essentially non-toxic operating environment, ensuring the health and safety of personnel.
Sample-Friendly: The entire process occurs at low temperatures (typically with only slight warmth due to exothermic reactions) and requires no pressure, perfectly protecting materials sensitive to heat and pressure, and effectively avoiding structural deformation or damage.
To support this, LABTT provides a comprehensive cold mounting sample preparation solution, including consumables and equipment. The cold mounting consumables feature low shrinkage after curing, high transparency, excellent edge retention, and superior chemical corrosion resistance.
Additionally, LABTT has innovatively launched an automatic light-curing cold mounting machine, which can complete the curing of up to 16 samples in just one minute. This device employs a dual-wavelength combination (options include 365+395 nm, 395+450 nm, or 365+450 nm) and is equipped with surface light sources on all six sides, coated with a high-reflectivity film to ensure uniform illumination. The built-in low-temperature mode keeps the mounting process below 50°C, effectively protecting heat-sensitive materials from structural impact.
II. Hot Mounting
Hot mounting involves placing the sample and mounting powder into a specialized mounting machine mold, followed by rapid hot-press molding under high temperature and pressure.
Advantages:
Efficient and Rapid Molding: A single mounting cycle typically takes only a few minutes to just over ten minutes, offering extremely high efficiency.
Superior Mounting Block Performance: The cured mounting block exhibits high hardness, excellent wear resistance, and stable chemical properties, with resistance to acids, alcohol, and other common etchants, ensuring long-lasting durability.
Excellent Molding Quality: It ensures dimensional stability and a smooth surface for the mounting block, providing exceptional edge protection for samples. This makes it particularly suitable for subsequent grinding and polishing or for samples requiring precise measurements of coating thickness or case depth.
To ensure the stability and efficiency of hot mounting sample preparation, LABTT offers a series of metallographic mounting machines, including single-station, multi-station, and fully automatic models, comprehensively covering various sample preparation needs. These devices feature precise temperature and pressure control systems, ensuring accurate and repeatable temperature, pressure, and time parameters for every mounting cycle. With user-friendly interfaces, fast heating and cooling systems, and robust, durable mold designs, they easily meet diverse requirements, from daily inspections to high-intensity research applications.
