Metallurgical Lab Overview

Staffed with seven experienced metallurgists/materials engineers (M.S./Ph.D.) and three technicians (Level 2/Level 3 in various NDI techniques), the metallurgical lab is a resource for failure and engineering investigations and metallurgical testing and analysis.

Our metallurgical lab carries out detailed conformance-to-blueprint metallurgical inspections, metallurgical failure analyses ranging from aircraft structural components to electronics packaging, fatigue and corrosion testing, corrosion analysis and control, wear/abrasion evaluations, metallurgical analysis, coating replacement evaluations, weld evaluations, reverse engineering programs, and the development of advanced non-destructive testing techniques.

Metallurgical Lab Services

Comprehensive...Full Range of Metallurgical Inspection Services

The metallurgical lab is fully equipped with various non-destructive flaw detection testing techniques, borescopes, hardness measurement machines, stereomicroscopes, and several other types of world-class metallurgical inspection equipment and facilities. Our metallurgical lab has also put together a comprehensive reference library and specifications database. To view the details on all services offered by our Metallurgical Lab, please click here.

Metallurgical Lab Equipment and Facilities

Arc Emission Spectroscopy

The arc emission spectroscope in our metallurgical lab is equipped with a comprehensive standards library for highly accurate quantitative compositional analysis of all types of steels, cast irons, aluminum alloys, nickel and cobalt base superalloys, titanium base alloys, and copper base alloys.

Borescopes and Stereomicroscopes

Rigid and flexible borescopes with indexed movement and imaging in white and dark light illumination are also part of our metallurgical lab. It has several steromicroscopes with image capture and magnifications ranging from 2.5X to 75X. All our metallurgical lab systems are equipped with calibrated digital image acquisition and feature measurements.

Hardness Measurements

In our metallurgical lab, we use all standard and superficial Rockwell scales, and microhardness measurements with precision stage movements for profiles.

High Resolution Digital Imaging

The high resolution digital imaging setup in our metallurgical lab is equipped with a large defect-mapped CCD system that is highly suited for macrofractography and grain flow evaluation. The system in our metallurgical lab is equipped with sophisticated image analysis software for a variety of feature measurements.

Metallographic Sample Preparation

The metallurgical lab is equipped with all methods of metallographic sample preparation including electropolishing, low-damage sectioning, and edge retention. Sample mounting, grinding, and polishing are accomplished by semiautomatic methods that minimize metallographic artifacts to yield consistently high quality results, provided to you by our expert metallurgical lab team.

Non destructive flaw detection

Our metallurgical lab has access to a full range of Non destructive Testing (NDT) capabilities including Magnetic Particle (MP), Liquid Penetrant (LP), Dual-Frequency Eddy Current (EC), Ultrasonics (UT), and Digital Microfocus High Resolution Digital X-Ray (via Teaming with OEM R and D Lab).

Optical Metallograph

An inverted optical metallograph is part of our metallurgical lab, equipped with digital image acquisition and sophisticated software for stereological and feature measurements. Illumination options include brightfield and polarized light.

Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy

The metallurgical lab has a fully equipped SEM/EDS system with calibrated digital image acquisition and feature measurements. Typical applications include rapid qualitative determination of alloy and coating compositions, and detailed microfractographic, microstructural, and corrosion analyses , all performed by our experienced team in the metallurgical lab.

Advanced Image Analysis Software and Reference Library

All imaging equipment in our metallurgical lab has access to a full suite of image analysis functions and stereological measurements. We have expertise in automated pattern recognition, calibrated measurements of a wide range of geometrical relationships between features, image matching, depth measurements, and extended focal correction imaging. The metallurgical lab also maintains a comprehensive reference library and specifications database for rapid access to these valuable resources.

To view the details on all services offered by our Metallurgical Lab, please click here.

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