The use of grinding paper in materialography

After the cutting process, the materialographic sample is inevitably characterized by small damages and deformations. Materialographic grinding paper is used to smoothen the sample in various steps after cutting in order to prepare it for the polishing process. For this purpose, grinding papers with increasingly finer grits are used which remove increasingly less material. Coarse-grained grinding paper is primarily used to remove sample deformations which occur during the cutting process. Once the severe damages are smoothened, finer-grained grinding paper is used and provides a possibly plane surface. Fine grinding using a very fine-grained grinding paper completes the grinding process. After that, the sample is optimally prepared for the subsequent polishing step. As opposed to polishing, no pastes or suspensions are used in connection with the use of grinding paper. The material is removed from the sample by abrasive particles which are fixed on the grinding paper.

 
What makes a high quality grinding paper for materialography?

The targeted and professional use of grinding paper constitutes an important work step in materialographic practice. The more precise and quick the grinding paper application, the better the results that can be expected from the whole preparation process. In the context of grinding, precise and reproducible results can only be achieved with reliable high quality material. However, this is true for all other steps of materialographic work. When it comes to the use of grinding paper, economical aspects also play an important role: long service lives ensure low replacement costs and shorten the whole materialographic preparation process. Consequently, material removal using grinding papers must be precise and shall be performed using finely graduated grains. A high quality product, such as the SCAN-DIA Grinding Paper, ensures a targeted and uniform material removal. Waterproof grinding paper for wet grinders is perfectly suited for an economical and quick workflow and precise results. Besides the preferably small number of preparation steps, a smooth sample surface with minimal deformations is extremely important. It ensures effective and economical subsequent polishing steps.