With the increasing regulations in safety, reliability, traceability, and regulatory compliance, material verification has become an essential component in a safety and reliability program.

Electroless nickel (EN) is industry’s most common plated finish. It’s widely used for applications that demand wear resistance, hardness and corrosion protection—particularly if parts have complex geometries. It is also used in PCB manufacturing within a process known as ENIG, electroless nickel immersion gold. 

Years ago, metal fabricators and quality control personnel needed to conduct expensive, time-consuming laboratory tests to perform material verification.

Knowing a material’s breaking point is crucial during its development; and being able to observe the instantaneous moment of failure allows for a greater understanding of the process. That, in turn, can help develop stronger and safer materials.

For metal producers, processors, recyclers, contractors and others, continuous quality control plays a key role in establishing the identity and composition of various metals and alloys from initial melt to finished product or end use.

Pick up a material analysis data sheet and you’ll always find tensile testing, and probably flexural testing as well. But depending on the application, don’t hold your breath looking for compressive testing.

Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) is a technique for determining the near surface crystallographic and microstructural properties of a material. 

Polymers and plastics are used in nearly everything we touch every day. These materials deliver a huge diversity of performance properties that are required for many different market areas. 

The automotive sector is one of the leading industries driving the rapid technology development in the United States. 

In industrial microscopy there are many way to quantify the materials in your sample. Today, we will look at three specific methods and discuss their similarities and differences.