Hot Mounting

Hot Mounting Resin: Optimal Solutions for Precise Sample Preparation

Choosing the right hot mounting resin is essential for achieving high-quality sample preparation in metallography and material science. Akasel offers a wide range of hot mounting resins designed to meet various requirements, ensuring precise and reliable results. Each type of resin is formulated to provide specific benefits, from low shrinkage and excellent edge retention to clear mounts for detailed observation.

Below, we provide an overview of our hot mounting resins and their unique features:

• Aka-Resin Epoxy is a black, mineral-filled thermosetting epoxy resin for the best possible mounting result with very low shrinkage and best edge retention. This allows for examination of the sample at very high magnifications and as there is no gap between resin and sample also cross-contamination is avoided.
• Aka-Resin Melamine is a white, mineral-filled thermosetting melamine resin for universal mounting with very low shrinkage. Optimal for hardness testing of case hardened samples due to the contrast provided by the white colour.
• Aka-Resin Acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic acrylic resin for crystal clear mounts. This is ideal for failure analysis or target preparation where observation of the sample is required.
• Aka-Resin Phenolic SEM is a black, carbon-filled thermosetting phenolic resin for conductive mounting used in SEM work.
• Aka-Resin Phenolic and Aka-Resin Phenolic-2, Black are black, wood-filled thermosetting phenolic resins for routine mounting of samples. Being inexpensive resins they are also ideal for back-filling when working with more expensive resins.

Epoxy Mounting Resin

Epoxy resins are used in both hot and cold mounting techniques for the best possible mounting result. It can be used for a wide variety of materials, including metal samples. In hot mounting, epoxy resins like Aka-Resin Epoxy are processed under high pressure and temperature, ensuring minimal shrinkage and excellent edge retention. This makes epoxy resin ideal for high-magnification examinations and since there are no gaps between the resin and sample cross-contamination can also be avoided. One of the advantages of hot mounting is that epoxy resin does not require mixing with a curing agent, simplifying and ensuring a rapid mountingprocess. However, hot mounting requires a mounting press.

Epoxy can also be used for cold mounting, where it cures at room temperature, making it suitable for temperature-sensitive specimens. Epoxy resins provide the best possible mounting result and can be used for various materials and applications, ensuring high-quality samples for analysis.