Hot Stage Microscopy Study of Liquid Phase Sintering

Abstract

A substantial part of our knowledge about the structural changes taking place in metals during any form of heat treatment is obtained by means of the classical method based on quenching from elevated temperatures followed by metallo-graphic examination. As a result of instrumental and experimental difficulties the direct method of microscopical observation of the specimen during the heat treatment has come into more general use only during the last two decades. Room temperature observations can give only a very limited picture of the actual changes taking place. A metallographer studying a photomicrograph of a cold sample is expected to guess from circumstantial evidence how the structural changes took place at high temperatures.