ION ETCHING - STATE-OF-THE-ART AND PERSPECTIVES FOR CONTRASTING THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF CERAMIC AND METALLIC MATERIALS - PART III - ION ETCHING IN METALLOGRAPHY

Ion etching has proven itself particularly useful as a method of prepa ration used for the investigation of special materials. By ion bombard ment, the surfaces of materials can be etched or removed in a characte ristic way. ion beam etching of specimens in the electron microscopy i s used, in particular where conventional chemical or electrochemical t hinning techniques fail, such as in examination of microstructures in metallography and ceramography. In these fields, however, only relativ ely few of the methods for ion etching have been standardised. The pur pose of this series of articles is therefore to demonstrate the possib ilities, advantages and disadvantages of this type of etching techniqu e for metallographical preparation. In the series of articles, the pra ctical use of the different ion etching techniques is described, toget her with the theory of ion etching and the effect that the various par ameters have on the sputtering rate.