They are compound microscopes (high power) and have two configurations, upright and inverted. The upright version allows a user to view a cross section or smaller sample of their material. The inverted version allows for larger material samples to be viewed as it does not have the same space restrictions as the upright version. Therefore, sample size is a major consideration when choosing a metallurgical microscope.

Metallurgical microscopes use reflected light illumination (AKA incident light or episcopic illumination) to best display the characteristics and features of the opaque sample to the user. This is where light travels through the objective lenses, hits the sample, and bounces back up through the lens to the eyepieces or camera for viewing. This specific type of reflected light is also known as coaxial or on-axis illumination, and is parallel to the optical path. It is achieved using a high-power light source, and a series of prisms and mirrors to direct the light inside of the microscope. This technique is ideal for high magnification viewing of reflective surfaces like metals, coins, and PCB’s. (Another type of reflected light is Oblique illumination which is discussed more in the stereo microscope section)

Typical configurations include 5x 10x 20x and 50x objective lenses on a revolving nosepiece. A choice of binocular or trinocular viewing heads, and commonly halogen incident illuminators as they are more powerful than the LED counterparts. However, all the models shown are fully configurable with user input. It is also possible to include DIC, polarisation, dark field, and fluorescence illumination techniques to further highlight characters and features in relevant samples. This is just a small sample from our portfolio of solutions.

These microscopes are typically used in industry and the models featured here are for metallurgical research specialists and industry professionals for testing and quality control of manufactured products and materials. If you want to know more about Metallurgical microscopes, and possibly discuss a configuration specific to your own project, please do contact us.