If the microstructure of thermally sprayed coatings is to be accurately evaluated, proper metallographic specimen preparation techniques need to be utilized to reveal the true coating characteristicls. Variations of the materials used and the method of application on a substrate requires variations in the metallographic preparation procedure. The ASTM and Best Recommended Practices Committee of TSS are developing metallographic standards for thermally sprayed coatings using semi-automatic or automatic preparation equipment. There are laboratories that continue to prepare coating specimens manually due to an inability to upgrade their equipment, and they must meet industry standards of evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to assist these laboratories in manual preparation that will enable them to produce accurate coating characteristics.
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