Prakt. Met. Sonderband 38 (2006) 153 
THE USE OF FIB TECHNIQUE FOR METALLOGRAPHIC 
PREPARATION AND MICROSTRUCTURAL 
CHARACTERISATION OF RAPIDLY SOLIDIFIED ALLOYS 
Ivan Anzel*, Albert C. KneissI** 
* University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Smetanova 17, 
Si-2000 Maribor, Slovenia 
** Montanuniversitét Leoben, Lehrstuhl fir Metallographie, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, 
A-8700 Leoben, Austria 
ABSTRACT 
Rapidly solidified ribbons of Cu — 0.7 at.% Zr alloy produced by a Chill-Block Melt Spinning 
technique have been microstructurally characterized by optical and scanning electron 
microscopy after different preparation methods of metallographic samples. The 
microstructures prepared by standard metallographic technique were compared with those 
obtained by focussed ion beam (FIB) technology. The analysis has shown that FIB 
preparation of rapidly solidified ribbons offers a technique that brings a new dimension to 
imaging of ribbons’ microstructure in the electron microscope. The microstructure can be 
revealed on all surfaces and much finer details can be resolved in the electron microscope 
after FIB preparation. Using a combination of FIB-etching and 3D-microscopy we can reveal 
also the microstructure in the vertical cross-section near the free surfaces of the ribbons. 
However, based on the results of our microstructural analysis it can be concluded that a 
standard metallographic preparation of vertical and horizontal cross-sections of the ribbons 
is still the necessary step in the specimen preparation, since it shows the overall 
microstructural changing across the ribbon section. Therefore, a standard metallographic 
preparation of rapidly solidified ribbons is unavoidable. At the same time, the FIB 
preparation has been identified as very useful, quick and powerful tool for resolving the 
finest details in the microstructure of rapidly solidified ribbons 
| INTRODUCTION 
Rapid solidification processing has the primary objective of circumventing limitations 
associated with conventional materials processing. This is a non-equilibrium process of 
liquid transformation into solid and results in thermodynamically metastable microstructures 
that differ in some significant way from the microstructure obtained by conventional 
solidification processing [1, 2]. 
There are two basic techniques for rapidly solidifying melts, substrate quenching and 
atomisation, which yield microstructurally different materials due to the dissimilar thermal 
conditions at the liquid/coolant interface [1]. In substrate quenching, rapid solidification is 
achieved by the increased rate of heat extraction and in atomisation by the increased 
amount of undercooling before nucleation. The metastable microstructures and solid phases 
that form during the rapid solidification are dependent on the phase diagram of the alloying 
system (eutectic, peritectic, monotectic. etc.), chemical composition of the alloy and