Elastomer and resin replicas for sem observation of metallic materials

Thierry Palin-Luc (1, 2) , E. Sellier (3) , F. d'Errico (4) , Marian Vanhaeren (5, 4)

1 LAMEFIP - Laboratoire Matériaux Endommagement Fiabilité et Ingénierie des Procédés
2 I2M - Institut de Mécanique et d'Ingénierie de Bordeaux
3 UB - Université de Bordeaux
4 PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie
5 ArScAn - Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité

The replica technique is often used to study damage evolution at the surface of specimens or industrial components and understand the physicial phenomena responsible for fatigue crack initiation before failure. Replicas are usually made from acetate cellulose film. This paper presents an alternative technique generally used by archaeologists to study lithic use-wear and bone modification. A mold is made from a dental elastomer (silicon based impression material) and a positive replica is made by casting epoxy resin in the mold. Comparative SEM analysis of damaged metallic specimens and their resin replicas show that this technique provides a good resolution and preserves details up to 0.5 micrometer. This easy and low cost method allows a systematic study of micro-crack growth.

Mots clés: Replica; Elastomer; Crack; SEM observation

Domaines: Matériaux; Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

Thierry Palin-Luc, E. Sellier, F. d'Errico, Marian Vanhaeren. Elastomer and resin replicas for sem observation of metallic materials. Experimental Techniques, 2002, 26 (3), pp.33-37. ⟨hal-01372720⟩