- Structures
- Inverted, where the objective sits below a stage that carries the specimen, and upright, where the objective looks down onto it
- Observation head
- Trinocular, inclined at 45 degrees, with an interpupillary adjustment from 48 to 75 mm, a plus or minus 5 dioptre correction and a stated 40:60 split between the eyepieces and the camera port
- Eyepieces
- High eye point wide field plano eyepieces, 10x, with a field number of 18, 20 or 22 mm depending on the model
- Objectives
- Long working distance plan achromatic objectives at 5x, 10x, 20x, 50x and 100x depending on the model, with a long working distance plan set stated at numerical apertures of 0.13, 0.25, 0.40 and 0.65
- Nosepiece
- Internally positioned five-position revolving nosepiece
- Focus
- Coaxial coarse and fine adjustment, with the coarse travel stated at 30 mm per revolution and the fine division at 0.002 mm
- Stage
- Three-layer mechanical stage measuring 180 x 150 mm
- Illumination
- Reflected Kohler illumination with a built-in aperture diaphragm, using a 5 W full-spectrum LED with continuously variable brightness and an input of 100 to 240 V
- Camera
- 5 megapixel or 12 megapixel camera on the software versions, mounted on a standard C mount through an internal 0.5x adapter
- Software
- Image analysis software covering grain size, inclusion rating, decarburisation depth, graphite form and similar evaluations, with depth extension and image stitching
Most instruments in this catalogue measure a number directly. A microscope does not: it produces an image, and the number only appears afterwards, when someone measures the image or evaluates it against a standard. That makes the specification unusual, because the instrument succeeds or fails on whether the detail that has to be judged is actually visible and can be trusted.
For metals and other opaque materials the constraint is that no light passes through the specimen. Everything about a metallurgical microscope follows from that single fact.
Product overview
The range covers inverted and upright stands, from entry configurations through to instruments with long working distance semi-apochromatic optics and a 12 megapixel camera. All of them use reflected illumination, long working distance objectives and a trinocular head that carries a camera port, and the software versions include image analysis covering grain size, inclusion rating, decarburisation depth, graphite form and similar evaluations.
The division that matters most is the structure. An upright stand places the specimen on a stage beneath the objective, which is entirely satisfactory when the specimen is a mounted block or a slide. An inverted stand places the objective below the stage and the specimen above it, which is what allows a casting, a weld section or a machined component to be examined as it is.
Light reflects from the surface of the specimen and is gathered by the objective, which forms a magnified image; the eyepiece magnifies that image again for the eye, or a camera records it from a separate port. The product of the two figures is the total magnification, and it is the least useful number on the specification, because magnification applied beyond what the optics can resolve produces a larger image rather than a more detailed one.
What resolves detail is the numerical aperture of the objective, together with the wavelength of the light. That is why the range quotes working distances alongside magnifications: a high aperture objective must sit close to the specimen, and on a rough or uneven surface that clearance is what decides whether the objective can be used at all. The long working distance sets exist precisely to keep that clearance while retaining the aperture.
Where the examination has to be recorded or measured, the camera becomes a second optical channel. Measurements taken from a captured image are only valid once the image has been calibrated against a stage micrometer at that objective, because the scale in the image changes with magnification. The software provides the routine; the calibration is what makes its output a measurement.
How to select the right microscope
Begin with the specimen. If it can be sectioned, mounted and polished, an upright stand is sufficient and is the more conventional choice. If it cannot, or if it is too large for a stage, the inverted arrangement is the only one that will hold it, and it is worth checking the working distance of the objectives against the surface relief of the specimen as well.
Then take the objective set from the feature rather than from the specimen. The smallest detail that has to be judged decides the numerical aperture, and the aperture decides the working distance and the depth of field that follow with it. After the optics, the remaining choices are about recording: whether a camera is needed at all, at what resolution, and whether the software is required for evaluation or only for capture.
Measurement limitations and selection considerations
A microscope shows what a prepared surface looks like, and much of what it shows depends on the preparation rather than on the instrument. Scratches, smearing and relief introduced during grinding and polishing are read as features of the material by an inexperienced observer, and no optical specification can separate the two.
The evaluation side carries a similar caution. The software library covers a large number of standards, and the material itself states that the list shown is illustrative, that individual edition years are unclear in the source and that the delivered software governs what can actually be evaluated. The page therefore describes the families covered rather than asserting a standard-by-standard capability, and the licence and update terms for the library are listed as questions to be settled before an instrument is specified against a particular standard.
Every value below is taken from source documentation. Where a parameter is not stated in the available material it is marked as information required rather than estimated.
