Provides insights into the interpretation of metallographers' and metallurgists' results and an analysis of the view as seen through an optical microscope. Discusses the strengths and weaknesses of various metallographics techniques such as light optics, electron optics, and microbeam spectroscopy.

Interpretation of Metallographic Structures, Third Edition, is concerned with metallography as a metallurgical tool. It is an organized presentation of specimen microstructures, each chosen for its clarity of illustration and each or in groups forming the pretext for discussions of the interrelation between physical metallurgy and metallography. The focus is on structures characteristic in a physical metallurgy sense, with the purpose of demonstrating that logical framework of interpretation can supplant mental storage of infinite variations. The book contains seven chapters and begins with a discussion of polycrystalline structures. This is followed by separate chapters on the metallography of fracture; crystallization processes including dendritic crystallization, peritectic crystallization, and metastable crystallization; solid state transformations; diffusion and transport processes; procedures for measuring metallographic features; and energy dispersive spectography. This book is directed toward the senior student as a preview of the scope of his subject and to the practicing metallurgist as a reintroduction.