Richard, We currently use three types of mounting media. Sampl-Kwik (for quick, non-critical jobs), Epofix and Caldofix (both Struers products). We find that the Epofix (8 hour cure in ambient) is very good for edge retention and minimum shrinkage. For critical samples we evacuate the epoxy in a vacuum oven (at ambient) after preparation to eliminate voids afterwards in the cured epoxy. The Calofix is also very good for edge retention and minimum shrinkage. It can be cured in about 1.5 hours. The drawback with this epoxy is that it has to be oven cured at about 75C. We have not evacuated uncured Caldofix in the vacuum oven, but I see no obvious reason why this cannot be tried. The two struers products also give very good visibility to the molded sample (whereas with Sampl-Kwik the cured mold appears very "cloudy" after cure). Hope this helps Adrian Mulcahy . and "c At 01:49 PM 14/10/97 -0600, you wrote: >We are currently using Buehler Sampl-Kwik for our coupon mounting. >However, due to cost issues we are looking at alternative compounds. > >I've seen acrylics, polyesters, and epoxies. The epoxies have very long >cure times and have eleminated them from consideration. > >We grind both by hand and on a Nelson-Zimmer system. > >What compounds do you use and why? > >Are acrylics preferred over polyesters? > >Any information would be greatly appreciated. > >Thanks for your time. > >Richard MacCutcheon > >############################################################## >TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c >############################################################## >To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: >To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> >To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET >############################################################## >Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. >For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 >############################################################## > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Mulcahy Tel:- 353-(0)21-904227/904393 National Microelectronics Research Centre, Fax:- 353-(0)21-270271 Lee Maltings, Prospect Row, Cork, Ireland. e-mail:- [log in to unmask] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################