Cold Mounting

Description

Cold mounting or embedding is when a resin is mixed with a hardener (or accelerator) to provide the mounting compound, and then the polymerization process take place to form the block. In some cases, this process gives-off heat. However this heat generation can be controlled by the use of ice or cool air blow setting. Cold mounting compounds are preferred for specimens that are sensitive to the heat or pressure, which applies during the hot mounting process. There are three types of cold mounting:
1. Epoxy Systems – Epoxies have the lowest shrinkage of all cold mounting resins. The curing time is relatively long, but the adhesion to most materials is excellent. They are also used for vacuum impregnation. The hardened epoxy is duroplastic and not affected by moderate heat or chemicals.
2. Acrylic System – Acrylics are easy to use resins with short curing times and negligible shrinkage. They consist of self-polymerizing components that harden with the addition of catalyst. Hardened acrylic is thermoplastic and resistant to most chemicals.
3. Polyester Systems – Polyester belongs to the catalyzed system, like acrylics. Curing times are relatively short and the hardened specimen is duroplastic.

Choosing a Cold Mount*

Cat#	Resin	Color	Curing Time	Hardness	Shrinkage 1-3 (Best=1)	Application
1232	EpoFix	Clear, Transparent Refractive index: ND = 1.578	Approx 12 hours	78 Shore D	.	Vacuum impregnation Porous samples Mineralogical samples
1233	EMSFix	Clear, Transparent Refractive index: ND = 1.561	1½ hr in oven at 75°C/167°F	85 Shore D	.	Vacuum impregnation Porous samples Mineralogical samples
1234	UniMount	Clear, Transparent Refractive index: ND = 1.573	8 hours	84 Shore D	.	Vacuum impregnation Porous samples Mineralogical samples
1235	TransFix	Colorless, clear (extremely clear when cured under pressure). Otherwise semi-transparent.	20 min.	83 Shore D	…	Vias Microvias
1245	Epoxy-Dye	Fluorescent dye for use in microscopy to make cracks and pores visible.	–	–	–	For use with EpoFix and Unimount
1256	AcryMount	Dull yellowish, partly transparent	10 min	82 Shore D	….	Routine examination
1257	GeoFix	Colorless, clear (extremely clear when cured under pressure).	20 min	85 Shore D	…	Extraordinarily clear mounts
1258	MatFix	Light yellow	30 min	85 Shore D	.	Fast curing No shrinkage
1259	LiteFix	Off-white	20 min	84 Shore D	..	Edge Retention Planeness
1265	Acrylic-Dye	Blue, Red & Yellow	–	–	–	Dyes for easy identification of your acrylic mounts
1270	Poly-Mount	Transparent Polyester Low viscosity	45 min	–	….	Serial mounting of specimens not sensitive to heat
1276	Poly-AcryMount	White Polyester/Acrylic	18-25 min	–	.	Edge Retention Planeness

*30 mm dia. mount with a 45% carbon steel specimen (20 vol%)