Cold Setting Resins & Hardeners

Mounting serves several different purposes:
• Protection/support of the sample surface
• Easier handling
• Having several small samples in one mount
• Having uniform sizes for clamping in sample holders
There are two different mounting methods; Cold and Hot Mounting. Several resins are available that each have different strengths and advantages.
Cold Mounting
Cold mounting resins typically consist of two components that cure after being mixed together. Two different systems are available, epoxies and acrylics.
The epoxies consist of a liquid resin and a liquid hardener.
Our epoxy resin can be mixed with either the Aka-Cure Slow or Aka-Cure Quick hardener, depending on the requirements. They all have very good adhesion to the sample, which helps to provide the best possible edge retention. They can also be used for vacuum impregnation of fragile and porous samples like ceramics and plasma spray coatings.
We offer epoxy resin and hardeners separate, not as a kit, to make it easy to use either hardener with the resin.
Epoxies require good precision when mixing the two components. It can be measured by volume, but weighing is much more precise and the recommended method.
Our acrylic resin consists of a powder and a liquid.
Aka-Clear-2 is a fast curing, transparent system with a slightly yellowish tint. It cures in 8 minutes and produces totally clear, bubble-free mounts without having to use a pressure pot.
Mixing of the 2 components is not critical, if a thinner mix is required, a little extra liquid can be added without adverse effect on the cured mounts.