Patent ID: 7319915

Claim:
A high speed, high precision, high repeatability serial sectioning device for 3-D reconstruction of microstructure specimens comprising: a high-precision, high speed and high repeatability motorized metallographic polishing unit, said polishing unit generating selected serial microstructure sections of said microstructure specimen and measuring the vertical distance between said selected serial microstructure sections; a specimen preparation station for receiving, by robotic manipulator means, a polished section of said microstructure specimen and automated preparation of said polished section for viewing and imaging; a microscope for computer controlled, automated viewing of said microstructure specimen from said specimen preparation station; means for computer controlled digital imaging of said microstructure specimen, a combination of previous images obtained after a preselected number of polished microstructure sections resulting in 3-D microstructure reconstruction using 3-D volume rendering software providing real-time 3-D microstructure software data of said microstructure specimen; and a PC workstation running serial-sectioning process control software providing control of said motorized metallographic polishing unit, said specimen preparation station and means for selecting a number of microstructure sections acquired from said microstructure specimen.