Today we’re looking at a more advanced type of compound microscope with a huge amount of extra modes to really cover a wide variety of specialized metallurgical applications. AmScope has at the top of their metallurgical microscope line, the ME600TZB–a metallurgical unit capable of viewing in brightfield, darkfield, and polarized light modes.
Being the top of their line, this metallurgical microscope model uses infinity plan optics, which for the layman mean that the lenses are flat enough to where you have about 95% of the field of view in focus at one time, and that the entire image is sent and focused from prism to prism (due to the focal distance being set to infinity, rather than a fixed number). These optics are quite expensive, however well worth their price tag compared to what you’d pay for a similar unit to this from the big guys like Nikon or Olympus.
AmScope Metallurgical Microscope Review “ME600TZB”
The advanced features of the metallurgical microscope are what lend it both the high price tag and the high value of the unit. This ME600TZB is primarily marketed towards industrial applications, such as silicon wafer inspection or mineral/crystal inspections, however being a brightfield microscope, it can also be used for any opaque sample you want to look at with high magnification values. While there are cheaper alternatives if you want to look at sugar or salt crystals, it can certainly do those and excel at it. The darkfield is different from your standard compound microscope’s darkfield function in that the condenser is essentially built into the path of light or the objective. Ideally, darkfield is used in this case to contrast the sample against a dark background with bright edges, which allows for clearer and crisper imaging of samples where quality control and uniformity inspections are needed (again, primarily for silicon wafer inspection and R&D applications).
The polarization function of the ME600TZB metallurgical microscope serves for aiding in identification of individual mineral components within a sample. Sand is a great example, as we mentioned above. Within a sand sample could be many different mineral elements, however to the human eye it simply appears as a grain of sand–a small rock, when magnified. When you apply polarized light to the sand, while being able to rotate the degree of polarization, you’re able to achieve an effect where the minerals within the sample actually image as different colors. Identifying the sample can be then achieved by knowing what color the mineral you’re interested in appears as under that degree of cross polarized light.
The stage on this behemoth of a metallurgical microscope is massive, which lends itself greatly when you have larger samples to place on the microscope’s stage (circuit boards are one thing that come to mind, when inspecting tiny microscopic components on the board), and is mechanical, so it can be moved to scan around a sample (although refocusing may be needed when you have a sample that is not of uniform thickness).
It does have a trinocular port on the top, so a USB camera can be added if desired, although this metallurgical microscope package does not come with one. I happened to have several lying around from trying products out for reviews here, so I didn’t purchase one, but you can always do so if this is a first time purchase for you. If you want the top quality images and have a DSLR, there are a variety of DSLR adapters for microscopes out there (even some by AmScope)–just make sure that they fit into a 23.2mm ocular tube size, and you can slide it right in on top. Any of these DSLR adapters will fit into it: Nikon, Canon, & Olympus DSLR Adapters.
The build quality of this precision instrument is top notch, even coming from their factory in China. As with any industry of any country, there are varying degrees of quality within the country–not all things from China are bad. Some are, others aren’t. This isn’t a unit you have to worry about that at all. Full metal construction, well lubricated rack and pinion systems for focusing and stage adjustment, and all parts of this metallurgical microscope slid together with ease.
As with most AmScope equipment, the ME600TZB comes mostly preassembled. The head needs to be slid into the EPI illuminator path and screwed in (thumb screw attaches it)after the EPI illuminator is attached in the same manner to the body of the unit. The polarizer and analyzer slide into the unit when polarization is desired, so that’s easy to go. Configuration may take a little time, as with any EPI illuminator, the aperture stop, filter stop, and bulb position will need to be calibrated. The manual included goes over this, and you can always contact AmScope’s customer service team for help if you need it. Once that’s all good to go, you’re ready to use the unit as a normal compound microscope (just with opaque objects since you have the EPI illuminator on it instead of a base light that shines up).
As linked to above, if interested in this unit, you’re best of buying from Amazon for a variety of reasons. They have been a great supporter of my blog as they provide a nominal fee for any purchases made when clicking through any link here through the associate program, so please check out this unit or any other unit from here, as they’ll be happy to support you in your microscopy needs as well!
Here’s where you can find this unit in question: ME600TZB
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me or comment, as usual. I’d be happy to answer any questions that I can!
Hi,That nice post Tks
Thank you for your kind words!