The structure of a prepared surface of a metal as revealed by a microscope at a magnification greater than ten diameters The structure of polished and etched metal and alloy specimens as revealed by the microscope
The structure that is observed when a polished and etched specimen of metal is viewed in an optical microscope at magnifications in range of approximately x25 to x1500
Is a joint of grains (crystallites) and must not be confused with the constitution structure (lattice structure - unit cell) There are two terms for the identification of the microstructure of a pure metal: grain size and grain shape Pure metals have a homogeneous microstructure, because all crystallites have the same structure The grains are completely equivalent to one another with regard to their lattice structure and the type of atoms