BS EN ISO 4499-2:2020

What is ISO 4499‑2 about?

ISO 4499‑2 is the second part of a series of documents on hard metals. ISO 4499‑2 gives guidelines for the measurement of hard metal grain size by metallographic techniques only using optical or electron microscopy. It is intended for WC/Co hard metals (also called cemented carbides or cermets) containing primarily tungsten carbide (WC1)) as the hard phase. It is also intended for measuring the grain size and distribution by the linear-intercept technique.

ISO 4499‑2 essentially covers four main topics:

• Calibration of microscopes, to underpin the accuracy of measurements;
• Linear analysis techniques, to acquire sufficient statistically meaningful data;
• Analysis methods, to calculate representative average values;
• Reporting, to comply with modern quality requirements.

ISO 4499‑2  is supported by a measurement case study to illustrate the recommended techniques (see Annex A).

ISO 4499‑2 is not intended for the following:

• Measurements of size distribution
• Recommendations on shape measurements. Further research is needed before recommendations for shape measurement can be given.

Measurements of coercivity are sometimes used for grain-size measurement, however, ISO 4499‑2  is concerned only with a metallographic measurement method. It is also written for hard metals and not for characterizing powders. However, the method can, in principle, be used for measuring the average size of powders that are suitably mounted and sectioned.

Who is ISO 4499‑2 for?

ISO 4499‑2 on measurement of WC grain size is relevant to:

• Metallurgist
• Mechanical engineer
• Metal industries
• Metallographic test lab

Why should you use ISO 4499‑2?

Metallography is the study of the microstructure of all types of metallic alloys. It can be more precisely defined as the scientific discipline of observing and determining the chemical and atomic structure and spatial distribution of the grains, constituents, inclusions, or phases in metallic alloys.

ISO 4499‑2 provides information on apparatus, calibration, grain-size measurement by the linear-intercept method, sampling of products, microstructure to determine the grain size of hard metals.

Grain Size affects the physical property of the metal. ISO 4499‑2 assists the user to measure the WC grain size of hard metal which helps him to improve the strength and toughness of the metal ISO 4499‑1 helps to improve the quality of metal and increase sales.

What’s changed since the last update?

BS EN ISO 4499‑2:2020 supersedes BS EN ISO 4499‑2:2010, which is withdrawn.

The main changes compared to the previous edition are as follows:

• Former Terms and definitions have been removed
• Symbols and abbreviated terms have been expanded
• In Apparatus, “Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)” has been added
• In Sampling of products, the list has been revised
• In the Smallest measurable intercept, Table 1, row “Electron backscatter diffraction” has been added and in the row “Scanning electron microscope”, the value for the “Minimum visible intercept length” has been corrected from 200 nm to 400 nm.