GenVac MP3 Series – Vacuum Impregnation System for Epoxy Mounting

It draws cold mounting resin into the pores and cavities of a specimen under vacuum, before grinding and polishing begin.

Filling those cavities is what improves edge retention on the finished mount. Without it, resin bridges over a pore and the edge breaks down during preparation.

It is used where specimens are porous or fragile: castings, sprayed coatings, sintered parts, corroded samples and thermal spray sections.

Air trapped in a pore stops resin entering it. Under atmospheric pressure the resin simply seals the opening and leaves the cavity empty.

Pulling a vacuum first removes that air, so when pressure is restored the resin is pushed into the cavity rather than sitting on top of it.

The difference shows at the grinding and polishing stage, where an unfilled pore collects abrasive and compound and then bleeds them back onto the surface.

Minus 600 mm Hg, which is minus 0.799 bar, minus 79.993 kPa or minus 11.602 psi.

The vacuum pump is supplied with the system: 180 W motor with a flow of 50 litres per minute.

Pressure relief is programmable rather than manual, which matters because the rate at which pressure is restored affects how the resin is drawn in. The pump is supplied with the system, so no separate vacuum source is needed at the bench.

The vacuum chamber measures 11.8 by 11.8 by 11.8 inches, or 30 by 30 by 30 cm.

That is enough for a batch of standard mounting cups rather than a single specimen, which is what makes the cycle time per sample reasonable.

The chamber is transparent, so the resin level in every cup is watched during filling without breaking vacuum to check. Cups run from 25 mm to 50 mm diameter, so how many go in a batch follows the mount size you work with rather than the chamber alone.

Up to ninety-nine degassing circles in a single programme.

Repeated cycles are used on materials where one evacuation is not enough to clear deep or tortuous porosity, such as coarse castings or open-cell structures.

The number needed is a property of the specimen rather than a setting to maximise, and it is usually established once for each material type and then stored. Resin choice works with it: the high flow epoxy releases no heat and cures over about 24 hours at room temperature, which suits a long multi-cycle programme.

Through a 4.3 inch colour touch panel with a graphic display, holding eight memory methods.

Eight stored methods covers a laboratory that handles a few recurring material types, so the operator recalls a method rather than re-entering parameters.

The interface supports multiple languages and unit conversion, which matters where a laboratory reports in both metric and imperial. Programmable pressure relief is stored with the method, so the rate at which pressure returns is part of the recipe rather than set by hand each time.

Yes, with manual degassing the cups can be filled wherever they sit in the chamber.

That flexibility matters when specimens of different heights go in together, because a fixed filling position would force every cup to the same arrangement.

Combined with the transparent chamber, it also saves resin: the level is seen and stopped rather than estimated. The transparent acrylic cups and the high-transparency silicone type both make that level easier to judge than the general silicone cup.

The system is supplied with high flow epoxy resin. Two families are listed for it: a speedy epoxy that cures at room temperature in about 45 minutes with heat release during curing, and a high flow epoxy with no heat release.

Heat release is the deciding factor on sensitive specimens, since an exotherm can affect the material you are about to examine.

Cups, rings and clips are supplied alongside the resins: silicone and transparent acrylic cups from 25 mm to 50 mm, hollow acrylic rings, stainless clips for metal specimens, plastic clips for non-metals and dedicated moulds for PCB sections.

The machine measures 21.25 by 21.65 by 22 inches, or 54 by 55 by 56 cm, and weighs 99 pounds or 45 kg.

It is a bench unit, so the requirement is a stable surface with room for the supplied vacuum pump alongside.

Power supply is AC 110 V or 220 V single phase, so it suits either laboratory standard. The MP series is plug and play with no formal installation, and the supplied instructional videos cover the setup and the running of the machine.

Between mounting and grinding. The specimen is placed in a cup, resin is drawn in under vacuum, and the mount is cured before it goes to the grinder.

Skipping impregnation on a porous specimen costs time later, because the pores contaminate the polishing stage and the edge fails inspection.

The rest of the line is under metallography sample preparation equipment.

No. A dense, sound metal specimen mounts perfectly well without it, and adding the step wastes resin and time.

The step earns its place when the specimen is porous, cracked, fragile or coated, or when edge retention at a surface layer is the point of the examination.

If you are unsure whether your samples need it, send a description of the material and the feature you are examining: contact us.

The routine items are the vacuum pump and the chamber seal. A pump that no longer reaches the rated vacuum will not fill deep porosity, and the symptom appears on the mount rather than on the display.

Chamber cleanliness matters as well, since cured resin on the seal face is the usual cause of a slow evacuation.

Consumables, resins and replacement parts can be quoted alongside the system: request a quote.