At Sermatech Power Solutions (Limerick, PA), lab technicians used to peer through a microscope eyepiece to manually measure and evaluate the protective coating materials that the company applies to power generation and aerospace turbine components.
"They would look through the eyepiece, take a reading, and then look over at a sketch and write down the reading by hand," observes Gary Weller, a Sermatech program manager. In one program that requires 140 points to be evaluated on a series of cross-sectioned samples, the procedure could take five to six hours, Weller says.