The first step in a process sets the pace and determines the quality of the finished result. In the materialographic pro-cess, the first step is most often cutting. The purpose of cutting is to section a repre-sentative, yet manageable sample from a large or
irregular piece of a given material or to obtain sections at specific angles, e.g. cross-sections. Cutting makes high demands on a number of factors: Speed, planeness, amount of thermal damage and degree of deformation.