Definition of "metallography" []

• The study of the structure of metals and alloys, especially by optical and electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Advantage has been taken of a reprinting to revise, extensively, the portions of the book relating to the modern science of metallography."
• "The science of metallography has been developed in the past 25 years, and aided by precise methods of measuring temperature, has done much to systematize the information which we possess on metallic alloys, and steel in particular."
• "If you don't already know, metallography is a type of scientific microimaging that involves mirror-polishing metal surfaces and then etching them with various reagents to reveal their microstructures, which are often of breathtaking beauty."