Three-dimensional (3D) observations of internal structures are important for evaluating material properties. Serial sectioning with destructive processes is traditionally employed as a 3D observation method. Identifying the boundaries of elements in microscope images and measuring the mechanical properties of each element are required for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of composite materials. This study provides a system for measuring the local hardness and elastic modulus by conducting indentation tests during serial sectioning processes. An automatic serial sectioning observation was performed during a combination process of precision cutting in high-speed milling with a single-crystal diamond tool and microscopic observation. A Vickers indenter was attached to a tool spindle table, and indentation tests were conducted under a displacement control process at submicron spatial resolution. The indentation modulus was obtained by analyzing the force–displacement profile measured during the unload process. The scale effects relating to the indentation depth in the measurements of the indentation modulus were confirmed for an Al alloy sample measured in this system. This study focused on the identification of components by using hardness information measured under the same indentation depth on a two-dimensional flat surface after precision cutting of the material. Three types of metal wires (1 mm diameter) embedded in plastic resin were used in the experiment. The hardness distributions on the serial sectioning surfaces were measured, and the values measured at each wire area on 3D positions were used for the identification of their material properties. This serial sectioning observation creates a 3D microstructural model including not only microscopic images, but also hardness and elastic modulus information for the identification of components in the microscopic area.

内部结构的三维（3D）观察对于评估材料性能非常重要。传统上将具有破坏性过程的连续切片用作3D观察方法。为了评估复合材料的机械性能，需要确定显微镜图像中元素的边界并测量每个元素的机械性能。这项研究提供了一种通过在连续切片过程中进行压痕测试来测量局部硬度和弹性模量的系统。在高速铣削中使用单晶金刚石工具进行精密切削和显微镜观察相结合的过程中，进行了自动连续切片观察。在刀具主轴工作台上安装了维氏压头，压痕测试是在位移控制过程中以亚微米空间分辨率进行的。压痕模量是通过分析卸载过程中测得的力-位移曲线获得的。对于在该系统中测量的铝合金样品，证实了与压痕模量的测量中的压痕深度有关的比例效应。这项研究的重点是通过使用材料在精密切割后在二维平面上相同压痕深度下测得的硬度信息来识别组件。实验中使用了三种嵌入塑料树脂中的金属线（直径1毫米）。测量连续切片表面上的硬度分布，并在3D位置的每个导线区域测量的值用于识别其材料属性。这种连续的切片观察创建了一个3D微观结构模型，该模型不仅包括显微图像，还包括硬度和弹性模量信息，用于识别微观区域中的组件。