ASM International, Materials Park, Ohio, is proud to announce the donation of a new $250,000 lab-sized furnace, designed specifically for use at Materials Park, by Solar Atmospheres Inc., Souderton, Pa. The gift commemorating the ASM 100th Anniversary will better enable and further education efforts at ASM.
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Short run forming of complex sheet metal shapes using rubber dies and pads is quick and highly effective. This technique was first accomplished using the Guerin process. After the Second World War, the Wheelon process was developed as an improvement over the Guerin Process. A Wheelon press is capable of manufacturing large, complex, short run parts with economic tooling. This type of hydraulically actuated bladder forming is widely used in the aerospace industry today.
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Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces a new case study detailing the Titan’s adaptive, multipurpose processing capabilities. Its versatility lies in its ability to run a variety of workloads through many different heat treatment processes back-to-back, while maintaining energy and cost efficiency. The paper emphasizes how varied and ever-changing customer needs can be, and how Titan’s features and options can improve job turnaround.
Continue readingThe eBeam Initiative, a forum dedicated to the education and promotion of new semiconductor manufacturing approaches based on electron beam (eBeam) technologies, announces the completion of the second annual eBeam Initiative survey. The 28 member companies from across the photomask global supply chain participated in the survey.
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Leica Microsystems, Switzerland, has launched two cameras that are ideal instruments for routine brightfield (Leica DMC2900) or fluorescence (Leica DFC3000 G) applications. Both are equipped with sensors that allow live images of up to 30 frames per second and a USB 3.0 interface for fast data transfer. The Leica Application Suite and the fluorescence counterpart Advanced Fluorescence software platform provide for image acquisition and support users in analysis and documentation.
Continue readingAichelin Group., Modling, Austria, announces that a new order for a 1500-kg electrically heated quench furnace installation has been received from Renault Nissan Automotive Ltd., for its automotive assembly plant in Chennai, India. The order reportedly consists of four sealed quench furnaces and accessories, including a tempering and preheating furnace, a washer, and other related equipment, to be supplied in phases until April 2015.
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Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif., created movies of irreversible reactions that occur too rapidly to capture with conventional microscopy for the first time. The team used multi-frame, nanosecond-scale imaging in the dynamic transmission electron microscope (DTEM) to create movies of the crystallization of phase change materials used for optical and resistive memory.
Continue readingThe University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, announces that the seven-metric-ton, 4.5-meter-tall scanning transmission electron holography microscope (STEHM) has now been fully assembled and tested, and has a lineup of scientists and businesses eager to use it. A team from Hitachi, which constructed the ultrahigh-resolution (35 picometers), ultra-stable instrument, spent one year painstakingly assembling the STEHM in a carefully controlled lab in the basement of the Bob Wright Centre.
Continue readingOlympus Corp., Japan, introduced new Corrosion Module software available with the portable EPOCH 600 Ultrasonic Flaw Detector. The module is designed for the growing population of inspectors that require both flaw detection and corrosion measurement solutions as standard application offerings. This optional software provides simplified instrument operation for basic corrosion applications, requiring less set up time and more efficient data collection.
Continue readingKobe Steel Ltd., Japan, reports that it has recently developed a new die-forging method that increases the fatigue strength of crankshaft material by 20% compared with conventional forging. As a result, long-stroke crank throws of higher reliability and lighter weight can now be commercially mass produced for diesel engines in ships. In engine development, ships are using larger propellers that rotate at slower speeds, driving the need for low-rpm propellers with high output.
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Ambrell, an AmeriTherm Company, Scottsville, N.Y., has sold an Ekoheat 35 kW/30 kHz induction heating system to a fastener manufacturer to preheat blanks prior to forging. The solution includes a custom-built coil, along with an optical pyrometer and controller for quality control. The client determined that a new modern system with process feedback from Ambrell’s Application Lab would allow shorter heating times and faster production rate.
Continue readingThe Duval family established an educational fund with the ASM Materials Education Foundation in honor of Mr. Jean Duval’s accomplishments during his long, productive, and innovative career as chairman and CEO of Aubert & Duval (Paris, France). The Jean Duval Educational Fund is designated for educational activities to encourage young people to enroll in materials science or other STEM professions for their lifelong career.
Continue readingA team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, Calif., have developed a printing process they call FLUENCE-fluid-enhanced crystal engineering-that for some materials results in thin films capable of conducting electricity ten times more efficiently than those made by conventional methods. The printing method is fast and works with a variety of organic materials.
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Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., have succeeded in consolidating ground graphite foam ligaments in titanium powder to make disks up to 7 inches in diameter with bulk thermal conductivity of 240 W/m-K, as well as high strength. The ground ligaments are about 500 microns thick and range in length from 100 to 200 microns.
Continue readingPark Systems, Santa Clara, Calif., introduces Park NX-HDM, a fully automated atomic force microscopy (AFM) automatic defect review and sub-angstrom surface roughness measurement system for device substrates and disk media. The system increases throughput by up to 1000%, and offers a 30% higher success rate than prior systems. It analyzes, identifies, and scans media for all wafer sizes up to 150 mm.
Continue readingResearches lead by Sara Tavassoli at Shahed University, Tehran, Iran, wanted to create a composite resin with antibacterial properties without reducing its mechanical and physical properties. “Zinc oxide nanoparticles were added to a preventive and treatment material and its antibacterial, mechanical, and physical properties were investigated at the same time,” she said. Adding zinc oxide nanoparticles to the resins increased the antibacterial properties.
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Sulzer Metco, Switzerland, introduces MetcoClad, a robotics-based laser cladding system that can apply welded deposits on multi-dimensional surfaces in a single cladding run. The robust systems simplify operability, reduce production set-up time, and monitor the cladding process. Part manipulation can be tailored to customer requirements.
Continue readingKLA-Tencor, Milpitas, Calif., introduces the 2910 Series optical wafer defect inspection platform with NanoPoint technology, and the eDR-7100 electron-beam wafer defect review system. Meeting the need for accelerated defect sourcing on advanced devices, these tools combine increased speed with seamless connectivity to quickly find and identify defects that inhibit yield and reliability.
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Student interns from the Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Research Group (3DPRG) at The University of Nottingham, UK, created a 3D-printed functionalized prosthetic arm illustrating how the technology could evolve to print customized prosthetics with electronic moving parts and nerve endings. The creation was present at 3D: printing the future, which opened at the London Science Museum in early October.
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Laserline GmbH, Germany, presented “Heat Treating with Diode Lasers” at Heat Treat 2013. Diode lasers provide benefits such as lighter and stiffer constructions, reduced process steps, and high reproducibility. The simple and robust direct diode laser technology competes with the diode-pumped solid-state lasers, disk, and fiber lasers. Diode laser technology has been used in applications such as hardening and repair welding for tools and dies in the automotive and oil and gas industries.
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Thermatool Corp., East Haven, Conn., announces that one of North America’s top producers of oil country tubular goods (OCTG), has completed the installation of a fourth Thermatool Seam Annealer at its manufacturing facility. The leading manufacturer of OCTG products will use the annealer to increase its production rate of API line pipe. Increasing demand and shorter lead times means faster mill speeds are needed.
Continue readingRFI Screening Ltd., England, has selected Metallisation MK61 Flamespray equipment from Metallisation Ltd., England, to metal spray a 40-metric-ton generator rotor with fine silver. It was first sprayed with a 25-micron coating of molybdenum, to optimize the adhesion of the top coat of silver. A final coating of silver was then added to achieve the specified outside diameter on the shaft. In a typical application, a coating 250 microns thick of silver would be sprayed.
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Indo-US MIM Tec Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India, earned a grand prize at PowderMet 2013 in the automotive engine category for a sensing element, a threaded port, and a support ring made for Sensata Technologies Holland B.V., Almelo, the Netherlands. Fabricated via MIM of 17‐4 PH stainless steel, the parts have a heat‐treated yield strength of 160,000 psi and ultimate tensile strength of 178,000 psi.
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The Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), Princeton, N.J., announces the inaugural conference on Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy (AMPM), May 18-20, 2014, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, Florida. This specialized conference will be co-located with the PM2014 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials and the Tungsten, Refractory & Hardmaterials Conference, which will all be taking place under one roof in Orlando.
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Powdermet Inc., Euclid, Ohio, offers DiaBond, a family of engineered diamond powders specially designed to improve bonding in metallic matrices, including nickel-, cobalt-, copper-, and aluminum-based binders. DiaBond powders are comprised of diamond grains encapsulated in a 1-20 micron coating of cobalt, nickel, chromium, chromium carbide, tungsten, tungsten carbide, copper, aluminum, silicon, or rhenium.
Continue readingEngineers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, report that networks of spherical gold nanoparticles embedded in polyurethane elastic materials may make the best stretchy conductors yet. The team discovered that the gold nanoparticles align into chain form, making excellent conductive pathways, when the polyurethane is stretched. Flexible electronics have a wide variety of possibilities, from bendable displays and batteries to medical implants that move with the body.
Continue readingApplied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., announces the SEMVision G6, a suite of new defect review and classification technologies for its SEMVision family of products to accelerate time to yield for chip manufacturing at 1X-nm and beyond. The system combines 30% higher resolution and multi-dimensional imaging capabilities with the Purity Automatic Defect Classification system.
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The Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Mass., and one of its members, GM Global Powertrain Engineering, Pontiac, Mich., have been awarded a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a method that predicts heat transfer coefficients for metal castings during quenching and cooling operations, an innovation that will help make cast parts more durable.
Continue readingThe Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, Germany, together with colleagues from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia, have developed a saw wire that can reduce kerf loss when cutting silicon wafers. In place of diamond-impregnated steel wires, the researchers use ultra-thin and extremely stable threads made of carbon nanotubes coated with diamond.
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