Researchers from TU Wien, Austria, and the University of Vienna have recently unraveled the complex structure of the Al2O3 surface, a puzzle that had eluded precise determination for over half a century.
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Nitrex Vacuum, Quebec, has installed a turnkey nitriding system at Akademi Metalurji, a full-service commercial heat-treating solutions provider located in Turkey. The project includes a mid-sized pit-type furnace, advanced controls, three process technologies along with accelerated cooling.
The decision to invest in a new nitriding system was driven by the company’s objective to overcome efficiency and quality challenges faced with their previous furnace at the Gebze facility. The prior system consumed excessive amounts of process gases and yielded inconsistent nitriding results. With the addition of a Nitrex NX-1015 pit furnace, Akademi Metalurji can now save on process gases and production time, while also expanding their heat treatment capabilities to accommodate wider-dimensioned parts. The nitriding furnace offers an effective work zone of 39” diameter by 59” high (1000 x 1500 mm) and can handle a load of up to 4400 lbs. (2000 kg). The supplied library of Nitreg-based recipes is tailored to meet different application requirements, resulting in a hardened surface that is highly wear-resistant. For applications like machinery components, tooling, dies, and molds, where Akademi Metalurji specializes, Nitreg delivers improved tooling performance, ensuring longer service life and higher throughput. Ultimately, this leads to tool cost savings for their customers.
The system was successfully installed at the Gebze facility, located southeast of Istanbul, and commenced operations in April 2023. Since then, it has been running smoothly, delivering excellent results.
EAG Laboratories, Tempe, Ariz., announced a new addition to its wide range of advanced microscopy techniques – Plasma FIB (PFIB) services.
PFIB can be used for both material characterization and failure analysis. It differs from traditional FIB as it uses various gases such as Xe, Ar, O, or N to generate a focused ion beam with much greater range of beam currents as compared to Ga. With Plasma FIB capability, larger cuts can be prepared more efficiently, giving EAG Laboratories the ability to survey more material to find the root cause of a failure and reducing the time needed for an analysis.
Plasma FIB Benefits:
Plasma FIB is an ideal choice for performing mm scale targeted cross-sections on a wide variety of materials such as metals, polymers, ceramics, semiconductors and composites.
Image – Cross-Sectioning Entire Commercial LED Ball Bond.
For more information:
Evans Analytical Group
There are many exciting developments in Education and it is my pleasure to share some of them with you.
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Jaret Frafjord is the incoming President of the International Metallographic Society.
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