$1.5 million project to research monitoring digital production machines from the cloud
December 23, 2016
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Researchers and analysts from Penn State University, Case Western Reserve University, the GE Global Research Center, and Microsoft announce that they are working on a $1.5 million collaborative research project to develop a cloud-based wireless sensing and prognostic system for monitoring machinery health. The initiative will make it possible for the system to detect early signs of wear, aging. and fault conditions.
The federally funded Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) is providing $750,000 in funding, while the other four entities are matching that amount through a cost-sharing agreement.
The project, called Cloud-Enabled Machines with Data-Driven Intelligence, is set to begin Feb. 1 and will be funded by DMDII for 18 months. The Factory for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME), which is housed within the Penn State IME department, is a 10,000-square-foot integrated high-bay laboratory for teaching and research, and is equipped with modern and legacy equipment. To demonstrate the cloud-based manufacturing systems with data-driven intelligence, both legacy machines and general-purpose computer numeric control machines will be used as test cases.
Dazhong Wu, senior research associate in the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME); and Janis Terpenny, professor and Peter and Angela Dal Pezzo Chair and Head of IME, all of Penn State, are the lead researchers of the project.
They are joined by Robert Gao, Cady Staley Professor of Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University; Li Zhang, senior research scientist for industrial Internet of Things (IoT) at GE Global Research Center; and Mark Beckmann, senior manager at Microsoft.
"The emergence of cloud computing, machine learning, and the IoT technologies makes it possible for a machine to function as an agent that is capable of intelligent behaviors, such as automatic fault and failure detection, self-diagnosis and proactive maintenance scheduling," says Dr. Wu.
"The overall goal of this research is to establish a generic framework for real-time process monitoring, diagnosis, and prognosis for smart manufacturing using cloud computing and big data analytics," says Dr. Wu. "The outcome of this project has the potential to enable manufacturers to implement artificial intelligence into manufacturing machines."
DMDII was launched in 2014 through a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense and other partners to transform American manufacturing through digitization of the supply chain. The institute currently has more than 250 partner organizations from industry, academia, government, startups and community groups. DMDII is the first lab of UI LABS and is a member of the Manufacturing USA network.
http://dmdii.uilabs.org/
Researchers and analysts from Penn State, Case Western Reserve University, the GE Global Research Center, and Microsoft announce that they are working on a $1.5 million collaborative research project to develop a cloud-based wireless sensing and prognostic system for monitoring machinery health.
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Multi-element nickel alloys resist radiation damage 100 times better than pure nickel
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The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reports its researchers have discovered that nickel-cobalt-iron and nickel-cobalt-iron-chromium-manganese alloys in equal concentrations can be 100 times more resistant to radiation-induced swelling than pure nickel, meaning that radiation-induced cavities in these alloys are 100 times smaller than in pure nickel.
Colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee created samples of a variety of nickel-based alloys. These were then exposed to radiation in a facility at the University of Tennessee. The most successful alloys were concentrated solid solutions—crystals made of equal parts nickel, cobalt and iron; or nickel, cobalt, iron, chromium and manganese.
"These materials have many good properties such as strength and ductility, and now we can add radiation tolerance," said Chenyang Lu, a U-M postdoctoral research fellow in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences and the leading author of the report in Nature Communications.
In an experiment proposed by Dr. Wang, UT researchers exposed the samples to beams of radiation that created two levels of damage, similar to what may accumulate in a reactor core over several years and over several decades. These experiments were done at a temperature of 932°F, a temperature at which nickel-based alloys are usually susceptible to swelling.
These samples were analyzed at U-M's Center for Material Characterization with a transmission electron microscope. The team found that compared to pure nickel, the best alloys had more than 100 times less radiation damage.
The study, titled "Enhancing radiation tolerance by controlling defect mobility and migration pathways in multicomponent single phase alloys," appears in Nature Communications.
The work was supported as part of the Energy Dissipation to Defect Evolution Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.
http://phys.org/news/2016-12-safer-long-life-nuclear-reactorsmetal-resistance.html
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reports its researchers have discovered that nickel-cobalt-iron and nickel-cobalt-iron-chromium-manganese alloys in equal concentrations can be 100 times more resistant to radiation-induced swelling than pure nickel, meaning that radiation-induced cavities in these alloys are 100 times smaller than in pure nickel.
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Big River Steel Flex Mill to produce hot rolled steel one inch thick, 78 inches wide
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Big River Steel, Osceola, Ark., announces that it has begun operations in the first steel mill in North America to connect an electric arc furnace to a Ruhrstahl Heraeus degasser, and will be the only EAF mill in the United States to produce hot rolled steel as thick as one inch and as wide as 78 inches. Based on the technology and the design of the facility, the mill will reportedly produce a range of material dimensions and strength levels never before produced in an EAF mill.
The company says this is the world's first Flex Mill melt shop and hot mill. These are the third and fourth areas of the mill to be commissioned following the batch anneal facility and temper mill. The first hot-rolled coil was purchased by Zekelman Industries and will be sent to Atlas Tube, one of the company's structural tube mills in Blytheville, Arkansas. Zekelman Industries purchased the coil for $100,000 with the entire amount jointly contributed by Big River and Zekelman Industries to Wounded Warrior Project and Arkansas Northeastern College.
Under construction since July 2014, Big River is commissioning some of the world's newest steelmaking technology and will recycle approximately two million tons of scrap metal and other metallics to produce 1.6 million tons of finished steel products annually.
www.bigriversteel.com
Big River Steel, Osceola, Ark., announces that it has begun operations in the first steel mill in North America to connect an electric arc furnace to a Ruhrstahl Heraeus degasser, and will be the only EAF mill in the United States to produce hot rolled steel as thick as one inch and as wide as 78 inches.
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One Minute Mentor: Distortion in Plasma-Carburized Stainless Steel
December 19, 2016
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The graph shows the XRD patterns of low-temperature plasma-nitrided (PN), plasma-carburized (PC), and untreated AISI 316 stainless steel samples. It illustrates the displacement of the peaks corresponding to the γ-phase to the left, with increasing nitrogen or carbon. The shift is smaller for the PC sample than for the PN sample, indicating less lattice expansion and less distortion in the carbon S-phase.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Nitriding of Stainless Steels ⇒ Stainless Steels
The graph shows the XRD patterns of low-temperature plasma-nitrided (PN), plasma-carburized (PC), and untreated AISI 316 stainless steel samples.
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Vertical drop bottom furnace to heat treat aerospace aluminum alloys
December 14, 2016
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Consolidated Engineering Co., Kennesaw, Ga., announces that it has received a purchase order for a mobile gantry drop bottom heat treat furnace system from a leading provider of aluminum alloys for aerospace applications. The solution furnace is a vertical tower furnace for aluminum alloys. It is supported by one of two quench tanks – water and glycol in water. Also included is a vertical rinse with glycol thermal separation/reclamation.
The new solution furnace is a key component in a large expansion by this company to satisfy increasing demand for its aluminum alloys. CEC was chosen as a partner based on technical competence and successful prior furnace installation in 2012.
Drop bottom furnaces are used when material properties are critical and the time from solution heat treating to quench must be minimal. CEC has a standard line of furnaces covered in its drop bottom system (DBS) series. For instance, a DBS 200 has 200 cubic feet of load basket capacity. CEC units range in sizes from 50 cubic feet to 300 cubic feet in standard configurations and designs. Mobile quench tanks can be heated and cooled, and percent glycol can be controlled
www.cec-intl.com
Consolidated Engineering Co., Kennesaw, Ga., announces that it has received a purchase order for a mobile gantry drop bottom heat treat furnace system from a leading provider of aluminum alloys for aerospace applications.
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Belt casting to cut steel production costs, enable casting of TWIP and TRIP steels
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The University of Warwick, England, announces that engineers at its Advanced Steels Research Centre are evaluating belt casting technology as a way to cut steel production costs and reduce energy costs by a factor of three.
Belt casting is a near-net-shape casting process that produces strip needing minimal hot deformation to achieve the required product thickness. It is also very efficient because it can minimize or eliminate any reheating processes. The technology can also cast certain advanced high strength strip (AHSS) steel grades that are commercially attractive but cannot be produced by conventional casting techniques. These include TWIP (twinning induced plasticity) and TRIP (transformation induced plasticity), which have twice the strength and three times the ductility of conventional steels – as well as high-aluminum steels, which have a combination of good strength and lower density.
The Assure2 project team, led Prof. Claire Davis, has simulated belt cast microstructures, including dynamic direct observation of the solidifying steel at different cooling rates. The team has demonstrated that the microstructures are altered by the higher cooling rate of belt casting, compared to conventional slab casting, and that further beneficial modifications (such as reduction in grain size in high-aluminum steels) can be achieved by composition control.
In the Assure2 project, quantitative relationships between composition, process parameters and microstructure (and hence final product properties) are being established, taking into account the higher cooling rates of belt casting and the reduced hot deformation after casting to final thickness compared to conventional processing
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/news/uk_steel_production/
The University of Warwick, England, announces that engineers at its Advanced Steels Research Centre are evaluating belt casting technology as a way to cut steel production costs and reduce energy costs by a factor of three.
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Portable heat treating system reduces crack sensitivity in aluminum plate
December 13, 2016
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The Navy Metalworking Center, Johnstown, Pa., reports that it has designed and fabricated a heat treating system for aluminum plate that reduces sensitivity to cracking in the aluminum superstructure of the U.S. Navy's CG 47 class cruisers. Prior to this development, cracked aluminum superstructures required extensive repairs or replacement (i.e., removing and replacing the affected plate, as well as all of the outfitting obstructing the area).
The Navy Metalworking Center led a project to address the major contributor to the cracking – the sensitized microstructure in the 5456 aluminum-magnesium alloy used in the construction of the structure. An Integrated Project Team developed and demonstrated a portable heat treatment system that reverses the sensitization in the 5456 aluminum alloy, thereby restoring the affected material in the ship's superstructure to a stabilized condition, which greatly reduces the propensity for cracking.
NMC conducted laboratory tests and finite element simulations to derive the optimized parameters for the reverse sensitization process. Based on this data, NMC designed and fabricated a prototype reverse sensitization unit (RSU), which imparts the necessary heat treatment to the aluminum plate in the CG class cruiser superstructure. The RSU was tested on laboratory sensitized panels, and a mockup of a CG superstructure was designed by NMC. The RSU was then demonstrated onboard two cruisers (one decommissioned, one active duty).
The final RSU prototype system was transitioned to PMS 407 for additional evaluation and use during maintenance intervals. A procurement specification was also developed by NMC, so that additional units may be built after successful implementation. The new process and RSU were implemented in September 2016 with the transition of the equipment to Ingalls Shipbuilding, the planning yard for CG repairs.
Reverse sensitization will give the Navy a low-cost alternative to the current process of cutting out and replacing the sensitized plate. The reverse sensitization repair process can save as much as $2.4M per CG 47 ship availability, resulting in a cost avoidance of as much as $43.2M for 18 ships. The Littoral Combat Ship program will also benefit from this improved technology at a conservative estimate of $500K avoidance per hull, resulting in an additional $4M in cost avoidance for the LCS hulls in service over the next five years.
https://www.navalmetalworking.org/
The Navy Metalworking Center, Johnstown, Pa., reports that it has designed and fabricated a heat treating system for aluminum plate that reduces sensitivity to cracking in the aluminum superstructure of the U.S. Navy’s CG 47 class cruisers.
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Scanning lasers evaluated as part of an industrial process for hardening steel
December 11, 2016
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Researchers at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, Spain, say they have validated a laser scanning optics system that may enable laser hardening of steel parts of varying shape and thickness at an industrial scale. The UPV/EHU's High Performance Manufacturing group conducted the study.
Because laser beams are highly localized, the process hardens only the selected surface, leaving the core of the part in its original state. "Therefore, the parts are not as brittle, and because little heat is inserted, the part does not become as distorted," explains Aitzol Lamikiz, professor of the UPV/EHU's department of Mechanical Engineering. Although laser hardening has been used since 2000, it is limited: "The laser sweeps a constant bandwidth, so the hardened zone thus ends up with a constant thickness."
To make the technology more flexible, researchers decided to assess the viability of incorporating scanning optics into the process. Based on a galvanometric scanner, the technology involves moving a very small laser at high speed, sweeping across the surface line by line. That way, the hardening width can be adapted simply by changing the program parameters.
Prof. Lamikiz says that conventional laser hardening "would be like painting a wall with a roller, so the width that is painted corresponds to that of the roller. However, with the new technique, we replace the roller with a marker with the finest point.
"The experiments showed that it is possible to use this technique to carry out the hardening process. Then we saw how the result of the treatment changed according to the speed of the laser movement, the power used, etc. According to our tests, when the laser moves very fast, the results are similar to those of the conventional laser hardening process."
The researchers then partnered with companies in the Basque Country and Piedmont (Italy), in a project known as Hardlas, to see how far the process was viable. "We can say that the project was a success, as we saw that it was viable, and that it could be transferred to industry."
One of the main difficulties they came up against was controlling the process: "It is very important to get the material treated to the necessary temperature so that the hardening takes place, but it must not be exceeded, otherwise we would melt the material," explains Prof. Lamikiz. "In our process, as the laser is constantly moving, control is more complex." In addition, the tests were carried out at the university on lab equipment. To develop the process for an industrial scale, it would be important to try it out with more powerful lasers, different types of lasers, and on other materials.
S. MartÃnez, A. Lamikiz, E. Ukar, A. Calleja, J.A. Arrizubieta, L.N. Lopez de Lacalle (2016) 'Analysis of the regimes in the scanner-based laser hardening process'. Optics and Lasers in Engineering, 90: 72–80. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2016.10.005
Matxalen Sotillo [email protected]
www.ehu.eus
Researchers at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, Spain, say they have validated a laser scanning optics system that may enable laser hardening of steel parts of varying shape and thickness at an industrial scale.
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One Minute Mentor: The S-Phase
December 9, 2016
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The success of plasma and gas nitriding at low temperatures (lower than 840°F) and solution nitriding at high temperatures is associated with the absence of chromium nitride or carbide precipitation, and thus with the formation in the surface layer of a particular phase called the S-phase. This nitrogen- and/or carbon-rich phase presents higher concentration of the interstitials when treated at lower treatment temperatures and when high-chromium alloys are used, resulting in better properties.
The figure shows the XRD patterns of untreated and plasma-nitrided AISI 316 stainless steel at 790°F. It illustrates the displacement of the peaks corresponding to the γ-phase to the left, with increasing nitrogen, as well as the broadening of these peaks, compared to the γ-phase peaks of the untreated steel.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Nitriding of Stainless Steels ⇒ Stainless Steels
The success of plasma and gas nitriding at low temperatures (lower than 840°F) and solution nitriding at high temperatures is associated with the absence of chromium nitride or carbide precipitation, and thus with the formation in the surface layer of a particular phase called the S-phase.
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Nucor to acquire Southland Tube for its high-strength steel hollow tubing
December 7, 2016
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Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has agreed to acquire Southland Tube, an independent manufacturer of hollow structural section steel tubing, because "It is an excellent fit for our Nucor family and our strategy for profitable growth," said John Ferriola, Chairman, CEO and President of Nucor. Cost was $130 million, or approximately eight times average EBITDA over the 2011-2016 period.
"The acquisition of Southland Tube complements our recent acquisition of Independence Tube in the HSS steel tubing market., added Mr. Ferriola. "We see this market as a great opportunity to leverage Nucor's capabilities and strengths while also adding to our portfolio of products and services for our customers."
HSS is used in a broad array of structural and mechanical applications, including nonresidential construction, infrastructure, and heavy equipment end-use markets. Southland Tube has one facility located in Birmingham, Alabama, which is well situated to serve the HSS market.
With annual shipments of about 240,000 tons, Southland Tube has the third largest market share in HSS steel tubing.
Through the acquisitions of Independence Tube and Southland Tube, Nucor is building a market leadership position in the HSS steel tubing market and providing an additional channel to market for Nucor's sheet steel mills. In 2006, 8% of Nucor's total steel mill shipments were to its downstream businesses. The company expects that number to grow to about 20% with these acquisitions.
www.nucor.com
Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has agreed to acquire Southland Tube, an independent manufacturer of hollow structural section steel tubing, because “It is an excellent fit for our Nucor family and our strategy for profitable growth,” said John Ferriola, Chairman, CEO and President of Nucor.
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