Get the latest on titanium brazing
August 4, 2017
Source: ASM International
An article by one of the leading authorities on titanium brazing – vetted and accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed ASM Handbook, Volume 6, Welding, Brazing, and Soldering – is now available online in digital form. “Brazing of Conventional Titanium Alloys,” a comprehensive, fact-filled survey by industry expert Alexander E. Shapiro, Ph.D., Titanium Brazing Inc., offers in-depth analysis and practical advice on how to braze commercially pure and alloyed titanium with itself as well as with other materials such as copper, stainless steel, carbon steel, ceramics, graphite, and titanium aluminide.
Continue reading
President’s Message
Source: ASM International
It’s hard to believe that we are already well into the summer months of 2017! It’s been a very busy and exciting year for ASM and TSS.
Continue reading
Girl Scouts learn how to be Materials Girls
Source: ASM International
This July, fifteen Girl Scouts traveled to the ASM dome to take part in demonstrations that explained materials property concepts and introduced them to engineering. The scouts, who were between 7 to 11 years old, earned a Materials Girl patch by participating in the program. The day was organized by the ASM Women in Materials Engineering committee in collaboration with the Northeast Ohio Girl Scouts council.
Continue reading
Spray Tips: Volumetric Powder Feeders
Source:
Volumetric powder feeders are based on a positive-displacement mechanism that delivers packets of powder. The diagram schematically shows a common volumetric feeder design. Volumetric mechanisms include screws and wheels that are slotted, spoked, or drilled. As a screw turns or a wheel rotates within the bed of powder, the powder is displaced by the screw or picked up by the wheel. Powder is then taken to the carburetor, where it is suspended or fluidized in the carrier gas delivered to the powder port in the gun.
Tampers are sometimes used to assist the packing of non-free-flowing powders into the wheel slots or holes. Vibrators are also used when powders do not flow well. Scalpers or scrapers are sometimes used to scrape excess powder from the tops of the slots/holes, so that a predetermined volume of material is delivered to the carburetor for each wheel revolution. In screw feeders, the end of the screw enters a tube, which serves the same function of controlling the volume per revolution of the screw, keeping excess powder from entering the carburetor.
Volume 5A, Thermal Spray Technology ⇒ Thermal Spray Processes and Coatings ⇒ Process Control and Control Equipment ⇒ Material Feed
Volumetric powder feeders are based on a positive-displacement mechanism that delivers packets of powder.
Continue reading
One Minute Mentor: Residual Stress Profiles
August 3, 2017
Source: ASM International
Residual stress profiles of nitrided austenitic AISI 316 are shown in the graph.
Continue reading
Metalysis signs joint R&D program to develop aluminum-scandium powder alloy
Source:
Metalysis, England, has signed a joint research and development program with an international partner to co-create high-value aluminum-scandium alloys. The R&D program will investigate the use of the Metalysis electrochemical technology to provide a scandium-rich feedstock addition, thereby supporting master alloy production.
Aluminum-scandium alloys offer unique strength and light-weighting characteristics. However, scandium's cost has proven to be prohibitive to its use in spite of its revolutionary properties. To date, it is largely mined as a byproduct, with little assurance of supply. Therefore, as an alloy addition, scandium can as much as triple the cost involved in manufacturing.
The Metalysis powder process is capable of producing a wide range of metals and alloys at a lower cost and environmental footprint than traditional melting processes. This process may therefore aid in resolving cost constraints encountered in manufacturing aluminum-scandium alloys.
"We are very pleased to welcome another international partner to our R&D project portfolio," says Dion Vaughan, CEO of Metalysis. "Aluminum-scandium alloys are a huge subject of interest to Metalysis, and while their cost implications are well-known, so are their highly beneficial characteristics. The ‘unknown' element of this picture is how disruptive technologies will traverse historic barriers to manufacturing these alloys, and this is exactly what we will address.
"We will use the Metalysis process to explore opportunities to materially improve their cost setting and deliver a high-demand, high-spec product. Achieving this would pose truly revolutionary results and create an important area of potential growth for both parties."
The R&D program will be conducted in phases at the company's Materials Discovery Centre within South Yorkshire's Advanced Manufacturing Park Innovation District. It is the second R&D program launched from the new facility since it opened in March 2017.
The Materials Discovery Centre houses commercial R&D projects to produce exotic metal powders for high-performance alloys of growing demand among additive manufacturing applications. On March 20, it was announced that Metalysis entered a commercial R&D partnership to research, develop, and commercialize novel rare earth metal alloys for three-dimensional (3D) printed permanent magnets.
www.metalysis.com
Metalysis, England, has signed a joint research and development program with an international partner to co-create high-value aluminum-scandium alloys.
Continue reading
Lockheed Martin awards $1 million to Denver university for additive manufacturing lab
Source:
Lockheed Martin, Denver, announces that it will award a $1 million grant to the Metropolitan State University of Denver to establish an on-campus Lockheed Martin Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, where students will have access to a state-of-the-art AM system on which to design and create aerospace components. The grant also establishes an endowed director of the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Institute.
The grant aims to support the work undertaken there and prepare the workforce of the future for the manufacture of affordable, capable, and innovative spacecraft, the company stated.
"This grant is an investment in the futures of the students at MSU Denver and the aerospace community," stated Brian O'Connor, Vice President of Production Operations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Emerging manufacturing technologies will create possibilities we can only dream of today, like printing an entire satellite from the ground up or printing complex parts that we can't machine by traditional methods. We're helping students design with those new concepts in mind, so the next space missions will be innovative, affordable, and faster to market."
Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D., MSU Denver President, commented, "With support from key partners like Lockheed Martin, MSU Denver can offer students education opportunities that directly address workforce needs in Colorado's key industry clusters. Students now have the rare opportunity to work with technology and equipment used by some of the top advanced manufacturing companies in the world."
The image shows a 3D-printed half-scale model of the NASA Orion spacecraft.
www.lockheedmartin.com
Lockheed Martin, Denver, announces that it will award a $1 million grant to the Metropolitan State University of Denver to establish an on-campus Lockheed Martin Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, where students will have access to a state-of-the-art AM system on which to design and create aerospace components.
Continue reading
Lindberg MPH box furnace can provide six different heat treating atmospheres
August 1, 2017
Source:
Lindberg MPH, Riverside, Mich., has shipped an electrically heated, rod over-bend atmosphere box furnace capable of providing six different atmospheres to a company in the steel and mining industry. This is the second heat treating furnace of this kind that the customer has purchased, and the design is tailored for the customer's specific process.
The atmosphere system includes flow meters for nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. An atmosphere saturator allows variation of the moisture dew point of the nitrogen that flows to the furnace chamber. The saturator tank is fabricated of 304 stainless steel. The dew point is controlled from a dew-point transmitter located in the nitrogen atmosphere line before entering the furnace chamber. Dew point is also monitored through a sample port located in the side of the furnace chamber. Maximum load capacity is 465 pounds at 2000°F.
The atmosphere box furnace has work chamber dimensions of 15x30x12 inches, and has a maximum temperature rating of 2000°F. The furnace is constructed with a gas-tight steel shell made from continuous-welded steel plate reinforced with structural steel members. The furnace door lifts up to provide access to the work chamber, and is sealed by metal to metal contact to eliminate gasket wear and maintenance.
The door is raised and lowered by an air cylinder with roller chain. A natural-gas flame curtain is provided for the door area, and is activated when the front door is opened to ignite exiting combustible atmosphere and minimize air infiltration back into the purge chamber. The furnace chamber is heated with a radiant heating system.
Six different atmospheres are available, including nitrogen, hydrogen, endothermic, argon, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.
"At Lindberg MPH, we pride ourselves on having the experience to design our equipment to meet the most stringent requirements," says Kelley Shreve, Sales Representative. "This customer's process required the furnace to provide six different gas atmospheres. This is the second system we have shipped to them with this advanced atmosphere system."
www.lindbergmph.com
Lindberg MPH, Riverside, Mich., has shipped an electrically heated rod over-bend atmosphere box furnace capable of providing six different atmospheres, to a company in the steel and mining industry.
Continue reading
Wisconsin Oven enhanced-duty walk-in ovens will dry sand cores for casting in two hours
Source:
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped two natural-gas-fired enhanced-duty walk-in batch ovens that are designed to dry the sand cores used in the casting of a variety of parts. The sand-core dryers have the capability to raise the temperature from 70 to 450°F, driving water and resin from 6000 pounds of sand cores and a 600-pound steel load car within two hours.
Work chamber dimensions are 10x8x20 inches, with a maximum temperature rating of 500°F. Guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±10°F at 500°F was documented with a nine-point temperature survey. The oven bodies are constructed of tongue-and-groove panel assemblies featuring Wisconsin Oven's patented high-efficiency panel seams that provide 25% better insulating efficiency.
"These sand core dryers were designed to maximize efficiency and decrease drying time of the cores," says David Burke, Sales Representative, Torrid Enterprises. "The customer is able to pour and dry more cores in less time than before, resulting in increased production."
The dryers were fully factory tested and adjusted prior to shipment. All safety interlocks were checked for proper operation and the equipment was operated at the normal and maximum operating temperatures. An extensive quality assurance check list was completed to ensure the equipment met all Wisconsin Oven quality standards.
www.wisoven.com
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped two natural-gas-fired enhanced-duty walk-in batch ovens that are designed to dry the sand cores used in the casting of a variety of parts.
Continue reading
Heat Treating Society member Steve Ferdon earns CHTE Distinguished Service Award
Source:
The Center for Heat Treating Excellence at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., announces that it has presented its Distinguished Service Award to Steve Ferdon. The award is granted to an individual who has made significant, commendable, and long-standing contributions to the promotion of CHTE. A member of the ASM Heat Treating Society, Mr. Ferdon is the Director of Global Engineering Technology in the Fuel Systems Business Unit at global power leader Cummins Inc.
A member of CHTE since 2010, he has served as chair of its board of directors since 2012. His leadership at CHTE has contributed to mentoring the next generation of engineers, formalizing industrial membership governance of the board of directors, and sharing technical knowledge of heat treating applications with members.
Mr. Ferdon received the award at a formal ceremony recently during CHTE's biennial meeting on the WPI campus. "I am surprised and humbled by this recognition from the CHTE membership," he said. "Every year, I look forward to the spring and fall CHTE meetings, and the energizing collaboration with this unique group of talented, experienced, and highly practical technical leaders."
"Steve has impacted the advancement of CHTE," said Richard Sisson, George F. Fuller professor of Mechanical Engineering at WPI and technical director of CHTE. "From a technical standpoint, he brings a broad perspective to the industry. Cummins works with an extensive network of heat treating service providers from all over the world, applying multiple processes for ferrous alloys, and he shares a great deal of what Cummins has learned with our industrial members."
Prof. Sisson also noted Mr. Ferdon's efforts to bring the next generation of engineers to the meetings, where they can learn practical experience from industry leaders.
Steve received the Outstanding Materials Science Engineer Award from Purdue University's School of Materials Engineering in 1998, and is on the school's advisory committee. He holds six patents, is a Licensed Professional Engineer, and is a member of the AISI Bar Steel Fatigue Property Consortium Steering Committee. He began his career at Indiana-based Cummins in 1992 as a technical specialist in materials engineering.
http://wp.wpi.edu/chte/
The Center for Heat Treating Excellence at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., announces that it has presented its Distinguished Service Award to Steve Ferdon.
Continue reading 