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Technological & economic assessment of advanced ceramic materials
Technological & economic assessment of advanced ceramic materials Charles River Associates Incorporated (CRA) have assessed the benefits to be derived to technological advance in advanced ceramics and the barriers that must be overcome before such benefits may be realized. The CRA study was performed under contract with the US National Bureau of Standards. Application areas studied include Heat Engines; Capacitors; Integrated Optics; Gas Sensors and Cutting tools.
Measuring thickness profile of hot-rolled aluminium strip Working in collaboration with TI (Group Services), BNF Metals Technology Centre is proposing to develop a method to gauge the thickness profiles of aluminium alloy strip as it emerges from the hot tandem rolling mill. The method is based on the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). The development of on-line shapemeters for use on cold finishing mills has resulted in a marked improvement in the finished flatness of aluminium strip. However, a practical constraint upon the control of shape during cold-rolling is the consistency of the thickness profile of the hot-rolled strip entering the cold mill. An adverse thickness profile emerging from the hot tandem mill can also cause other problems, such as the build-up of non-uniform stress in the coil and its relief during coil storage by surface buckling. Aluminium rollers attempt, therefore, to achieve a consistent strip thickness profile at the exit from hot tandem mills by controlling all the rolling conditions. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to attain.
Improved connector performance from beryllium-copper alloys The US Patent Office has awarded patents for the chemical compositons, related chemical compositions and production processes for two Brush Wellman beryllium-copper alloys, C17400 and C17410. These two alloys were developed to provide superior mechanical, thermal and electrical characteristics for a variety of demanding electrical/electronic connectors and
Colloquium on materials for automated manufacturing The purpose of the US meeting was to bring together members of the materials and manufacturing communities to review materials information of interest to the manufacturing community. Automation demanded materials matched to the processes and cutting tools with predictable performances. To demonstrate that materials suppliers were sensitive to these needs, presentations were made on a number of alloys for casting, forging and welding that offered better properties and less variability. Cutting tool manufacturers reviewed
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 7 No. 4 JULY/AUGUST 1986
Data and information for this study were derived from a number of types of sources. Scientific and engineering literature, trade press, and government reports and data sources, as well as annual reports and other documents from ceramic manufacturers, were reviewed. Interviews were held with numerous researchers in the advanced ceramics field, including researchers in industry, government, and academia. Marketing personnel at ceramic manufacturers, purchasing managers and others at user firms, and representatives of manufacturers of complementary products, among others, were also interviewed. Further information from P E R A OTIS, Melton, Leicestershire, LE 13 OPB Tel: 0664501501 Existing aluminium strip thickness gauges use X-rays or radioisotopes, but these are highly sensitive to impurities and to alloy elements and this can lead to unacceptable errors in the measured thickness profile. Ultrasound is commonly used for thickness gauging, but the temperature of the strip (typically 200-300°C) precludes the use of conventional ultrasonic transducers, because good mechanical coupling must be maintained between the ultrasonic probe and the material under test. The E M A T can generate ultrasonic waves directly in a metal surface without contact and has been used to inspect products at temperatures up to 1000°C. The aim is to establish the thickness profile within 0.2% or better on aluminium alloy strip, at temperatures from 200300°C and line speeds up to 5rn/s. End users in areas where rolled strip must be free from surface buckle, such as stock, foil, vehicle body and architectural panels, would be beneficiaries of what it is hoped will become a multi-client project. E J Morley, BNF Metals Technology Centre, Grove Laboratories, Denchworth Road, Wantage, Oxon OX12 9BJ. Tel: (02357) 2992, ext 287. packaging applications, compared to phosphor bronzes and other high performance copper-base alloys. The new alloys will permit denser packaging, higher currents and higher temperatures with no degradation of performance. These alloys are the first commercially available alloys from a new family containing relatively small amounts of beryllium and cobalt. The combination of strength, formability, conductivity, resistance to corrosion and resistance to stress relaxation is not met simultaneously in competitive alloys. Harmut Koeppen, Brush Wellman, Alloy Division, 17876 St. Clair Ave. Cleveland, Ohio 44110, USA. Tel: (216) 486 4200. advances and explained the benefits of titanium-carbide coatings and poly-crystalline cubic boron nitride. The characterisation of materials except in a few instances was still poor and the number of processes for which comprehensive models existed was limited. There was a comprehensive range of material property data in the USA but this was not nationally available because companies were reluctant to share it. If the full benefits of automation were to be realised then ways had to be found to disseminate the existing data, to generate new data characterising materials and to develop models that predicted the behaviour in a wide range of manufacturing processes. The Proceedings will be available in 1986 from the National Academy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington DC, USA. 20418 Tel 202-334-2000.
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Measuring thickness profile of hot-rolled aluminium strip Working in collaboration with TI (Group Services), BNF Metals Technology Centre is proposing to develop a method to gauge the thickness profiles of aluminium alloy strip as it emerges from the hot tandem rolling mill. The method is based on the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT). The development of on-line shapemeters for use on cold finishing mills has resulted in a marked improvement in the finished flatness of aluminium strip. However, a practical constraint upon the control of shape during cold-rolling is the consistency of the thickness profile of the hot-rolled strip entering the cold mill. An adverse thickness profile emerging from the hot tandem mill can also cause other problems, such as the build-up of non-uniform stress in the coil and its relief during coil storage by surface buckling. Aluminium rollers attempt, therefore, to achieve a consistent strip thickness profile at the exit from hot tandem mills by controlling all the rolling conditions. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to attain.
Improved connector performance from beryllium-copper alloys The US Patent Office has awarded patents for the chemical compositons, related chemical compositions and production processes for two Brush Wellman beryllium-copper alloys, C17400 and C17410. These two alloys were developed to provide superior mechanical, thermal and electrical characteristics for a variety of demanding electrical/electronic connectors and
Colloquium on materials for automated manufacturing The purpose of the US meeting was to bring together members of the materials and manufacturing communities to review materials information of interest to the manufacturing community. Automation demanded materials matched to the processes and cutting tools with predictable performances. To demonstrate that materials suppliers were sensitive to these needs, presentations were made on a number of alloys for casting, forging and welding that offered better properties and less variability. Cutting tool manufacturers reviewed
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 7 No. 4 JULY/AUGUST 1986
Data and information for this study were derived from a number of types of sources. Scientific and engineering literature, trade press, and government reports and data sources, as well as annual reports and other documents from ceramic manufacturers, were reviewed. Interviews were held with numerous researchers in the advanced ceramics field, including researchers in industry, government, and academia. Marketing personnel at ceramic manufacturers, purchasing managers and others at user firms, and representatives of manufacturers of complementary products, among others, were also interviewed. Further information from P E R A OTIS, Melton, Leicestershire, LE 13 OPB Tel: 0664501501 Existing aluminium strip thickness gauges use X-rays or radioisotopes, but these are highly sensitive to impurities and to alloy elements and this can lead to unacceptable errors in the measured thickness profile. Ultrasound is commonly used for thickness gauging, but the temperature of the strip (typically 200-300°C) precludes the use of conventional ultrasonic transducers, because good mechanical coupling must be maintained between the ultrasonic probe and the material under test. The E M A T can generate ultrasonic waves directly in a metal surface without contact and has been used to inspect products at temperatures up to 1000°C. The aim is to establish the thickness profile within 0.2% or better on aluminium alloy strip, at temperatures from 200300°C and line speeds up to 5rn/s. End users in areas where rolled strip must be free from surface buckle, such as stock, foil, vehicle body and architectural panels, would be beneficiaries of what it is hoped will become a multi-client project. E J Morley, BNF Metals Technology Centre, Grove Laboratories, Denchworth Road, Wantage, Oxon OX12 9BJ. Tel: (02357) 2992, ext 287. packaging applications, compared to phosphor bronzes and other high performance copper-base alloys. The new alloys will permit denser packaging, higher currents and higher temperatures with no degradation of performance. These alloys are the first commercially available alloys from a new family containing relatively small amounts of beryllium and cobalt. The combination of strength, formability, conductivity, resistance to corrosion and resistance to stress relaxation is not met simultaneously in competitive alloys. Harmut Koeppen, Brush Wellman, Alloy Division, 17876 St. Clair Ave. Cleveland, Ohio 44110, USA. Tel: (216) 486 4200. advances and explained the benefits of titanium-carbide coatings and poly-crystalline cubic boron nitride. The characterisation of materials except in a few instances was still poor and the number of processes for which comprehensive models existed was limited. There was a comprehensive range of material property data in the USA but this was not nationally available because companies were reluctant to share it. If the full benefits of automation were to be realised then ways had to be found to disseminate the existing data, to generate new data characterising materials and to develop models that predicted the behaviour in a wide range of manufacturing processes. The Proceedings will be available in 1986 from the National Academy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington DC, USA. 20418 Tel 202-334-2000.
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