- Email: [email protected]
Upon reflection
SOFIWARE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
The article, “Seeing What’s Underneath - With X-Ray Fluorescence” focuses on the increasingly important role of PC-based software. This is “the new frontier” in testing, measurement, and control. Software-based tools cover a growing range of functions, but they all share a common methodology. Once a physical characteristic, such as a paint color, pH value, coating thickness, or X-ray fluorescent spectra is measured and converted to a digital value, then the entire arsenal of digital processing technology can be applied to this digital information. Digital information can be stored, transmitted, archived, displayed, analyzed, and manipulated in an endless variety of ways. Within seconds, vast amounts of information can be analyzed for patterns that no human could discover in a lifetime of manual calculations. Three trends are converging to drive progress in this field. First is increasing power and plummeting costs of desktop computing power. Secondly, the end of the cold war and the rise of the internet have fostered an unprecedented level of global information sharing that is producing huge leaps in the theoretical mathematics that are the foundation for all computer simulation. Finally, our understanding of how matter operates at the atomic and subatomic basis is growing exponentially. Just compare your child’s high-school chemistry textbook with your own college textbook to really see how much we’ve learned in just a few years. These trends combine to enable us to run amazingly sophisticated programs on affordable desktop computers that accurately model the physical and chemical processes. The atomic properties of metals can be accurately modeled in software. Their behavior during the plating process can be simulated and used to predict what changes need to be made to keep the plating process operating most efficiently, The same techniques can be applied to a wide range of other metal finishing tasks. For a fascinating glimpse at the simulation of real-world spray-painting conditions, see the article, “Virtual Reality Painter Training Becomes Real” written by John Heckman and Ron Joseph in our May issue. Metal Finishing believes we have only begun to scratch the surface of these exciting new capabilities and we are committed to keeping you abreast of this exciting .
Advertising satas Managar
Lawrence A. PC& [email protected]
Administrative Assistant
Eileen M&&y [email protected] Circulation Mana er
Helena Batiosins IZI. a h.bartosinska@&evier.com a@&evier.com Metal Finishin
360 Park Avenue Bouth
New York, NY 10010-1710 212/633-3100 FAX212/633-3140
http:/lwww.metal6nishing.com Metal Finishing (ISSN
0026-0576) is pubIished monthly with the exception of July and August that combines into 1 issue by Elsevier Inc., 360 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10010. Metal Finishing is free to qualified metal fin&hers in the U.S. For suppliers, consultants and others related to the field the subscription rate per year, in&ding a copy of the Wetal Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue” and the “Organic Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue” is $78.00 in U.S., $110.00 in Canada and Mexico, $159 in Europe and Japan, $178 for all other countries. Prices include postage and are subject to change without notice. For additional information contact Metal Finishing Customer Service, P.O. Boxl41, Congers, N.Y. 10920-0141. TolI i+ee (for U.S. customers): l800-765-7514. Outside the U.S. calI 845-267-3490. Fax 84&267-3478. EmaikMetai@Cambeywe&.com. Single copies of Metal Finishing (except the Guidebook and Dire&q issues): $5.00 in the US. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Change of Address: Postmaster-send address changes to Metal Finishing, P.O. Box 141, Congers, N.Y. 10920-0141. Toll-free (for U.S. customers) l-800-765-7514. Outside of the U.S. call 845-267-3490 Fax: 845-2673478. E-mail: [email protected]., 45 days advance notice required. Please include both new and old address. Copyright by Elsevier Science Inc. Permission for reprinting selected portions will usually be granted on written application to the publisher. Articles on pertinent subjeds are invited. For further information, please contact the Editor at 360 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10010, [email protected], Publication does not necessarily imply indorsement. Microti Edition: Available tirn University Micmiilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbzr, Mich. 48103. Our publication number is 342180
The article, “Seeing What’s Underneath - With X-Ray Fluorescence” focuses on the increasingly important role of PC-based software. This is “the new frontier” in testing, measurement, and control. Software-based tools cover a growing range of functions, but they all share a common methodology. Once a physical characteristic, such as a paint color, pH value, coating thickness, or X-ray fluorescent spectra is measured and converted to a digital value, then the entire arsenal of digital processing technology can be applied to this digital information. Digital information can be stored, transmitted, archived, displayed, analyzed, and manipulated in an endless variety of ways. Within seconds, vast amounts of information can be analyzed for patterns that no human could discover in a lifetime of manual calculations. Three trends are converging to drive progress in this field. First is increasing power and plummeting costs of desktop computing power. Secondly, the end of the cold war and the rise of the internet have fostered an unprecedented level of global information sharing that is producing huge leaps in the theoretical mathematics that are the foundation for all computer simulation. Finally, our understanding of how matter operates at the atomic and subatomic basis is growing exponentially. Just compare your child’s high-school chemistry textbook with your own college textbook to really see how much we’ve learned in just a few years. These trends combine to enable us to run amazingly sophisticated programs on affordable desktop computers that accurately model the physical and chemical processes. The atomic properties of metals can be accurately modeled in software. Their behavior during the plating process can be simulated and used to predict what changes need to be made to keep the plating process operating most efficiently, The same techniques can be applied to a wide range of other metal finishing tasks. For a fascinating glimpse at the simulation of real-world spray-painting conditions, see the article, “Virtual Reality Painter Training Becomes Real” written by John Heckman and Ron Joseph in our May issue. Metal Finishing believes we have only begun to scratch the surface of these exciting new capabilities and we are committed to keeping you abreast of this exciting .
Advertising satas Managar
Lawrence A. PC& [email protected]
Administrative Assistant
Eileen M&&y [email protected] Circulation Mana er
Helena Batiosins IZI. a h.bartosinska@&evier.com a@&evier.com Metal Finishin
360 Park Avenue Bouth
New York, NY 10010-1710 212/633-3100 FAX212/633-3140
http:/lwww.metal6nishing.com Metal Finishing (ISSN
0026-0576) is pubIished monthly with the exception of July and August that combines into 1 issue by Elsevier Inc., 360 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10010. Metal Finishing is free to qualified metal fin&hers in the U.S. For suppliers, consultants and others related to the field the subscription rate per year, in&ding a copy of the Wetal Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue” and the “Organic Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue” is $78.00 in U.S., $110.00 in Canada and Mexico, $159 in Europe and Japan, $178 for all other countries. Prices include postage and are subject to change without notice. For additional information contact Metal Finishing Customer Service, P.O. Boxl41, Congers, N.Y. 10920-0141. TolI i+ee (for U.S. customers): l800-765-7514. Outside the U.S. calI 845-267-3490. Fax 84&267-3478. EmaikMetai@Cambeywe&.com. Single copies of Metal Finishing (except the Guidebook and Dire&q issues): $5.00 in the US. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Change of Address: Postmaster-send address changes to Metal Finishing, P.O. Box 141, Congers, N.Y. 10920-0141. Toll-free (for U.S. customers) l-800-765-7514. Outside of the U.S. call 845-267-3490 Fax: 845-2673478. E-mail: [email protected]., 45 days advance notice required. Please include both new and old address. Copyright by Elsevier Science Inc. Permission for reprinting selected portions will usually be granted on written application to the publisher. Articles on pertinent subjeds are invited. For further information, please contact the Editor at 360 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10010, [email protected], Publication does not necessarily imply indorsement. Microti Edition: Available tirn University Micmiilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbzr, Mich. 48103. Our publication number is 342180