MD_Materials Monthly_: Back to school with MD

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The latest information on engineering materials

April 7, 2009

Back to school with MD

With job prospects in the U.S. looking worse and worse, more people are said to be turning to grad school to ride out the economic downturn or retrain for better jobs. Are you back in school full time? Working toward a degree in addition to your day job? Not doing any formal education at the moment?

Whatever your situation, Machine Design can help educate you for real-world engineering problems. Check out our white papers and webinars, including one coming up this week on designing plastic gears.

And don't forget to sign up for virtual attendance at our Energy Efficiency Web Conference and Expo May 14. It will be a full day of live, educational webinars and interactive booths, along with plenty of links and downloads for more information. You'll be able to network with other engineers, including Machine Design editors. Stop by Machine Design's virtual booth and say hi!

For now, educate yourself on plastics in the medical industry, a grinder for plastics recycling, and new finishing techniques for tough metals. Also check out some of the new products on the materials market and industry updates.

As always, please let us know your thoughts by email, by commenting on articles at machinedesign.com, or by visiting our discussion forums.

Happy learning,
Jessica Shapiro

Articles

When it absolutely, positively needs to be ground up

Recycling plastic usually means it has to be ground into consistent-sized particles, and for that you need industrial grinders such as those from Vecoplan, Archdale, N.C. Their K-models, for example, grind wood waste, plastic scrap, tires, medical waste, cables and wire, pallets, and carpets.
Read the full article.

Stop throwing money down the conduit
Custom-configured ITC/PLTC Cable for Exposed-run Applications

Northwire custom-configured ITC/PLTC Cable for exposed-run applications reduces material and installation costs in industrial control and instrumentation circuit applications. We have six platforms with millions of possibilities—general-purpose or extreme-use including extreme-cold, direct burial and Class I and II, Div. 2 locations. Northwire’s ITC/PLTC Cable is oil, chemical, abrasion and cut resistant. Low minimums, factory-direct pricing, built and shipped in 10-15 days. Complimentary Samples! +1 715-294-1212; 1-800-468-1516

www.northwire.com/pltc

Video: Plastics products for the medical market

In this 6 minute, 44 second video, Machine Design Editor-in-Chief Lee Teschler of talks with Jeff Thompson of Phillips Plastic Corp. about the use of plastic in medical devices.
See the video.

Rapid roughing of tough materials

Some aircraft turbine OEMs have replaced individual airfoils bolted or friction welded to a slotted hub with one-piece “bladed integrated disks,” or “blisks,” to reduce engine weight, aerodynamic losses, and engine complexity. Blisks are usually roughed-out by CNCs, electrochemical milling (ECM), or electrical-discharge machining (EDM), and then hand polished.

EDM removes metal by placing a shaped graphite tool (anode) near, but not touching, the workpiece (cathode) which is connected to a power supply. A rapid series of sparks gradually erodes the metal workpiece to the correct shape. ECM, on the other hand, “machines” the workpiece using a chemical reaction similar to reverse electroplating.

GE Aviation in Evandale, Ohio, asked KRC Machine Tool Services in Independence, Ky., to build two machines to combine EDM and ECM processes for machining blisks out of solid Inconel billets. The resulting proprietary technology is called BlueArc, or, generically, ECDM.
Read the full article.

New Products

Adhesive films help healing

New transparent, conformal, adhesive films for wound dressings and to secure IVs and catheters are tested according to ISO 10993-5/-10 standards for cytotoxicity and skin irritation and sensitization. The materials have an affinity for skin, yet remove cleanly without residue. They are also impermeable to liquids, bacteria, and viruses, while providing good oxygen and moisture-vapor exchange. These features keep a chronic wound moist and accelerate its healing.
MACtac

Low-viscosity PBT

SuperFast (SF) grades of Crastin PBT thermoplastic polyesters come unreinforced or with 15 or 30% glass-fiber reinforcement. The materials have melt viscosities up to 43% lower than standard PBTs at 250°C and 1,000 sec-1. The 15% reinforced material has a tensile modulus of 5,800 MPa, 3.2% strain to break, and 106‑MPa stress at break. It deflects under 1.8 MPa at 200°C. The 30% reinforced material’s modulus is 9,900 MPa, and it strains 2.5% before break. The low viscosity is said to cut injection molding time by up to 30% by filling the mold more quickly. Lower melt temperatures speed heating, cooling, and demolding cycles. The material’s low viscosity facilitates the injection molding of thinner walls and more intricate flow paths.
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Nonanodized black oxide

The Lumiclad black-oxide process forms a durable satin-black finish on aluminum alloys. The 1.5-μm coating can be applied in 30 min, and it maintains part dimensions. The process competes with black anodizing without using electrolytic chemicals or electrical current. Instead, a dip-tank setup runs at 70 to 200°F. Rinse water is ion-exchange purified.
BirchwoodCasey

News from MD

Energy Efficiency Web Conference & Expo –
May 14

Do you know you can get in-depth education on energy-efficiency and all the benefits of an in-person trade show without ever leaving your desk or spending a dime?
The intelligent use of energy is making headlines. Product designers and manufacturers are striving to deliver products that consume less power, extend battery life, generate less heat, or work from alternative energy sources. Our Energy Efficiency Web Conference and Expo will educate design engineers, product developers, and managers on how to make the best use of energy-efficient product innovations and devices, and on how to arrange them in systems to lower power consumption and stay "green." This special one-day event will include sessions on such areas as:

Power-efficient drive techniques for lighting
ROI for high-efficiency capital equipment
Energy monitoring and energy standards
Designing for SEMI S23 and the Energy Act of 2007
Working with alternative power and battery technology

Make plans now to attend the Energy Efficiency Web Conference and Expo. The event offers a full day of live webinars and interactive booths, along with a Resource Center where visitors can download or link to additional materials.

Register Now!

Machine Design Video Spotlight

	High-flex silicone flat cable
	A silicone injection molding process developed by Cicoil Corp. embeds wires, coax, fiber optics, and even piping into a single highly flexible flat cable for industrial applications.

Check Out the New Machinedesign.com

Our newly redesigned web site still features the best content and information for engineers provided by engineers but with these new great features.

Multiple Path Navigation
Find content your way. Improved site navigation creates multiple ways to find the content you are looking for.

Supercharged Search
The search function has been highly improved and tested to provide the most effective results for engineers.

Highlighted Resources
Looking for CAD drawings? Find them in our CAD Library. Download whitepapers in the Whitepaper Library. Valuable educational content is featured in the eBook section. Check out the latest in editorial and sponsored video in the Video section.

UPCOMING WEBCASTS

Design Essentials for Plastic Gear Peformance
Sponsored by Thermotech
DATE: April 9th, 2009
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT

Engineers are focused on creating cost effective, energy efficient designs that offer performance and high value to the end customer. Luckily, advancements in design, materials, manufacturing and inspection have made it possible to meet product development goals and expand plastic gear applications.
The webinar presents a unique approach to plastic gear development including:

Critical gear design principles

Performance requirements to determine optimal materials selection

Overview of tooling optimization technique

Metrology methods for plastic gears

Live question/answer session with presenters

Click here to register!

Efficiency in Fractional HP Motors & Gearmotors
Sponsored by Groschopp
DATE: April 16th, 2009
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT

Efficiency is often one of the last factors that design engineers think about when specifying for an OEM application, yet it is critical to a successful, optimized design in many ways. Join Groschopp engineers Ron Didier and Jared Birk for an overview of efficiency as it relates to other design considerations such as power source, operating cost, temperature, purchase cost and size.
Webcast attendees will receive an early release download of the new STPe desktop design tool that allows engineers to calculate operating cost based on speed, torque and power requirements and local kwh energy costs.

Click here learn more and to register!

Improving Collaboration with Customers and Suppliers
Sponsored by PTC
DATE: April 23rd, 2009
TIME: 2:00pm ET/11am PT

The need to respond and capitalize on new customer requirements is more important than ever during the current economic downturn. However, the pressures of globally distributed design teams and more stringent time, cost, regulatory and quality requirements continue to complicate the product development process. In order to succeed, Small and Medium Organizations need to collaborate across project teams more efficiently to bring the right products to the marketplace at the right time.

In this live webcast, you’ll learn best practices to effective collaboration:

Enabling concurrent engineering with members of a distributed design team
Conducting efficient design reviews across the value chain network
Creating a controlled collaboration environment
Proving secure collaboration to the design team and suppliers

Learn how to build an engineering collaboration framework that’s best suited for your business

Click here learn more and to register!

ARCHIVED WEBCASTS AVAILABLE FOR FREE VIEWING

Click Here for a list of archived Machine Design webcasts.

Industry Update

AGY purchases E-glass production facility in Asia

AGY, a producer of fiberglass yarns and reinforcements, is buying a 70% controlling interest in Shanghai Grace Technology Company Limited, a producer of E-glass yarns for the electronics industry. AGY retains the option and intent to purchase remaining outstanding shares. The company says the acquisition, expected to be finalized in second quarter of 2009, will let is serve a growing Asia-Pacific customer base.

The Shanghai Grace facility has production capacity over 18,000 MT. AGY acquired no weaving operations in the transaction.
For more information, contact AGY.

Solvay plant earns supplier quality certification

Solvay Advanced Polymers, LLC's Greenville, S.C. plant earned ISO/TS 16949 registration, the automotive industry’s supplier quality management system standard. The plant manufactures Torlon polyamide-imide products including glass-reinforced, carbon fiber-reinforced, and wear-resistant grades for the automotive, industrial, semiconductor, aerospace, and oil and gas recovery industries.

The standard examines quality planning, shipping and receiving, raw materials handling, control plans, production parts approval processes (PPAPs), and failure mode effects analysis (FMEA), among other manufacturing aspects. ISO/TS 16949 also incorporates the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, a registration the Greenville plant earned in 2003.
For more information, contact Sovay Advanced Polymers.

Dow Automotive filters race in Le Mans series

Two diesel-powered teams in the American Le Mans Series have announced they use Aerify diesel particulate filters from Dow Automotive. Team Peugeot Total's 5.5-L, V12 908 HDi FAP and Audi's V10, the R15 TDI LMP 1, ran with the filters in the 12 Hours of Sebring March 21. The teams will also compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Aerify filters' microstructure give them high porosity, high strength, low back pressure, and compact packaging. They are said to cut fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
For more information, contact Dow Automotive.

Energy Efficiency Web Conference & Expo –May 14

Machine Design Video Spotlight

Check Out the New Machinedesign.com

Energy Efficiency Web Conference & Expo –
May 14