For immediate release Oakville, Ontario, April 20, 2012 – VAC AERO International today launched its third redesigned website since 2007. In addition to featuring concise overviews on its vacuum furnace systems and coating services, VAC AERO offers hundreds of technical articles relating to the practice and application of vacuum processing and surface engineering in its […]
Archives for April 2012
Metallography and Microstructure of Aluminum and Alloys
Compared to many other metals and alloys and many other materials, such as carbides, ceramics and sintered carbides, aluminum and its alloys are low in strength and hardness. Aluminum is a soft, silvery metal with a face-centered cubic crystal structure, a hallmark of ductile metals. Its softness makes it somewhat difficult to prepare but the alloy is not sensitive to problems that plague preparation of magnesium and titanium, that is, a sensitivity to mechanical deformation that generates mechanical twins or Neumann bands. Aluminum, like chromium, niobium and titanium, is very corrosion resistant and a thin, transparent oxide film will form on a freshly polished surface. This film is responsible for its good corrosion resistance, but also makes etching difficult. Aluminum alloys contain a rather high content of intermetallic precipitates that contribute little to improving the alloys and may be detrimental. Contemporary four or five step preparation procedures are given for preparing aluminum and its alloys. Results are also shown for revealing grain size with Weck’s reagent, a useful alternative to anodizing.
Using Vacuum Furnaces to Achieve Lean, Green and Agile Manufacturing
The long-standing practice by furnace manufacturers of offering only “stand-alone” pieces of equipment is changing. Today, some manufacturers, especially those who manufacture vacuum furnaces are capable of building completely integrated systems, which can be placed directly into the manufacturing flow. Of the choices technology available, only vacuum furnaces offer a true lean, green and agile solution. Let’s explore why.
To begin, we need an understanding of what being lean, green and agile is all about. Lean manufacturing (lean enterprise, lean production) is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, “value” is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.