Materials Monthly eNewsletter

In 1999, Dawn White, a researcher at Ford, invented a process called “ultrasonic-additive manufacturing” (UAM), also sometimes called “ultrasonic consolidation.” She started a company called Solidica in Ann Arbor, Mich., to manufacture parts by welding foil layers...

Balancing the conflicting demands of design - for example weight versus strength - can be difficult at best. So most companies build prototypes early in the development process. When Proto Labs in Maple Plain...

Pharmaceutical companies are continually developing new drugs and delivery methods, and liquid-drug formulations are no exception. Packaging for these drugs also continue to...

Coordinate-measuring-machine (CMM) touch probes are often too big to capture data on small features in complex micromolded parts. And optical sensors only provide 2D profiles...

In a world where material fabrication and metal heat treatment are outsourced, how can engineers be sure the proper procedures have been performed, short of doing...

Engineering design is the art of compromise. Engineers typically select components by weighing criteria such as function, reliability, availability, and cost. In the case of cam followers, however...

The spread of counterfeit parts and components around the globe seems to know no bounds. Their inadvertent use jeopardizes product performance and reliability, as well as consumer health...

Automotive engineers continue to look for ways to make vehicles lighter, cut fuel consumption and associated emissions, and improve performance and handling. For example, it's estimated...

Traditional leather gun holsters have become the stuff of spaghetti westerns. Today, 80% of holsters used by law enforcement worldwide are formed composites...

Even the most quality-obsessed gear manufacturers sometimes see corrosion, discoloration, and contamination on their gears after heat treatment or during bouts of heat and humidity. The problems...

Specifying internal screw threads isn't the most thrilling task for engineers. Once the hole diameter and thread type are set, there's little need to consider the strip-out strength of the internal...

Design engineers using Proto Labs' (Maple Plain, Minn.) online First Cut CNC machining service, which provides "quick turn" prototypes or low-volume production of machined parts, now have a wider range of...

Friction welding was first patented in the late 19th century and has been a staple of the auto industry since the early 1960s. However, engineers in many industries don’t realize they could be using it to join dissimilar...

Bearings play a vital role in most every machine. They're especially important in packaging equipment that handles sensitive products and must meet high standards of cleanliness...

A high-energy plasma neutron-beam source developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tenn., traded in its two-part cooling jacket for a single-part alternative designed at...

One type of fastening component can boost equipment lifetime and reliability while cutting manufacturing, service, and warranty costs. Sound like a pipe dream? For designs that have threaded joints, mating flanges, or...

Precision metalforming processes involve complex and strong interactions between the workpiece (material and shape) and forming equipment, as well as lubrication, temperature, and other...

Engineers and designers interested in crack propagation, grain rotation, and other effects of mechanical stress can now get up close and personal with material testing, thanks to a module from...

What material is seeing the most rapid growth in automobiles? If you guessed aluminum or composites, you’d be wrong. It’s advanced high-strength steel (AHSS). The material comprised...

Imagine riding in a boat speeding over the waves. But if instead of the rushing wind and surf, all you hear is the roar of the engine and all you feel is its vibration through the soles of...

After a promising start at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1950s was halted by political pressure, interest in thorium reactors has undergone a significant resurgence in the...

Plastics seem to be making inroads into all kinds of parts. So with injection molding becoming more and more common, is metal die casting still a viable production method?

Until now, missing in traditional FEA was a way to factor in how the material itself reacts to stress forces and how reactions evolve and change over time. Vextec Corp., Brentwood, Tenn., addresses...

Assemblies made of plastic or other soft materials often rely on threaded metal inserts to secure fasteners and reinforce joints. Though stainless steel may be appropriate for use...

Since the commercialization of metal injection molding (MIM) in the mid-1970s, the technology has grown in sophistication to become a leading manufacturing method for many medical-device...

Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a microfluidic “droplet-on-demand” device that spits out droplets about 1 micrometer...

Aluminum tooling for high-volume plastic-molding applications? Making the switch from carbon-alloy steel while maintaining part quality has been on engineers’ minds...

Cryogenic processing — treating parts at –300°F or colder — benefits not only tool-and-die sets. It has quadrupled the life of lumber mills’ log-chipper knives...

Damascus or damascene steel is beautiful and tough. If forged from the right materials it is an excellent cutting tool. This advanced form of blacksmithing is recognizable by the decorative pattern on the...

Three new flame-retardant polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadienestyrene (PC/ABS) blend resins use postconsumer recycled content and thus can help OEMs hit a higher rating...

Automakers are not the only ones trying to make internal-combustion engines that are more efficient and less polluting. Marine applications...

For more than 60 years, engineers specifying seals and customers using them have accepted the arbitrary rule that the maximum amount O-rings will swell in most applications is a 25%...

Recycling plastic usually means it has to be ground into consistent-sized particles, and for that you need industrial grinders such as those from...

When you think of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the nonstick coating on your pots and pans might be the first thing that comes to mind.

Think you’ve squeezed the maximum weight and cycle time out of your injection-molded design?

If you want a crash simulation involving plastics to yield useful results, it is important to model the material behavior appropriately.

Today we'll look at 3D laser cutting, two types of adhesives, and one glowwwwwing ring