Welcome back for another installation of Know Your Metals!
I had a busy last couple of weeks! A lot of travel, trade-show attendance and calls and visits in LA California!
The most recent trade event was a small, regional AFS (American Foundry Society) conference with a small exhibit area for vendors (yeah, the booth-boy attends these neighborhood events too!) at the Red Lion in Seattle WA.
I was very happy to attend, as it gave me a chance to reconnect with folks I had lost touch with due to job changes. I really like working with the foundry and metal manufacture folks. They tend to be a "no-nonsense" group of people and that suits my professional style just fine! They seem to know what they want and can make the case to get it!
Making metal and mixing alloys is as much art as science I think... Some of these guys have such a knack for it, they can almost tell you what is in an alloy by the smell! Well, maybe that is an exaggeration, but they are pretty darned good at it!
Most of us have to rely on equipment like OES spectrometers to get the low-down on an alloy. Commercial metals really do need to be closely monitored for material composition, or a alloy won't have the right characteristics (strength, flexibility, machinability, what-have-you) to fit the intended purpose. Speaking of art vs. science, the one MAJOR exception is art metals.
Foundries for art-metals are typically only interested in the chemistry in-so-far as it effects the pour into the mold and the color of the casting... Dang they have it SO easy!
For the rest of us though, gotta have that chemistry!
How do you analyze your metals? What kind of equipment do you rely on? Let me know, I would like to hear about what you are doing to maintain your quality, but also what your challenges are!
This is a short one this week, I hope you have a great week and remember, now is the time to...
KNOW YOUR METALS!
Thanks for tuning in again! Until next time!
Walter
(P.S. if you want more information about me or the products I recommend, visit
http://know-your-metals.com/
and while you are there, sign up for my weekly newsletter!)
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