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Engineer's Toolbox: How to design the optimum hinge

Although many pin styles are available, Coiled Spring Pins are particularly well suited for use in both friction- and free-fit hinges. To achieve optimum long-term hinge performance, designers should observe these helpful design guidelines from SPIROL.
Read the full article.

Innovative new robo welding gun

Comau's newest N-WG welding gun is designed for high-speed spot welding for traditional, hybrid, and electric vehicles, in addition to general industry sectors. It features a patented, single-body architecture that enables rapid reconfiguration between welding types and forces, and it delivers consistent performance across a broad range of applications, including steel and (soon) aluminum welding. It supports both X and C standard gun configurations, has fast arm exchange, and universal mounting options. It is fully compatible with major robot brands and represents a significant advancement in spot welding performance and cost efficiency.
Learn more.

What's a SLIC Pin^®? Pin and cotter all in one!

The SLIC Pin (Self-Locking Implanted Cotter Pin) from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all in one. This one-piece locking clevis pin is cost saving, fast, and secure. It functions as a quick locking pin wherever you need a fast-lock function. It features a spring-loaded plunger that functions as an easy insertion ramp. This revolutionary fastening pin is very popular and used successfully in a wide range of applications.
Learn more.

Engineering challenge: Which 3D-printed parts will fade?

How does prolonged exposure to intense UV light impact 3D-printed plastics? Will they fade? This is what Xometry's Director of Application Engineering, Greg Paulsen, set to find out. In this video, Paulsen performs comprehensive tests on samples manufactured using various additive processes, including FDM, SLS, SLA, PolyJet, DLS, and LSPc, to determine their UV resistance. Very informative. Some results may surprise you.
View the video.

Copper filament for 3D printing

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, says its popular Copper Filamet™ (not a typo) is "back in stock and ready for your next project." This material is compatible with any open-architecture FDM/FFF 3D printer. After sintering, final parts are 100% pure copper. Also available as pellets. The company says this is one of the easiest materials to print and sinter. New Porcelain Filamet™ available too.
Learn more and get all the specs.

Copper foam -- so many advantages

Copper foam from Goodfellow combines the outstanding thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. These features are of particular interest to design engineers working in the fields of medical products and devices, defense systems and manned flight, power generation, and the manufacture of semiconductor devices. This product has a true skeletal structure with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments. A perennial favorite of Designfax readers.
Learn more.

Full-color 3D-printing Design Guide from Xometry

With Xometry's PolyJet 3D-printing service, you can order full-color 3D prints easily. Their no-cost design guide will help you learn about different aspects of 3D printing colorful parts, how to create and add color to your models, and best practices to keep in mind when printing in full color. Learn how to take full advantage of the 600,000 unique colors available in this flexible additive process.
Get the Xometry guide.

Tech Tip: How to create high-quality STL files for 3D prints

Have you ever 3D printed a part that had flat spots or faceted surfaces where smooth curves were supposed to be? You are not alone, and it's not your 3D printer's fault. According to Markforged, the culprit is likely a lack of resolution in the STL file used to create the part.
Read this detailed and informative Markforged blog.

Test your knowledge: High-temp adhesives

Put your knowledge to the test by trying to answer these key questions on how to choose the right high-temperature-resistant adhesive. The technical experts from Master Bond cover critical information necessary for the selection process, including questions on glass transition temperature and service temperature range. Some of the answers may surprise even the savviest of engineers.
Take the quiz.

Engineer's Toolbox: How to pin a shaft and hub assembly properly

One of the primary benefits of using a coiled spring pin to affix a hub or gear to a shaft is the coiled pin's ability to prevent hole damage. Another is the coiled pin absorbs wider hole tolerances than any other press-fit pin. This translates to lower total manufacturing costs of the assembly. However, there are a few design guidelines that must be adhered to in order to achieve the maximum strength of the pinned system and prevent damage to the assembly.
Read this very informative SPIROL article.

What's new in Creo Parametric 11.0?

Creo Parametric 11.0 is packed with productivity-enhancing updates, and sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest impact in your daily workflows. Mark Potrzebowski, Technical Training Engineer, Rand 3D, runs through the newest functionality -- from improved surface modeling tools to smarter file management and model tree navigation. Videos provide extra instruction.
Read the full article.

What's so special about wave springs?

Don't settle for ordinary springs. Opt for Rotor Clip wave springs. A wave spring is a type of flat wire compression spring characterized by its unique waveform-like structure. Unlike traditional coil springs, wave springs offer an innovative solution to complex engineering challenges, producing forces from bending, not torsion. Their standout feature lies in their ability to compress and expand efficiently while occupying up to 50% less axial space than traditional compression springs. Experience the difference Rotor Clip wave springs can make in your applications today!
View the video.

New Standard Parts Handbook from JW Winco

JW Winco's printed Standard Parts Handbook is a comprehensive 2,184-page reference that supports designers and engineers with the largest selection of standard parts categorized into three main groups: operating, clamping, and machine parts. More than 75,000 standard parts can be found in this valuable resource, including toggle clamps, shaft collars, concealed multiple-joint hinges, and hygienically designed components.
Get your Standard Parts Handbook today.

Looking to save space in your designs?

Watch Smalley's quick explainer video to see how engineer Frank improved his product designs by switching from traditional coil springs to compact, efficient wave springs. Tasked with making his products smaller while keeping costs down, Frank found wave springs were the perfect solution.
View the video.

Top die casting design tips

You can improve the design and cost of your die cast parts with these top tips from Xometry's Joel Schadegg. Topics include: Fillets and Radii, Wall Thicknesses, Ribs and Metal Savers, Holes and Windows, Parting Lines, and more. Follow these recommendations so you have the highest chance of success with your project.
Read the full Xometry article.

Super steel project claims big breakthrough: Super strength and enhanced fracture resistance

Professor Huang Mingxin and PhD student Miss Liu Li with their new D&P super steel, which reaches an unprecedented high level of fracture resistance and excellent performance in ductility and strength. [Credit: ©The University of Hong Kong]

 

 

 

 

The Super Steel project led by Professor Huang Mingxin at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), with collaborators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), has made an important breakthrough in its new super D&P steel project by demonstrating greatly enhanced fracture resistance while maintaining super strength for advanced industrial applications. The material is called D&P steel because it is produced using a new "deformed and partitioned method." The steel is not the same as DP (dual-phase) steel.

The findings were published in Science on May 8, 2020, in the paper titled, "Making Ultrastrong Steel Tough by Grain-Boundary Delamination."*

Steel is a common alloy. Material scientists and engineers are continually seeking to develop next-generation steel materials that are easier to extend and elongate (ductility) into different forms and structures, higher in resistance to deformation (strength) and fracture (toughness), light in weight, and low in production cost.

The task has been difficult. The conventional view is that raising the performance of one metallic property, whether in strength, ductility, or toughness, will undermine one or more of the others. For example, an increase in strength will inevitably make the metal more brittle (known as the strength-toughness tradeoff) or less flexible to be extended or elongated into different shapes (strength-ductility tradeoff).

"In this latest breakthrough in super D&P steel, we attained an unprecedented strength-toughness combination which can address a major challenge in safety-critical industrial applications -- to attain an ultra-high fracture toughness so as to prevent catastrophic premature fracture of structural materials," said Huang. "The breakthrough also changes the conventional view that attaining high strength will be at the expense of deteriorating toughness, which invariably leads to the embrittlement of structural materials and greatly limits their application."

Earlier, the team had raised the D&P steel's strength-ductility performance significantly, so now the super D&P steel attains excellent performance in all three metallic properties at an unprecedented level.

Several patents in United States, EU, and China have been filed. The team has been liaising with industrial partners to generate prototypes of a high-strength bridge cable, bulletproof vest, and a car spring with the super steel for further testing.

The latest advancement in D&P steel, made in collaboration with Professor Robert O. Ritchie's research team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and UC Berkeley, results in a steel with a yield strength resistance against deformation of ~2GPa, a superior fracture toughness of 102 MPa · m½, and a good uniform elongation of 19 percent (Fig. A and Fig. B).

Currently, high-strength steel for bridge cables has a yield strength lower than 1.7 GPa and a fracture toughness lower than 65 MPa · m½; high-strength armored steel used in armored cars has a similar maximum strength/toughness combination. The toughness level that can be attained by the D&P steel is much higher than that of existing steel materials, while it maintains its super strength.

Steel piano wire, for instance, has a high strength ranging from 2.6 to 2.9 GPa to resist deformation and to keep the instrument in tune, but this is achieved at the expense of toughness. In turn, it is very brittle.

(A) Yield strength-toughness and (B) yield strength-uniform elongation of the present breakthrough D&P steel compared with other existing high-strength metallic materials. D&P steel demonstrated the best combination of yield strength, toughness, and uniform elongation. [Credit: ©The University of Hong Kong]

 

 

 

 

The team has also made an important scientific discovery in the structure of the super D&P steel. The super steel has a unique fracture feature in which multiple micro-cracks are formed below the main fracture surface through a novel "high-strength-induced multi-delamination" toughening mechanism. These micro-cracks can effectively absorb energy from externally applied forces, resulting in the steel's much higher toughness resistance compared to existing steel materials.

Meanwhile, the cost of raw materials of the D&P steel is only 20 percent of the maraging steel currently used in aerospace (e.g., Grade 300, whose yield strength and fracture initiation toughness are 1.8 GPa and 70 MPa · m½, respectively).

"D&P steel has other advantages such as simple industrial processing and low raw materials cost," said Li Liu, the first author of the journal article and a PhD student supervised by Huang. "It can be produced by conventional rolling and annealing processes. As such, no complex fabrication routes and special equipment are required."

"We have made a big step closer to industrializing the novel super steel. It demonstrates a great potential to be used in various applications including superior bulletproof vests, bridge cables, lightweight automobile and military vehicles, aerospace, and high-strength bolts and nuts in the construction industry," said Huang.

*Editor's Note: Please see the referenced paper for the technical description and steel "recipe."

Source: The University of Hong Kong

Published May 2020

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