Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

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.

What's the latest from 3D Systems? Innovations for different industries, processes

3D Systems unveiled several new solutions at the RAPID+TCT 2025 show in April designed to change the way industries innovate. From new 3D printers and materials for high-mix, low-volume applications to marked improvements in how investment casting can be done, learn what is the state of the art from the original inventors of 3D printing.
Read the full article.

Clever! Indexing plungers with chamfered pins

JW Winco has developed a new type of indexing plunger -- GN 824 -- that can independently latch into edges and grooves. This is made possible by a chamfered plunger pin. When the chamfered pin encounters a raised latching geometry, it retracts and then springs back out again once it reaches the latching point. This new indexing plunger can be ordered with axial thread for fastening and a black plastic knob for operating the indexing plunger. In a clever design, the plunger pin can be adjusted by 360 degrees to ensure that it encounters the mating surface perpendicularly. This hardware is well suited for transport frames, mechanisms, or covers that need to be locked in place quickly and securely, especially without the need for manual intervention.
Learn more.

Superlubricant may reduce wear and tear on space rovers -- and have Earth applications too

As NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover continues to explore the surface of Mars, scientists on Earth have developed a new nanoscale metal carbide that could act as a "superlubricant" to reduce wear and tear on future rovers.

Researchers in Missouri S&T's chemistry department and Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Nanoscale Materials, working with a class of two-dimensional nanomaterials known as MXenes, have discovered that the materials work well to reduce friction. The materials also should perform better than conventional oil-based lubricants in extreme environments, says Dr. Vadym Mochalin, associate professor of chemistry at Missouri S&T, who is leading the research.

"These superlubric materials are of special interest for advanced anti-wear and lubrication applications in extreme conditions, like those now experienced by the Perseverance rover on Mars," Mochalin says. He and his colleagues describe their discovery in a paper published in the March 2021 edition of the journal Materials Today Advances.

Photo illustration of a Mars rover designed by Missouri S&T students depicting the idea of MXene superlubric sheets applied to the machine's moving parts to reduce friction and wear. [Image credit: Shuohan Huang/Missouri S&T]

 

 

 

 

Mochalin says he made the connection between this research and Perseverance's journey to Mars after watching the rover landing.

"When I watched the landing of the rover on Mars, I thought: 'What if the lubricant in one of its wheels fails? Then I made the connection with our work on MXenes, because it came to mind that we have just found that MXenes demonstrate superlubricity in an atmosphere devoid of oxygen and humidity, close to what is there on Mars," Mochalin says.

MXenes (pronounced Maxines) are metal carbide materials that possess unusual properties. For example, their ability to conduct electricity makes them candidates for use in energy storage, sensing, and optoelectronics. In this latest study of the materials, Mochalin and his team conducted a series of tests to determine how well they act as solid-state lubricants with certain materials.

Friction testing
The researchers conducted ball-on-disk friction tests at the nanometer scale by depositing a titanium carbide MXene onto a silicon substrate (the disk) that was coated with a thin layer of silica, which is the major ingredient of sand. They then tested the MXene's ability to withstand wear by sliding it against a diamond-like carbon-coated steel ball. They conducted these tests in a dry nitrogen environment, which greatly reduces humidity.

Mochalin says the tests found that the MXene interface between the steel ball and silica-coated disk resulted in a friction coefficient in the "superlubric regime" of 0.0067 to 0.0017. Friction coefficient refers to the amount of friction between two objects and is determined by a value that is usually between 0 and 1. The lower the value, the less friction.

When the team added graphene to the titanium carbine MXene, the results were even better. Adding graphene "further reduced the friction by 37.3% and wear by the factor of 2" without affecting the MXene's superlubricant properties, the researchers write in their paper.

"These results open up new possibilities for exploring the family of MXenes in various tribological applications," write Mochalin and his colleagues. Tribology is the study of friction, wear, and lubrication of interacting surfaces.

Down-to-earth benefits
While such superlubricants may prove useful for machines in extraterrestrial environments -- from Mars rovers to asteroid mining equipment -- they also may have more down-to-earth benefits. Unlike oil-based lubricants, MXenes would not rely on non-renewable energy sources such as coal or petroleum, Mochalin says.

Shuohan Huang, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at Missouri S&T, is the paper's lead author and works closely with Mochalin on the study of MXenes. Mochalin's Missouri S&T group studies the fundamental physics and chemistry of the materials and develops their properties and potential applications in optoelectronics, energy storage, sensing, and mechanics.

Huang and Mochalin's co-authors on the paper are K.C. Mutyala and A.V. Sumant of Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Nanoscale Materials.

Source: Missouri University of Science and Technology

Published April 2021

Rate this article