Precise visualisation in the smallest spaces
FISBA OPTIK designs and manufactures miniature visualisation systems which can be used wherever very little space is available or when every gram carries weight, for example in in-line process visualisation in industry. The systems combine imaging, beam shaping and metrology down to even the smallest of dimensions. They can enable minimally invasive procedures, monitor chemical processes in lab-on-a-chip applications, measure complex cavities or register the labeling on electronic components. Thanks to their light weight, they can even serve as a mobile 'eye' on the moving arm of a pick-and-place robot in narrow manufacturing lines.
Commercial Micro Manufacturing, 3 May 2012. http://tinyurl.com/cfkclqs
Telsonic introduces hot air, cold staking technology at MEDTEC UK
Telsonic will demonstrate how this technology complements its portfolio of ultrasonic modules and systems for plastic joining applications. Benefits of HACS include short cycle times, tight assemblies, repeatability and process control. The company will also feature its Soniqtwist torsional welding technique that enables the ultrasonic welding of micron-thin seals and membranes, often found on medical device components, without exposing these delicate parts to the risk of damage or perforation.
Qmed Daily Europe, 7 May 2012. http://tinyurl.com/cjfm23t
Creative freedom with SLS
CRDM has expanded its Selective Laser Sintering capacity to meet increasing customer demand from designers who see the process as allowing them significantly more creative freedom. Pentagram, the world's largest independent design consultancy, discovered the benefits of SLS when collaboration with CRDM enabled them to create a window display for the London store Selfridges. The display used 16 intricately detailed 12-inch-long translucent SLS-made shoe sculptures, placed on lampshade-like plinths, also manufactured using SLS, and lit from within. More cost effective, less labour intensive and more accurate than working with other materials such as plaster, or cardboard, SLS also offered a higher degree of accuracy and consistency when producing several items as each finished product is identical to the CAD file used to build it.
Engineering Capacity. 2 May 2012. http://tinyurl.com/7u7hves
Welding expansion at Responsive Engineering
Reports on Responsive Engineering's £1.7M investment in its specialist welding division (Weldex) which has doubled capacity and enhanced its ability to deliver high-end welding and fabrication services to its customers. The company has specialised in welding super duplex stainless steel and other difficult materials that are used in the fabrication of high integrity components and equipment for some of the world's most demanding environments. Typically these include subsea valves and high pressure pumps for the oil and gas sector as well as cooling impellers for nuclear power plants. The investment includes a large and separate non-ferrous welding shop, new overhead craneage, a 'show room' flooring system, mobile clean rooms and comprehensive extraction systems.
Engineering Capacity. 2 May 2012. http://tinyurl.com/7mna5w3
GKN manufactures A350 XWB wing spars using Umeco tooling
GKN Aerospace has used a suite of large-scale tooling mandrels manufactured by Umeco, using Umeco prepregs, to produce the Airbus A350 XWB rear wing spars using advanced fibre placement technology. It had asked Umeco to design and manufacture low weight, low cost mandrels exhibiting high stiffness and excellent geometric accuracy. The mandrels that Umeco designed and manufactured consisted of machined foam cores over-laminated with Umeco's LTM 217 epoxy tooling resin system combined with woven carbon fibre and ultra-high modulus unidirectional carbon fibres.
Reinforced Plastics Weekly, issue 436, 2 May 2012. http://tinyurl.com/6w424tp
Will lithium-air batteries work?
IBM announced some progress with its lithium-air battery research project which aims to create a lightweight car battery that can go 500 miles on a single charge. That probably won't happen until 2020 or 2030 at the earliest, but the company says that it is making progress on the electrolyte materials needed to enable these batteries, which the company has been working on since 2009. As promising as these batteries are, it's very tricky to make them work. One problem is the electrolyte. Early lithium-air battery prototypes used the same organic-liquid electrolytes used for conventional lithium-ion. These batteries appeared to be charging and discharging at first. The battery inhales air during discharge and gives oxygen back during recharging. But these batteries were releasing carbon dioxide produced by the destruction of the electrolyte, not oxygen produced by the desired reactions. IBM says that it has now developed a 'much better electrolyte'.
Materials360(r), 30 Apr. 2012.
DOE Inspector General Addresses Weld Quality Control Issues at Hanford Vit Plant
A recent audit found inadequate weld maps, testing records and other quality control measures at some hard-to-reach places within the US Hanford vitrification plant.
Nuclear Street, 3 May 2012, http://tinyurl.com/cd9zrpu
New friction welder causes a stir
A new generation friction welder for aircraft components made from difficult to machine materials has bee launched by Thompson. The E20 not only accurately & rapidly welds parts up to 3,000mm squared but also saves on raw material costs compared with other methods. Thompson says its latest research with top aircraft makers has identified a number of components that can be produced with material savings of up to 70% The first machine is in use at TWI, undertaking a wide variety of development work for members.
Aerospace Manufacturing, May 2012, p.11.
