APPLIED PROCESS’S POSTHAVEN

We are pleased to have another successful session of APU in the books as we just wrapped up our 9th session this past week. Over the course of the two and a half day seminar we had guest presenters, AP professionals, and a panel of experts from all across the industry that were able to share their knowledge with the group. On the last day of APU, attendees got to experience firsthand ductile iron being poured at Joyworks, which is owned and operated by AP Director John Keough. During this time attendees were able to visualize and experience hands on concepts that were described in the class sessions. 

Here is a photo of ductile iron being inoculated as the iron enters the pouring ladle.

We would like to thank everyone who attended this session of APU and to those that traveled near and far to be a part of this event. Our next session will be underway in September 2016!

Tuesday, March 22 was the American Foundry Society Detroit-Windsor Chapter Meeting and Student Night. Seven students received scholarships at three different levels: gold ($2000), silver ($1500), and bronze ($1000). Five of the students could not make it to the meeting because classes are in session and they attend Michigan Technological University. The two who were able to accept their awards in person were Tedd Sheets and Jeremy Lipshaw who attend the University of Michigan.

Congratulations to the all of the scholarship recipients!

·         Jeremy M. Lipshaw (gold)

·         Anthony A. Orza (gold)

·         Tedd A. Sheets (silver)

·         Melissa R. Galant (silver)

·         Tyler J. Brose (bronze)

·         Natalie M. Pohlman (bronze)

·         Lauren A. Borowicz (bronze) 

Did you know that Saint Patrick is the patron saint of engineers (as well as of Ireland, St. Brigid, St. Columba, Nigeria, and outcasts)? Although everyone is familiar with the tale of Saint Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland, he is also credited with fostering the development of arts and crafts and introducing the knowledge of the use of lime as mortar in Ireland. He is responsible for the initial construction of clay churches in Ireland in the fifth century. Another of St. Patrick's achievements was teaching the Irish to build arches of lime mortar instead of dry masonry. These beginnings of ceramic work developed into organized crafts, and that is how St. Patrick became a patron saint of engineers. 

ASM International was founded in 1913 as the American Society for Metals. Today, ASM is the world's largest association of metals-centric materials scientists and engineers with over 30,000 members worldwide. ASM is dedicated to informing, educating and connecting the materials community to solve problems and stimulate innovation around the world. ASM International is known around the world for the depth and breadth of the materials knowledge it disseminates through books, databases, videos, and a myriad of online products.

Despite economic hard times faced by most member companies from 2005-2008, the Detroit Chapter remains one of ASM Internationals largest chapters, with over 1000 members.  The Executive Committee remains committed to bringing members value for their memberships.

Applied Process was recognized as a 20 year sustaining member of the ASM Detroit Chapter at the March 14, 2016 Chapter Meeting. Kathy Hayrynen, Director of Research & Development, accepted the award. 

The concept of “green” is one that has morphed into a catch-all category for anything that either reduces human consumption or effluent into the air or water.  In fact, the earth is a big “black box” with solar radiation coming in on the sunny side and black body radiation leaving on the dark side.  With the exception of the lingering “big bang” energy (molten core and element isotopes), all available energy we use is solar energy, and that includes all carbon-based fuels.

Our focus on the type of energy we use is generally centered on the energy used to operate a product or system.  Ignoring the energy required to make the product or system is a misguided approach, leading us to make decisions that actually increase our energy consumption while falsely feeling “green”.  The focus of our decision making should rather be on reducing overall energy consumption in everything we do.

Humankind can survive and thrive if we keep the energy consumed to less than the net solar energy coming into this “black box” we call earth.  The author uses real-world case studies from familiar fields of investigation to foster a “life cycle” energy perspective and, perhaps, positively affect the thinking of engineers and designers in their work. 

Today is Washington's Birthday, also known as Presidents' Day, a federal holiday held on the third Monday of February. This day honors presidents of the United States, including George Washington, the USA's first president.  

This day also celebrates the past presidents who have lead our country. We thought we would take a look back at a few presidents that continue to have a long lasting role in history and whose faces are seen every day in the mountains of Mount Rushmore.  This National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the mountain, a granite formation in the Black Hills in Keystone,South Dakota, United States. This National Memorial features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States Presidents. Those familiar faces are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.  This national destination got its name in 1884, when New York attorney Charles Rushmore asked his guide about the name of a certain mountain. The guide jokingly replied, “It hasn’t gotten one, so we’ll call the thing Rushmore.”  

We decided to dig a little deeper and learn some more facts about Mount Rushmore:

-The men who carved Mount Rushmore were mostly miners who had come to Black Hills in search of gold- they knew little about carving a mountain.

-On average, Mount Rushmore hosts nearly three million visitors a year

-It took 14 years and 400 men to carve the mountain. 

-The faces of Mount Rushmore are 60 feet high.  That’s the same size as a six story building.

-Over 90% of Mount Rushmore was carved using dynamite.  The blasts removed approximately 450,000 tons of rock. 

While working on this masterpiece, Dynamite, jackhammers, and hand chisels were used to carve the faces and add details.  Did you know that Jackhammer housings have been made from ADI since the 1980’s?? 

For more information on Mount Rushmore and to learn more facts like the ones above check out: http://bit.ly/1U4AK8x

Applied Process is a proud corporate contributor to the Foundry Educational Foundation. Many of our engineering and technical employees were FEF students and we are proud to give back and continue to support FEF. This video represents the widespread and long-lasting effect FEF has on the metal casting industry. #WeareFEF!

This time of year is filled with lots of holiday cheer and many traditions that run throughout generations year after year. A common tradition for many is baking delicious treats to share with others during this season of giving. One common ingredient is chocolate, and who doesn’t love a good piece of chocolate? When thinking of chocolate, what comes to mind? The way it’s made, the way it tastes, the texture, or a favorite memory of a trip to the candy store?

Did you know that chocolate and metals are similar? At Applied Process one of the heat treatment cycles we do is a temper; a heating and cooling cycle to alter the properties of the iron or steel to the desired properties for our customer. Chocolate also gets tempered to achieve desired properties. Tempering is the process of melting and cooling chocolate so it will be smooth and glossy when it sets. A major difference between metallurgical tempering and chocolate tempering: metallurgically a temper is well below the melting point of the material – that’s the golden rule in the heat treatment business: Thou shalt not melt thy customer’s parts.

When you buy chocolate it means that it is already in temper – or that all of the fat crystals are aligned to give the chocolate perfect snap and shine. Untempered chocolate is often gray, streaky, and soft. Chocolate has different tempering temperatures based on fat content (dark, milk, or white) like metals have different tempering temperatures based on alloy content. Dark chocolate is the best for tempering because it’s more stable and easier to temper than milk or white chocolate. White chocolate has a lower melting temperature because it does not contain cocoa solids – it’s a mixture of cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar and therefore can scorch easily. Milk chocolate melts at a lower temperature than dark chocolate, but higher than white. Milk chocolate will not achieve the snap that dark chocolate will.

Tempering metal isn’t the same as tempering chocolate – but there are some similarities. One is the quality of your material. Low quality chocolate will make low-quality candies just like you can’t fix a bad casting or forging with the best heat treatment. Heat treating affects the crystal structure of metals…and tempering chocolate realigns the fat crystals to give the desired snap and shine to the chocolate.

Whatever tradition it may be for you this holiday season, we hope you enjoy it! 

These hunters were recently spotted wearing our ADI Inside hats in Northern Michigan.  Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) allows for lighter, stronger, more wear-resistant parts. When equipment has ADI Inside it means the parts work as hard as you do, with increased strength and wear resistance.  For sending us their pictures, they will receive lunch courtesy of Applied Process.  Have an ADI Inside hat? Send us your picture and you could get lunch too! #ADIinside

This photo shows Nate from Pennsylvania as he embarks on the first day of Pennsylvania rifle season for deer.  He looks very dashing in his "ADI Inside" camo hat.  Notice how the orange in his hat matches the orange in his jacket.  Also, the metallurgy reference in the hat is echoed by the metallurgy of the rifle (there is no ADI in these rifles ... for now).  Well done, sir!  Nate gets a free lunch on AP for sending us this photo.