Lately …
The photo shown here is from last week at the AFS Metalcasting Congress. It features AP’s Kathy Hayrynen and everyone’s favorite metallurgist, Gene Muratore. Dr. Hayrynen delivered the Hoyt Memorial Lecture and Gene was awarded the Pangborn Gold Medal at the Congress. For those readers who are not in the metal casting industry, please know that these are major, career-capping honors. Both are richly, richly deserved.
Austempered Steel … metallurgical fun for your Friday
This will be fun. One reason you might austemper your steel instead of performing quench & temper is warpage. The austempered steel cycle does not involve crossing the martensite start line, so the martensitic transformation never occurs. You get a body centered cubic structure instead of body centered tetragonal. This means the parts have less warpage as shown in this photo of prototype 1075 steel bottle openers run at Applied Process. The parts on the left were austempered and have the same hardness as the martensitic parts on the right. Notice how the austempered parts remain flat. John Keough discusses this at the Bainite is Better group on LinkedIn, which you should check out.
Now, deep in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands another demonstration was done. A trained professional shot this austempered steel bottle opener (HRc55) from 10 yards with a .38 Special handgun. The steel did not even bend. According to what info we had available the bullet (158 grains) was travelling at 754 ft./sec. Do not try this at home. The takeaway is that impact resistance is another reason to austemper your steel. PS – no deer were harmed (BELIEVE ME) in this demonstration.
Vasko Reading Pick
Bloomberg Businessweek has some interesting reads. I like this one from April 14: “You can make really great olive oil anywhere … How the oil is made is much more important than where.” These are very American sentiments, and they represent something very good. Specifically, you can do something excellent and be recognized, regardless of where you come from. Please do read the article, and then go do something awesome yourself.
In the Heartland
Buckeye Dave makes agricultural equipment. Here is his take on the 2014 forecast for such equipment: “the 2014 forecast was for a slowdown (compared to 2013) but the customers haven’t let us do that.” That’s a good thing, and it reflects well on the state of America’s farm economy despite some tremors from Washington.
Vasko Popovski, PE, is Director of Sales and Marketing for Applied Process Inc. Vasko is a Metallurgical Engineer as well as an Economist. The views expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of Applied Process. Vasko welcomes questions, comments, and corrections. More than anything he welcomes guidance on how to better land rainbow trout in Pennsylvania.