Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Mark Rand" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:21:27 +0100, "Andrew Mawson"
wrote:
Solution treatment is the term to Google for - see the third
paragraph
down this page:
http://www.azom.com/Details.asp?ArticleID=2540
AWEM
We seem to have varying views on the machinability of the alloys
involved. One
datum is that they obviously machine beautifully the first time
around, so I'm
hopeful that it'll be better than extruded rubbish.
I'd already boned up on Solution heat treatment and precipitation
hardening.
It's be nice it I could convince the lads in the metallurgy lab at
work to do
a full assay of the composition of a sample ingot. Trouble is, most
of their
work got sent to China, so they've lost the will to live...
It would be possible to slice an ingot into coupons and then try
solution heat
treating different coupons at different temperatures until the
correct
temperature was discovered. If the batch of metal were consistent
enough, that
would only need to be done once every 50-100lb of metal, which
wouldn't be too
bad. That's probably what I'll try. Of course that means building a
decent,
controllable, heat treating oven. Still, that'll come in useful for
and
aluminium casting work, whatever the source of metal.
It takes 10-15 minutes to strip down a drive whilst watching the
television
news. The concentration helps to stop me shouting at the news
presenters when
they get stupid ;-)
Mark Rand
RTFM
Mark,
I have an alloy analyser - draws a carbon arc off the sample, scans
it, and reports on composition and prints it out. As the foundry
building isn't quite finished yet (but it does have walls, roof and
doors!) the analyser is still packed up from the move, but when it
comes out blinking to the daylight post me a sample and I'll run it
for you.
Andrew
An optical emission spectrometer by the sound of it, something I have
some knowledge of, having programmed software for them for the last 16
years or so. The one I work with uses a tungsten arc like TIG but the
principle is the same.