Page 16 - MetalForming December 2013

Materials & Coatings
Measure Thinning and Corrosion Buildup with Ultrasonic Thickness Gauge
Extech Instruments, Nashua, NH, introduces its TKG Series of ultrasonic thickness gauges, designed for nondestructive thickness measurements on various engineered materials. One common application is measuring the wall thick- nesses of steel structures where only one side is accessible. The units also are used to detect thinning areas and cor- rosion buildup in steam lines, boiler tubes, storage
tanks and pressure vessels.
TKG gauges also are used to measure thicknesses
of metal components found on aircraft sections, ship hulls, heavy equipment and construction vehicles and bridge structures. Features of the units include a com- pact design, one-handed controls, intuitive interface, easy-to-read LCD display and versatile alarm set- tings. Advanced features include user-config- urable fast minimum/maximum threshold settings, which, when combined with vibration feedback and visual flashing alarms, will reduce the likelihood
of missing critical thickness parameters.
Other features include a wide thickness range—0.040 to 20 in., quick display of min./max. thickness values, and auto-zero on unit start-up. The base model TKG100 does not display thickness measurements as waveforms; the mid-range TKG150 includes waveform display, an echo-to-echo feature to ignore paint and coatings, and a vibration alarm; and the high-end TKG250 includes color waveforms, non-encoded B-Scans with color-coded alerts, and automatic datalogging.
Extech: 877/239-8324; www.extech.com
Call for Abstracts—Great Designs in Steel ’14
The Steel Market Development Institute welcomes abstracts for technical pre- sentations at the 13th annual Great
Designs in Steel (GDIS) seminar, slated for
Wednesday, May 14, 2014, in Livonia, MI.
GDIS brings together hundreds of auto-
motive- and steel-industry professionals to
witness more than 35 technical presentations and 25 displays. It is the primary annu- al forum where automotive and steel engineers can stay up to date on industry trends and technology developments.
Abstracts—200 to 300 words—should present new and significant facts, and include project/application results where applicable. They must also include a title, author name(s), mailing and e-mail address and phone number. Submit to Deanna Lorincz: dlorincz@steel.org. Deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2014.
Coated Saw Blades Increase Service Life Over AlTiN
Users of flying cutoff saws will appreciate the new nanocomposite PVD coating that Tru-Cut Saw, Brunswick, OH, is using to dramatically increase the life of circu- lar saw blades. The new coating, called ViTA-Nano and developed by Tru-Cut’s ICO Sur- face Coatings Division, is a proprietary combination of titanium, aluminum, aluminum- titanium, chrome and silicon. Unlike multilayer coatings in which each material is
deposited consecutively, with ViTA-Nano all cathodes in the PVD chamber are turned on at once. This reportedly results in a more cohesive, harder coating.
Saw blades coated with the material will run a minimum of 30 to 50 percent faster, say company officials, with less scrap and increased production rates compared to AlTiN coatings. They’re rec- ommended for flying saw machines, re- cut machines and high-production saw- ing machines.
Tru-Cut Saw’s ICO Surface Coatings Division offers PVD coating and recoat- ing services for all types of new and used saw blades, tools and wear parts. Equipped with two state-of-the-art coat- ing chambers and carrousels, Tru-Cut and ICO offers standard and special sur- face treatments using coating cham- bers capable of handling parts as large as 1250 by 700 mm.
Tru-Cut Saw: 330/225-4090; www.trucutsaw.com, www.icosurfacecoatings.com
Leveler Takes a Deep-Roll Plunge
Braner/Loopco, Schiller Park, IL, intro- duces the Torquemaster precision roller leveler, promising improved flatness and springback memory stability compared to conventional levelers. Noted is its abil- ity to plunge work rolls deeper into the material and to work the strip harder than is feasible with conventional levelers, where work rolls are geared together and driven by one or two motors. This con- ventional design forces the rolls to rotate at the same speed, leading to wind-up torque that can cause premature drive- train failure.
Deep roll plunge with the Torque- master increases strip elongation, say company officials, essential in stabilizing springback memory and correcting strip shape. Each of the work rolls has its own motor and gear box, so they can indi- vidually synchronize with strip speed. Braner USA: 847/671-6210; www.braner.com
14 MetalForming/December 2013
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