Surface finish significantly affects the performance, durability, and quality of manufactured parts. A smoother finish reduces friction and wear, enhancing the part's longevity. Burnishing, a process that compresses the part's surface, is a common technique to improve surface finish. However, it's effectiveness relies on the material's ductility.
While there are many variables that can impact the surface finish of a part, the 3 key variables, time, pressure, and pre-finish, all play a critical role in the ultimate outcome of the part. Changing any one of these variables could result in dramatically different results, which is why it’s important to understand what they are and how they work together to achieve the desired surface finish.
In order to increase efficiency and lower operating costs, many boiler makers are switching to X-ID® enhanced tubing. While X-ID® tubes are beneficial for the end user, they can be challenging to install.
Roller burnishing is a quick and effective method for achieving smooth surface finishes on metal work pieces. With a variety of burnishing tools on the market, it can be challenging to determine which will work best for a specific application.
As end users strive for increased heat transfer efficiency, customers are often tasked with building vessels that will withstand heavy use and the test of time. This often results in the use of more wear resistant tube sheet and tube materials, such as Inconel, Hastelloy, and Duplex Stainless Steel. While exotic materials often mean longer tube life, they can take a big toll on expander tool life.
From forklifts to land excavators, valves are used to regulate the flow of fluid through the machine, impacting the functionality of the machinery. For these large pieces of equipment to handle fine movements and adjustments, it’s important that the grooves and lands inside of the valve body are cut precisely.
Grooved tube sheets are the standard in most shell and tube heat exchanger applications. Providing both leak protection and improving the tube-to-tube sheet joints, grooves play an important role in prolonging the life of a tube and the efficiency of a vessel. However, in few applications where grooves are not required, there can be challenges during the tube expansion process.
Electric motors are used in a wide variety of applications, from lawn tools to automobiles. When looking at laminated motors, tight manufacturing tolerances are ideal for producing higher efficiency products. Roller burnishing can be used to set the air gap in lamination stacks and eliminate the need for grinding and honing.
Mechanical joining is a quick and easy process for creating leak free joints between tubular products and fittings, when compared to welding or brazing operations. This makes it well suited for high vibration and high-pressure applications like aerospace and heavy equipment.
With the amount of rolling motors on the market, there are a lot of variables to consider. However, one of the most common questions is around torque control, setting torque, and when it’s not needed for a job.
