Topic: Metalworking
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π Low-Background Steel
Low-background steel is any steel produced prior to the detonation of the first nuclear bombs in the 1940s and 1950s. With the Trinity test and the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and then subsequent nuclear weapons testing during the early years of the Cold War, background radiation levels increased across the world. Modern steel is contaminated with radionuclides because its production uses atmospheric air. Low-background steel is so-called because it does not suffer from such nuclear contamination. This steel is used in devices that require the highest sensitivity for detecting radionuclides.
The primary source of low-background steel is ships that were constructed before the Trinity test, most famously the scuttled German World War I warships in Scapa Flow.
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- "Low-Background Steel" | 2021-10-24 | 27 Upvotes 3 Comments
- "Low-Background Steel" | 2020-07-19 | 359 Upvotes 107 Comments
- "Low-background steel" | 2016-06-19 | 159 Upvotes 28 Comments
- "Low-background Steel" | 2013-10-25 | 30 Upvotes 13 Comments
π Wringing
Gauge blocks (also known as gage blocks, Johansson gauges, slip gauges, or Jo blocks) are a system for producing precision lengths. The individual gauge block is a metal or ceramic block that has been precision ground and lapped to a specific thickness. Gauge blocks come in sets of blocks with a range of standard lengths. In use, the blocks are stacked to make up a desired length.
An important feature of gauge blocks is that they can be joined together with very little dimensional uncertainty. The blocks are joined by a sliding process called wringing, which causes their ultra-flat surfaces to cling together. A small number of gauge blocks can be used to create accurate lengths within a wide range. By using 3 blocks at a time taken from a set of 30 blocks, one may create any of the 1000 lengths from 3.000 to 3.999Β mm in 0.001Β mm steps (or .3000 to .3999 inches in 0.0001Β inch steps). Gauge blocks were invented in 1896 by Swedish machinist Carl Edvard Johansson. They are used as a reference for the calibration of measuring equipment used in machine shops, such as micrometers, sine bars, calipers, and dial indicators (when used in an inspection role). Gauge blocks are the main means of length standardization used by industry.
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- "Wringing" | 2019-07-05 | 356 Upvotes 77 Comments
π Shot tower
A shot tower is a tower designed for the production of small diameter shot balls by freefall of molten lead, which is then caught in a water basin. The shot is primarily used for projectiles in shotguns, and also for ballast, radiation shielding and other applications where small lead balls are useful.
Discussed on
- "Shot tower" | 2013-09-12 | 269 Upvotes 79 Comments
π GuΓ©delon Castle
GuΓ©delon Castle (ChΓ’teau de GuΓ©delon) is a castle currently under construction near Treigny, France. The castle is the focus of an experimental archaeology project aimed at recreating a 13th-century castle and its environment using period technique, dress, and material.
In order to fully investigate the technology required in the past, the project is using only period construction techniques, tools, and costumes. Materials, including wood and stone, are all obtained locally. Jacques Moulin, chief architect for the project, designed the castle according to the architectural model developed during the 12th and 13th centuries by Philip II of France.
Construction started in 1997 under Michel Guyot, owner of ChΓ’teau de Saint-Fargeau, a castle in Saint-Fargeau 13 kilometres away. The site was chosen according to the availability of construction materials: an abandoned stone quarry, in a large forest, with a nearby pond. The site is in a rural woodland area and the nearest town is Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, about 5 kilometres (3.1Β mi) to the northeast.
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- "GuΓ©delon Castle" | 2020-04-11 | 202 Upvotes 40 Comments
π Wootz steel
Wootz steel is a crucible steel characterized by a pattern of bands. These bands are formed by sheets of microscopic carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite matrix in higher carbon steel, or by ferrite and pearlite banding in lower carbon steels. It was a pioneering steel alloy developed in Southern India (Tamilakam present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and Sri Lanka in the 6th century BC and exported globally. It was also known in the ancient world by many different names including ukku, Hindvi steel, Hinduwani steel, Teling steel and seric iron.
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- "Wootz steel" | 2019-06-19 | 61 Upvotes 45 Comments
π Thousandth of an Inch
A thousandth of an inch is a derived unit of length in a system of units using inches. Equal to 1β1000 of an inch, a thousandth is commonly called a thou (used for both singular and plural) or particularly in North America a mil (plural mils).
The words are shortened forms of the English and Latin words for "thousand" (mille in Latin). In international engineering contexts, confusion can arise because mil is a formal unit name in North America but mil or mill is also a common colloquial clipped form of millimetre. The units are considerably different: a millimetre is approximately 39 mils.
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- "Thousandth of an Inch" | 2023-02-21 | 35 Upvotes 65 Comments
π Powder metallurgy
Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term covering a wide range of ways in which materials or components are made from metal powders. PM processes can avoid, or greatly reduce, the need to use metal removal processes, thereby drastically reducing yield losses in manufacture and often resulting in lower costs.
Powder metallurgy is also used to make unique materials impossible to get from melting or forming in other ways. A very important product of this type is tungsten carbide (WC). WC is used to cut and form other metals and is made from WC particles bonded with cobalt. It is very widely used in industry for tools of many types and globally ~50,000 tonnes/year (t/y) is made by PM. Other products include sintered filters, porous oil-impregnated bearings, electrical contacts and diamond tools.
Since the advent of industrial productionβscale metal powderβbased additive manufacturing (AM) in the 2010s, selective laser sintering and other metal AM processes are a new category of commercially important powder metallurgy applications.
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- "Powder metallurgy" | 2019-01-02 | 28 Upvotes 9 Comments
π Gauge blocks, a system for producing precision lengths
Gauge blocks (also known as gage blocks, Johansson gauges, slip gauges, or Jo blocks) are a system for producing precision lengths. The individual gauge block is a metal or ceramic block that has been precision ground and lapped to a specific thickness. Gauge blocks come in sets of blocks with a range of standard lengths. In use, the blocks are stacked to make up a desired length.
An important feature of gauge blocks is that they can be joined together with very little dimensional uncertainty. The blocks are joined by a sliding process called wringing, which causes their ultra-flat surfaces to cling together. A small number of gauge blocks can be used to create accurate lengths within a wide range. By using 3 blocks at a time taken from a set of 30 blocks, one may create any of the 1000 lengths from 3.000 to 3.999Β mm in 0.001Β mm steps (or .3000 to .3999 inches in 0.0001Β inch steps). Gauge blocks were invented in 1896 by Swedish machinist Carl Edvard Johansson. They are used as a reference for the calibration of measuring equipment used in machine shops, such as micrometers, sine bars, calipers, and dial indicators (when used in an inspection role). Gauge blocks are the main means of length standardization used by industry.
Discussed on
- "Gauge Block" | 2024-10-26 | 17 Upvotes 1 Comments
- "Gauge blocks, a system for producing precision lengths" | 2018-10-24 | 12 Upvotes 3 Comments
π Biomachining
Biomachining is the machining process of using lithotropic bacteria to remove material from metal parts, contrasted with chemical machining methods such as chemical milling and physical machining methods such as milling. Certain bacteria, such as Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Thiobacillus thiooxidans, which are also used in the mineral refinement process of bioleaching, utilize the chemical energy from oxidation of iron or copper to fix carbon dioxide from the air. A metal object, when placed in a culture fluid containing these metal-metabolizing bacteria, will have material removed from its surface over time.
Biomachining is ideal for micromachining due to its very low material removal rate. In addition, biomachining is less likely to leave an undesirable surface finish; neither chemical nor physical energy is concentrated on the cutting area, so the possibility of a damaged or burned surface is slim.
This process has been successfully used to cut both pure iron and pure copper.
Discussed on
- "Biomachining" | 2025-01-26 | 32 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Muntz Metal
Muntz metal (also known as yellow metal) is an alpha-beta brass alloy composed of approximately 60% copper, 40% zinc and a trace of iron. It is named after George Fredrick Muntz, a metal-roller of Birmingham, England, who commercialised the alloy following his patent of 1832.
The alloy must be worked hot and is used today for corrosion-resistant machine parts. Alpha-beta (also called duplex) metals contain both the Ξ± and Ξ² phases. The Ξ± phase refers to a crystal structure that is face-centered cubic, while the Ξ² phase is body-centered cubic.
Its original application was as a replacement for copper sheathing on the bottom of boats, as it maintained the anti-fouling abilities of the pure copper at around two thirds of the price. It became the material of choice for this application and Muntz made his fortune. It was found that copper prevented any organism that attempted to attach itself to a hull sheathed in the metal. Thus, it was also used to sheathe the piles of piers in tropical seas, as a protection against teredo shipworms, and in locomotive tubes. After successful experimentation with the sheathing Muntz also took out a patent for bolts of the same composition. These too proved a success as they not only were cheaper but also very strong and lasted longer. A notable use of Muntz metal was in the hull of the Cutty Sark.
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- "Muntz Metal" | 2025-06-23 | 19 Upvotes 1 Comments