Monday, December 19, 2011

Why is it vital to know what material something is made of

By John Wood


As the specs for materials utilized in industry becoming more exact, the necessity for Positive Material Identification PMI verification is more relevant than previously. preventive maintenance shutdowns are less frequent resulting in facilities requiring longer service life and trustworthiness. As technology develops an ever increasing variety of alloys that are indistinguishable to the eye are being utilized in individual plants. When upkeep staff replace operational and essential components, they've got to be in a position to guarantee that the new part matches all the engineering directions.



Recent industrial situations have increased the perception of the need for accurate and all-encompassing Positive Material Identification PMI inspections



If you are involved in the petroleum and petrochemical refining industries, or Sea, Automotive, Manufacturing, or Aerospace in today's world best practices and Quality Controls the stress is on safety and accident prevention and reliability hasn't ever been larger - increased safety regulations, and more harsh OH&S oversight and fines. Positive material identification (PMI) in alloys and materials used throughout the physical plant and producing processes isn't a choice, but a prerequisite. The random testing of parts and sub-assemblies is now totally unacceptable. Today's best practices require 100% positive material testing of all critical materials.



The lightweight XRF methodology used to determine the chemical composition of the material is valid for the identifying of the principal alloying elements only. In most situations this provides enough information to enable a reasonably reliable guesstimate of the material type. This method cannot sense light elements like carbon and hence the only research shouldn't be used to choose materials for applications where the material's strength is critical. For detailed steel material identification, either a full chemical research using OES or ICP should be performed or extra mechanical tests should be performed.



The two main Positive Material Identification PMI technologies utilized for alloy identification are X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) LMATS use both where necessary.






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