2020 turned out a lot different than anyone expected.
At EWI, we worked hard to meet new market demands and shifting industry needs. By redirecting our offerings to address the changing circumstances, we developed new R&D initiatives, joint projects, training programs, and innovative technologies to benefit the manufacturing sector. You can see some of 2020’s highlights in our annual YEAR IN REVIEW graphic below.
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EWI is here for you. Our labs are fully operational, and our associates are ready to assist you in your improvement and innovation initiatives.
To find out how our advisory, development, and implementation services can benefit your business in the coming year, give us a call at 614.688.5152 or complete the form below.
The EWI Skillform Center is pleased to announce its preliminary schedule of in-person and online classes for 2021:
Fundamentals of Welding , EWI’s most popular course, covers welding metallurgy, weldability and defects, arc welding, solid-state processes, robotic applications, codes and qualifications, design and testing, high energy density processes, and nondestructive evaluation. The standard 5-day course will be held in-person at EWI’s Columbus, OH, headquarters on March 8-12, and a concentrated 3-day session will be offered in-person at EWI’s Buffalo Manufacturing Works facility in April 27-29. Both classes include hands-on modules in EWI’s welding and additive manufacturing labs. Professional development certificates will be awarded to participants upon course completion. For class agendas and registration information, click here.
Resistance Solid-state Welding is a new online course that offers an in-depth overview of resistance welding basics and technologies. This web-based training program, designed for technicians and engineers, will be self-directed and will enable enrollees to complete the curriculum at their own pace. Launching in early 2021.
Fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is also new to the EWI course list. It provides a high-level introduction to 3D printing technologies and applications for industrial production, including an overview of all seven AM technologies and designing for AM. Like the Resistance Solid-state Welding course, this online program is self-paced and can be completed over a period of time. In the future, it will also be offered as an in-person four-day training class at EWI. Launching in early 2021.
Introduction to Robotics will be held in person at EWI’s facility in Buffalo, NY, in spring 2021. The new, one-day course covers industrial robots, cobots, and safety considerations, and offers hands-on sessions in the EWI robotics lab. Class size is limited to five attendees.
As the new year progresses, the EWI Skillform Center will be adding additional classes and workshops. Visit EWI’s Events page for up-to-date information.
For more details about the specific courses listed above,
contact Susan Witt, Manager of Industrial Training, at 716.710.5538 or [email protected].
Combining aluminum and steel construction in vehicle manufacturing
can offer great lightweighting and strength advantages. The formation of
brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the joints between the materials,
however, are known to impair performance.
Prediction of such intermetallic formation is often difficult to assess
do to the rapid thermal cycles involved.
A new technique for evaluating IMC formation has been
developed by EWI Applications Engineer Michael Eff and is discussed in Design
and Development of Resistance-based Rapid Thermal Cycle Diffusion Couples.
This paper can be viewed at no charge by completing the form on this page.
The integrity and reliability of joints in lithium-ion battery packs is critically important to manufacturers in industries ranging from automotive to consumer electronics to aerospace. If battery packs fail, it can result in more than just a faulty product — it can actually be a threat to public safety.
Many welding techniques are used to join cells to tabs and busbars, but all have their downsides. A relatively new process, pulsed arc welding has been studied at EWI, and shows great potential as a more dependable, more secure way to assemble battery packs.
You are invited to download Process Improvement for
Connection of Batteries and Cells to Tabs and Busbars, written by Senior
Engineer Tim Frech – at no charge – by submitting the form on this page.
To learn more about pulsed arc welding and its applications
for battery pack welding, contact Tim Frech at [email protected].
Complete the form to download the paper:
To view the paper, please submit the form above.
To speak to an EWI expert about a project, call 614.688.5152 or click here.
We are pleased to announce that Stryker Instruments is now an EWI member company. The division is part of the Stryker Corporation, an international medical technology company offering innovative products and services in orthopedics, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine medical device solutions.
When using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) in additive manufacturing
(AM), it is critical to be able to validate your system’s laser focal spot
characteristics prior to production. Failure to do so can result in
inconsistent quality in your builds and an expensive loss of time in your
manufacturing operation.
EWI has developed a new system that can compare and confirm laser spot size, shape, and quality in an L-PBF setup throughout an AM build. This device is described in A Solution for Laser Beam Quality Analysis in L-PBF AM Production, written by EWI Applications Engineer Jacob Hay.
You are invited to download this paper for free by submitting the form on this page.
As more industries look toward additively manufactured (AM)
components to optimize lead times, cost of complexity, and more, those
industries must evaluate the performance of materials produced by AM processes in
comparison to their well-documented wrought or machined counterparts. The fact
of the matter is that similitude is not a given. While calling it a case of
comparing “apples to oranges” may be inflating the issue, it may be prudent to
suggest that it’s like comparing “oranges to lemons.” They both share
significant similarities, but a glass of lemon juice might be a little
difficult to stomach at brunch.
The technical focus in the AM world to date has been largely
on the expected mechanical properties: fatigue, toughness, etc. Military, aerospace,
and other sectors have identified the need to understand the effects of build
defects, surface finish, and process parameters on the performance lifetime and
survivability of AM parts. This concern should extend to materials degradation
in the use environment. Specifically, many of the qualities inherent to AM
components that effect mechanical properties and fracture mechanics also
influence susceptibility to localized corrosion events.
EWI has begun addressing this knowledge gap with an investigation focusing on the effects of processing parameters and standardized post-processing steps typical for laser powder bed fusion (L-BPF) with Inconel 718 (I718). The following plot examines the effect of the direction of the L-PBF build on susceptibility to crevice corrosion.
The cyclic potentiodynamic polarization plot above shows a
clear difference in crevice corrosion resistance with respect to
cross-sectional orientation, thus assessing the effect of the difference in
morphology of the as-built microstructure with respect to build direction. EWI
is in a unique position as a multi-disciplinary research organization to help
manufacturers adopt AM processes by offering services for building test
samples, evaluating microstructure, performing fracture mechanics testing, and qualifying
localized corrosion resistance with in-house resources.
To learn more about EWI’s work to address the materials degradation knowledge gaps in additively manufactured components, contact Josh James, EWI Research Leader for Structural Integrity and Materials, at [email protected].
