EWI’s innovative work in developing tele-manufacturing has received a lot of industry attention from both the government and commercial sectors. The groundbreaking technology and systems that enable manufacturing operations and processes to be conducted between remote locations are poised to change the way manufacturing is done throughout the world…and possibly beyond!

The cutting-edge R&D that went into creating different tele-manufacturing platforms over the past few years – welding, inspection, gouging, and grinding, to name a few – has been shared previously by EWI both in publication and video presentations.

Connie LaMorte, Principal Engineer and lead developer in the EWI tele-manufacturing group, has also been discussing the broader implications of this breakthrough technology, which include addressing the skilled worker shortage in manufacturing, performing construction and repair in distant or harsh environments, and even the eventuality of manufacturing in space. Last month Connie was interviewed by Thomas Insights about the current and future impact of tele-manufacturing, and the possibilities are awe-inspiring.

You can access Thomas’s reports and interviews with Connie directly to learn more:

• Thomas Index Report, Robotic Welding Sourcing is up 244% YoY with Tele-manufacturing Boosting Remote Work (with video)
• Thomas Insights, How Tele-manufacturing is Solving the Skilled Trades Shortage
• Thomas Industry Podcast, The Sky is the Limit: How Tele-manufacturing Could be Used on the Space Station (Episode #55)

In addition to the above, Connie speaks frequently about tele-manufacturing at professional events. She will present on Tele-welding Shipyard Prototype for Welding (and Other) Applications at the upcoming NSRP All-Panel Meeting, March 28-30, in North Charleston, SC. Most recently, she served as a keynote speaker and panelist at the AWS Women in Welding Conference: Automation in Welding held on March 16.

To learn more about tele-manufacturing or to contact Connie LaMorte, reach her at [email protected] or 614.688.5247.

The post EWI Engineer’s Work on Tele-manufacturing is in the Spotlight appeared first on EWI.

---

To view the paper, please submit the form above.

To learn more about EWI's specialized services for small and medium-sized manufacturers, click here.

---

Want to contact an EWI expert about a project? Call 614.688.5152 or click here

The post EWI Can Help Small and Mid-sized Manufacturers Transition to Industry 4.0 appeared first on EWI.

Last week, EWI associates took some time to celebrate National Engineers Week 2023 – a yearly, weeklong event whereby we recognize our technical talent and acknowledge our line of business with lots of food, fun, and healthy competition amongst associates in our Columbus and Buffalo laboratories.

Project Engineer Olga Eliseeva took the win for this year’s Geeky T-shirt Contest, while Corporate Services Manager John Castorano won our EWI T-shirt Design Contest. Happy Hour with Lego-building and Paper Airplane Challenge resulted in a winning shark mobile designed by Principal Engineer Bill Mohr out of our Columbus office and an industrious transportation vehicle by Technician Bryan Donahue from our Buffalo facility – with a victorious paper airplane designed by Buffalo Project Engineer Tim Beltrami.

Finally, Trivia & Cookies between our Columbus and Buffalo teams produced a win for our Buffalo associates.

We’re already looking forward to next year!

View our video highlighting the event and some of our winners.

The post EWI Celebrates Engineers Week 2023 appeared first on EWI.

A few weeks ago, EWI associates — past and present — were delighted to attend the grand opening of Fabrisonic LLC’s new facility just outside of Columbus. The independent company, founded and incubated at EWI, has moved into a new, 30,000-square-foot building in Lewis Center, OH, where it will have ample room for its expanding enterprise.

The event was attended by industry representatives and government officials including the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. It was also a celebratory reunion of sorts for EWI’s current associates and alumni, several of whom had worked with Fabrisonic’s President and CEO Mark Norfolk in the early days of the company.

Congratulations to our sister company and
cheers to future success in its new home!

The post Celebrating Fabrisonic in Its New Home appeared first on EWI.

We are pleased to welcome McWane to EWI membership. The McWane family of companies makes ductile iron products, including pipe, valves, hydrants, fittings and plumbing products, and manufacture fire extinguishers, fire suppression systems and steel pressure vessels. It operates more than 25 manufacturing facilities in North America and around the world.

The post McWane is New EWI Member appeared first on EWI.

To view the paper, please submit the form above.

---

Want to contact an EWI expert about a project? Call 614.688.5152 or click here.

The post Using Modeling with a DOE Approach to Predict Polymer Material Service Life appeared first on EWI.

No More Mess: Bonding Plastic to Metal without Adhesives

By James Cruz, EWI

My first job out of college at Honda of America Manufacturing was a dream come true – the chance to play with robots and build cars! They handed me several crisp, white uniforms on day 1. Within that first week on the production line, however, I had soiled my pretty white pants with a huge, black, gooey streak of gunk. I had formally been introduced to one of the adhesive sealants used in automobile assembly.

Over my decade at Honda, I grew to understand what a pain adhesives can be in production, seeming so often to end up everywhere except where they’re wanted! They’re expensive and have limited shelf lives. Year-in-year-out, they were one of the top reasons for downtime in my department because they coated proximity switches or clamps and caused equipment issues.

Now, I fully appreciate the value of adhesives and understand that they – especially when combined with welding – can significantly improve joint performance. But what if you had a way to direct-bond a polymer to a metal without all the side effects of adhesives?

How to join dissimilar materials is one of the most common questions we get at EWI. In the aerospace industry, that might be Ti-6242 to Ti-5111. Among medical device makers, maybe Nitinol to stainless steel. But in both of those industries as well as others, clients ask us about polymer-to-metal bonding.  Because at EWI, we have demonstrated the process of direct joining of polymers to metals with incredible results.

Recently, EWI’s Senior Technology Leader for Polymers Jeff Ellis wrote a paper about using a polymer lid on an EV battery box. While a gasket / adhesive + mechanical fastener approach would work, wouldn’t it be great if we could direct bond the lid? So, Jeff came up with two novel processes, both of which require little cycle time:

• The first process is to laser etch the surface of the metal. EWI has optimized the process to melt microscale valleys. The melt from the valley is pushed up the edge of the valley, creating a protrusion with ends that overhang the valley. This enables a surface that is clean and has a mechanically functional topography. We use a Laser Marking Technologies 100W 1064 nm pulsed fiber laser for the etching.

• The second process is to melt the polymer into the functionalized metal surface. This requires both force and heat, which cause flow into the microfeatures. We have used two different methods for heating with similar results. The first is through transmission laser heater. A 1µm continuous laser is shined through the polymer to the metal surface to heat it. The second method uses an induction coil to heat the metal and thus also the polymer at the interface. Both methods employ compression to encourage the viscous melt to fill the metallic microfeatures.

Resulting parts have shown shear strengths of more than 1000 psi. Also, initial testing has produced leak-free parts when tested using an air decay method. Finally, when cycled from 0 to 65°C, they and have shown no difference in mechanical strength despite the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the materials.

While there is still much to investigate with this application, but it has great possibilities for manufacturers. We look forward with working with you to explore applications of this exciting new technique. Want to learn more? Contact me directly at [email protected].

The post No More Mess: Bonding Plastic to Metal without Adhesives appeared first on EWI.

To view the paper, please submit the form above.

---

Want to contact an EWI expert about a project? Call 614.688.5152 or click here.

The post Applying EWI’s H-coupon Test to Galvanized GEN3 AHSS appeared first on EWI.

If you are interested in EWI’s latest R&D for applied manufacturing, you can hear about it directly from our engineers throughout the month of March. EWI specialists will share new findings and applications at the following public forums and conferences over the next several weeks:

• Women in Welding Virtual Conference, March 16, 2023 – Connie LaMorte, Principal Engineer for Design, Controls, and Automation will give a featured presentation on Automation in Manufacturing. She will also participate in a speakers’ panel at the conclusion of the event.

• AAMP Annual Conference, March 19-23, 2023 – Bill Mohr, Principal Engineer for Structural Engineering, will speak on Diffusion of Hydrogen into Pipeline Steel Around an External Weld on Monday, March 20.  Joshua James, Research Leader and Principal Engineer, will discuss EWI work in three conference sessions: Cold Spray Application for In-field Corrosion and Damage Repair, The Complex Synergy of Delayed Environmentally Assisted Cracking Transmission Gear Assemblies, and Tele-Inspection Nondestructive Evaluation For Corrosion Applications.

• Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference, March 19-23, 2023 – Ajay Krishnan, AM Applications Engineer, will present Demystifying L-PBF Throughput on Wednesday, March 22.

• TMS Annual Meeting, March 19-23, 2023 – Michael Eff, will speak on Repair of Rail via Additive Friction Stir Deposition on Monday, March 20.

• NSRP All Panel Meeting, March 28-30 – Five EWI associates will present recent research outcomes:
  • Jim Hansen, Project Engineer — Portable, Single-pass, Buried Arc Welding of Steel Plate During Ship Erection
  • Paul Blomquist, Business Development Director for Maritime Technology — High Productivity Reduced Emissions Arc Gouging Process
  • Michael Carney, Senior Engineer — Next Generation Double Electrode GMAW Processes for Precision Fillet Welding
  • Connie LaMorte, Principal Engineer — Tele-welding Shipyard Prototype for Welding (and Other) Applications
  • Dennis Harwig, Senior Technology Leader — Robotic Arc Directed Energy Deposition of Large-format Marine Propellers

For more information about upcoming presentations at professional events, visit https://ewi.org/events.

The post Ten EWI Subject Matter Experts to Give Public Presentations in March appeared first on EWI.

To view the paper, please submit the form above.

---

Want to contact an EWI expert about a project? Call 614.688.5152 or click here.

The post Plasma-arc and GTA DED Technologies Ready for Use in Large-scale Manufacturing appeared first on EWI.