Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

hyperMILL 2024 CAD/CAM software suite

OPEN MIND Technologies has introduced its latest hyperMILL 2024 CAD/CAM software suite, which includes a range of powerful enhancements to its core toolpath capabilities, as well as new functionality for increased NC programming efficiency in applications ranging from 2.5D machining to 5-axis milling. New and enhanced capabilities include: Optimized Deep Hole Drilling, a new algorithm for 3- and 5-axis Rest Machining, an enhanced path layout for the 3D Plane Machining cycle, better error detection, and much more.
Learn more.

One-part epoxy changes from red to clear under UV

Master Bond UV15RCL is a low-viscosity, cationic-type UV-curing system with a special color-changing feature. The red material changes to clear once exposed to UV light, indicating that there is UV light access across the adhesive material. Although this change in color from red to clear does not indicate a full cure, it does confirm that the UV light has reached the polymer. This epoxy is an excellent electrical insulator. UV15RCL adheres well to metals, glass, ceramics, and many plastics, including acrylics and polycarbonates.
Learn more.

SPIROL Press-N-Lok™ Pin for plastic housings

The Press-N-Lok™ Pin was designed to permanently retain two plastic components to each other. As the pin is inserted, the plastic backfills into the area around the two opposing barbs, resulting in maximum retention. Assembly time is quicker, and it requires lower assembly equipment costs compared to screws and adhesives -- just Press-N-Lok™!
Learn more about the new Press-N-Lok™ Pin.

Why hybrid bearings are becoming the new industry standard

A combination of steel outer and inner rings with ceramic balls or rollers is giving hybrid bearings unique properties, making them suitable for use in a wide range of modern applications. SKF hybrid bearings make use of silicon nitride (twice as hard as bearing steel) rolling elements and are available as ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings, and in custom designs. From electric erosion prevention to friction reduction and extended maintenance intervals, learn all about next-gen hybrid bearings.
Read the SKF technical article.

3M and Ansys train engineers on simulating adhesives

Ansys and 3M have created an advanced simulation training program enabling engineers to enhance the design and sustainability of their products when using tapes and adhesives as part of the design. Simulation enables engineers to validate engineering decisions when analyzing advanced polymeric materials -- especially when bonding components made of different materials. Understand the behavior of adhesives under real-world conditions for accurate modeling and design.
Read this informative Ansys blog.

New FATH T-slotted rail components in black from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct has added a wide assortment of black-colored FATH T-slotted hardware components to match their SureFrame black anodized T-slotted rails, including: cube connectors (2D and 3D) and angle connectors, joining plates of many types, brackets, and pivot joints. Also included are foot consoles, linear bearings in silver and black, cam lever brakes, and L-handle brakes. FATH T-slotted hardware components are easy to install, allow for numerous T-slotted structure configurations, and have a 1-year warranty against defects.
Learn more.

Weird stuff: Moon dust simulant for 3D printing

Crafted from a lunar regolith simulant, Basalt Moon Dust Filamet™ (not a typo) available from The Virtual Foundry closely mirrors the makeup of lunar regolith found in mare regions of the Moon. It enables users with standard fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers to print with unparalleled realism. Try out your ideas before you go for that big space contract, or help your kid get an A on that special science project.
Learn more.

Break the mold with custom injection molding by Rogan

With 90 years of industry experience, Rogan Corporation possesses the expertise to deliver custom injection molding solutions that set businesses apart. As a low-cost, high-volume solution, injection molding is the most widely used plastics manufacturing process. Rogan processes include single-shot, two-shot, overmolding, and assembly. Elevate your parts with secondary operations: drilling and tapping, hot stamping, special finishes, punch press, gluing, painting, and more.
Learn more.

World's first current-carrying fastening technology

PEM^® eConnect™ current-carrying pins from Penn-Engineering provide superior electrical connections in applications that demand high performance from internal components, such as automotive electronics. This first-to-market tech provides repeatable, consistent electrical joints and superior installation unmatched by traditional fastening methods. Features include quick and secure automated installation, no hot spots or poor conductivity, and captivation options that include self-clinching and broaching styles.
Learn more about eConnect pins.

New interactive digital catalog from EXAIR

EXAIR's latest catalog offers readers an incredible source of innovative solutions for common industrial problems like conveying, cooling, cleaning, blowoff, drying, coating, and static buildup. This fully digital and interactive version of Catalog 35 is designed for easy browsing and added accessibility. Customers can view, download, print, and save either the full catalog or specific pages and sections. EXAIR products are designed to conserve compressed air and increase personnel safety in the process. Loaded with useful information.
Check out EXAIR's online catalog.

5 cost-saving design tips for CNC machining

Make sure your parts meet expectations the first time around. Xometry's director of application engineering, Greg Paulsen, presents five expert tips for cutting costs when designing custom CNC machined parts. This video covers corners and radii, designing for deep pockets, thread depths, thin walls, and more. Always excellent info from Paulsen at Xometry.
View the video.

What can you secure with a retaining ring? 20 examples

From the watch dial on your wrist to a wind turbine, no application is too small or too big for a Smalley retaining ring to secure. Light to heavy-duty loads? Carbon steel to exotic materials? No problem. See how retaining rings are used in slip clutches, bike locks, hip replacements, and even the Louvre Pyramid.
See the Smalley design applications.

Load fasteners with integrated RFID

A crane, rope, or chain may be required when something needs lifting -- plus anchoring points on the load. JW Winco offers a wide range of solutions to fasten the load securely, including: lifting eye bolts and rings (with or without rotation), eye rings with ball bearings, threaded lifting pins, shackles, lifting points for welding, and more. Some, such as the GN 581 Safety Swivel Lifting Eye Bolts, even have integrated RFID tags to clearly identify specific lifting points during wear and safety inspections and manage them digitally and without system interruption.
Learn more.

Couplings solve misalignments more precisely with targeted center designs

ALS Couplings from Miki Pulley feature a simplistic, three-piece construction and are available in three different types for more precisely handling parallel, angular, or axial misalignment applications. The key feature of this coupling design is its center element. Each of the three models has a center member that has a unique and durable material and shape. Also called a "spider," the center is designed to address and resolve the type of misalignment targeted. Ideal for unidirectional continuous movement or rapid bidirectional motion.
Learn more.

What is 3D-MID? Molded parts with integrated electronics from HARTING

3D-MID (three-dimensional mechatronic integrated devices) technology combines electronic and mechanical functionalities into a single, 3D component. It replaces the traditional printed circuit board and opens up many new opportunities. It takes injection-molded parts and uses laser-direct structuring to etch areas of conductor structures, which are filled with a copper plating process to create very precise electronic circuits. HARTING, the technology's developer, says it's "Like a PCB, but 3D." Tons of possibilities.
View the video.

Can you melt a diamond? Powerful Sandia machine-learning model shows it can be done

A Sandia National Laboratories supercomputer simulation model called SNAP that rapidly predicts the behavior of billions of interacting atoms has captured the melting of diamond when compressed by extreme pressures and temperatures.

At several million atmospheres, the rigid carbon lattice of the hardest known substance on Earth is shown in SNAP (Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential) simulations to crack, melt into amorphous carbon, and then recrystallize. The work could aid understanding of the internal structure of carbon-based exoplanets and have important implications for nuclear fusion efforts that employ capsules made of polycrystalline diamond.

"We can now study the response of many materials under the same extreme pressures," said Sandia scientist Aidan Thompson, who originated SNAP. "Applications include planetary science questions -- for example, what kind of impact stress would have led to the formation of our moon. It also opens the door to design and manufacture of novel materials at extreme conditions."

This multi-billion atom simulation of shockwave propagation into initially uncompressed diamond (blue) uses a high-accuracy SNAP model from Sandia National Laboratories to predict that the final state (orange) is formed by recrystallization of amorphous cracks (red) that take shape in the light blue, green, and yellow compressed material. [Image with colors added courtesy: Sandia National Laboratories]

 

 

 

 

The effect of extreme pressures and temperatures on materials also is important for devising interior models of giant planets. Powerful DOE facilities like Sandia's Z machine and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility can recreate near-identical conditions of these worlds in earthly experiments that offer close-up examinations of radically compressed materials. But even these uniquely powerful machines cannot pinpoint key microscopic mechanisms of change under these extreme conditions, due to limitations in diagnostics at the level of atoms.

"Only computer simulations can do that," said Thompson.

A technical paper describing the simulation was selected as a finalist for the Gordon Bell prize, sponsored annually by the Association of Computing Machinery. The diamond-specific modeling, which took only a day on the Summit supercomputer (the fastest in the U.S.) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was led by Prof. Ivan Oleynik at the University of South Florida. In addition to Sandia and USF, the collaborative team also included software developers at the Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center and NVIDIA Corp.

The team's simulations relied on SNAP, one of the leading machine-learning descriptions of interatomic interactions, to model and solve a very important problem, said Thompson.

"We created gigantic simulations of a micron-sized hunk of compressed diamond," said Thompson. "To do this, we track the motion of billions of atoms by repeatedly calculating the atomic forces over very many, exceedingly tiny, intervals of time."

SNAP used machine-learning and other data science techniques to train a surrogate model that faithfully reproduced the correct atomic forces. These were calculated using high-accuracy quantum mechanical calculations, which are only possible for systems containing a few hundred atoms. The surrogate model was then scaled up to predict forces and accelerations for systems containing billions of atoms. All local atomic structures that emerged in the large-scale simulations were well represented in the small-scale training data, a necessary condition for accuracy.

Another critical part of the final result was performance optimization of the software to run efficiently on GPU-based supercomputers like Summit, said Thompson. "Since 2018, just by improving the software, we have been able to make the SNAP code over 30 times faster, shortening the time for these kinds of simulations by 97%. At the same time, each generation of hardware is more powerful than the last. As a result, calculations that might have until recently taken an entire year can now be run in a day on Summit."

"Since supercomputer time is expensive and highly competitive," said Thompson, "each shortening of SNAP's run time saves money and increases the usefulness of the model."

The first version of SNAP was created in 2012 with support from Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. Software improvement has been supported continuously since 2017 by the DOE Exascale Computing Project, a collaborative effort of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Source: Sandia

Published February 2022

Rate this article