This article examines material property data and the information needs at various points in the design, manufacture, and use cycle. It contains a table that lists the various sources of materials data. The article describes locating media for sources of data such as suppliers of databases and internet. It discusses the types of sources of data, including computer readable media, data centers, and print media. The article also reviews the methods for evaluation and interpretation of data and examines the processes of obtaining and reporting test data.

Additive manufacturing, as the first fully digital manufacturing process, is critically dependent on data, including the input materials, the process parameters guiding the three-dimensional printing process execution, any postprocessing steps, and any inspections performed on the printed coupons and/or parts, to name just a few examples. This article presents the standards to enable findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data. It then discusses three main types of data models that are used to capture different levels of detail and granularity of data: conceptual, logical, and physical. Different approaches and techniques with their own strengths and weaknesses are developed to model data. Four of the major types of data models include hierarchical, relational, object-oriented, and network/graph-based. The article also presents the evolution of data management approaches. It then describes the characteristics of effective logical data models.

This article provides an overview of common quenching media, the factors involved in the mechanism of quenching, and process variables, namely, surface condition, mass and section size of the workpiece, and flow rate of the quenching liquid. It describes the methods of quenchant characterization using hardening-power and cooling-power tests. The article discusses the fundamentals involved in heat-transfer coefficient and heat flux of quenching processes. This discussion is followed by various actual examples of applications of these methods using simplified equations. Quenchant evaluation, classification, selection, and maintenance are reviewed in detail. The article addresses the various reasons for quench oil variability and complications due to aging and contamination.

Hard chromium plating is produced by electrodeposition from a solution containing chromic acid and a catalytic anion in proper proportion. This article presents the major uses of hard chromium plating, and focuses on the selection factors, plating solutions, solution and process control, equipment, surface preparation, and crack patterns and other characteristics of hard chromium plating. It offers recommendations for the design and use of plating racks, describes the problems encountered in hard chromium plating, and their corrective procedures. The article provides information on the removal of chromium plate from coated metals, recovery and disposal of wastes, and stopoff media for selective plating.

This article discusses the various methods for evaluating the quench sensitivity of aluminum alloys, namely, time-temperature-property diagrams, the quench factor analysis, the Jominy end-quench method, and continuous-cooling precipitation diagrams. It briefly describes the procedures, applications, advantages, and limitations of these methods.