Green sand molding and chemically bonded sand molding are considered to be the most basic and widely used mold-making processes. This article describes the sand system formulation, preparation, mulling, mold fabrication, and handling of green sand molds. It lists the advantages and disadvantages of green sand molding. The article discusses the primary control parameters for the sand system formulation. It describes two basic types of green sand molds such as flask molds and flaskless molds. The article provides a discussion on molding problems including springback and expansion defects. It discusses a variety of sand reclamation systems, including wet washing/scrubbing and thermal-calcining/thermal-dry scrubbing combinations.

This article provides a detailed account on forming operations (blanking, piercing, press-brake forming, contour rolling, deep drawing, cold forming, and hot forming) of various nonferrous metals, including aluminum alloys, beryllium, copper and its alloys, magnesium alloys, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, and platinum metals. It discusses the formability, equipment and tooling, and lubricants used in the forming operations of these nonferrous metals.

This article focuses on the specific aspects of nitinol that are of interest to medical device designers. It describes the physical metallurgy, physical properties, and tensile properties of the nitinol. The article discusses the factors influencing superelastic shape memory effects, fatigue, and corrosion in medical device design. It reviews the biocompatibility of nitinol based on corrosion behavior. The article describes the general principles, potential pitfalls, and key properties for manufacturing, heat treatment, and processing of nitinol.

Titanium metal passes through three major steps during processing from ore to finished product: reduction of titanium ore to sponge (porous form), melting of sponge and scrap to form ingot, and remelting and casting into finished shape. This article describes primary fabrication, including all operations that convert ingot into general mill products, such as billet, bar, plate, sheet, strip, tube, and wire. The section on secondary fabrication describes processes such as die forging, extrusion, hot and cold forming, machining, chemical milling, and joining. The article presents a short note on powder metallurgy products of titanium. Casting processes and properties are covered in the final section.

This article discusses the mechanics, surface preparation and principles of metal forming operations such as drawing, bending (draw bending, compression bending, roll bending, and stretch bending), spinning, and straightening of bars, tubes, wires, rods and structural shapes. The article also discusses the machines and tools, including dies and mandrels, and lubricants used for these metal forming operations.

Radial forging is a hot- or cold-forming process that uses two or more radially moving anvils or dies to produce solid or tubular components with constant or varying cross sections along their lengths. This article focuses on the workpiece configuration, workpiece materials, machines, dies, advantages, and limitations of radial forging. It concludes with a discussion on the applications of radial forging.

Ceramic-forming processes usually start with a powder which is then compacted into a porous shape, achieving maximum particle packing density with a high degree of uniformity. This article compares and contrasts several forming processes, including mechanical consolidation, dry pressing, cold isostatic pressing, slip casting, tape casting, roll compaction, extrusion, and injection molding. It describes the advantages, equipment and tooling, and material requirements of green machining, the machining of ceramics in an unfired state with the intent of producing parts as close to as possible to their final shape. The article also provides useful information on drying methods, shrinkage, and defects as well as the removal of organic processing aids such as dispersants, binders, plasticizers, and lubricants.

Characteristics of stainless steel that affect its formability include yield strength, tensile strength, and ductility, in addition to the effect of work hardening on these properties. This article discusses the forming process of stainless steel, heat-resistant alloys and refractory metals, detailing the major aspects of forming, including formability, lubrication, and forming methods and tools. The effect of factors such as alloy condition, cold reduction, forming direction (in the case of heat-resistant alloys) and temperature (in the case of refractory metals) on formability is also discussed.

This article describes the paint systems generally used to protect steel structures, steel sheet, and bridges from corrosion, and how they deter corrosion. It provides a discussion on the basic design criteria of steel structures for corrosion protection. The article also explains the differences between prepaint and postpaint, and the steps involved in prepaint processing of steel. It presents the selection guideline for paint system evaluation. The advantages of corrosion protection are also discussed.

This article illustrates the simulation procedure of casting process. It describes important elements and points of the simulations. These include the setting of clear simulation objectives, selection of proper simulation code, hints in modeling of shape and phenomena, initial and boundary conditions, physical properties, enmeshing, and evaluation of simulation results. The article provides some insights into the application of models to real world problem for foundry process engineers.

This article discusses the identifying characteristics of the forms or mechanisms of corrosion that commonly attack copper metals, as well as the most effective means of combating each. It tabulates corrosion ratings of wrought copper alloys in various corrosive media. The article describes the corrosion behavior of copper alloys in specific environments. It reviews the corrosion characteristics of copper and copper alloys in various acids, alkalis, salts, organic compounds, and gases. The article provides information on the behavior of copper alloys that is susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking in various industrial and chemical environments. It concludes with a discussion on various corrosion testing methods, including aqueous corrosion testing, dynamic corrosion tests, and stress-corrosion testing.

A wide range of flow-formed open- and close-ended shapes are currently available in a variety of difficult-to-form materials, including titanium alloys and nickel-base super alloys. This article describes the two basic methods of flow forming that are characterized by the position of the rolls during the forming process. The flow forming methods include staggered-roll flow forming process and in-line flow-forming process. Typical mechanical properties of flow-formed materials in various conditions are summarized in a table. Proper process controls and subsequent product qualification tests are critical to assure optimal performance of the flow-formed tubular component. The article discusses the most commonly required process control parameters and the effects of forming speed and temperature in the flow forming process.

The potential for introducing defects during processing becomes greater as the relative density of pressed and sintered powder metallurgy (PM) parts increases and more multilevel parts with complex geometric shapes are produced. This article discusses the potential defects in pressed and sintered PM parts: density variations, compaction and ejection cracks, microlaminations, poor degree of sintering, and voids from prior lubricant agglomerates. It describes the various methods applicable to green compacts: direct-current resistivity testing, radiographic techniques, computed tomography, and gamma-ray density determination. The article also discusses the methods for automated nondestructive testing of pressed and sintered PM parts: acoustic methods-resonance testing, eddy current testing, magnetic bridge comparator testing, ultrasonic techniques, radiographic techniques, gamma-ray density determination, and visual inspection.

This article reviews some concepts considered important for an understanding of processes used for preparing cobalt-chromium alloy implants, the microstructures resulting from this processing, and the resulting material properties. The review includes the solidification of alloys, diffusionless (martensitic) phase transformation as occurs with face-centered cubic to hexagonal close-packed transformation in cobalt-chromium alloys, stacking faults and twins and their role in this transformation. It also includes strengthening mechanisms that are responsible for the mechanical properties of cast and wrought cobalt alloys. The article contains tables that list the commonly used cobalt alloys and their biomedical applications and chemical compositions. It discusses the mechanical and corrosion properties of cobalt alloys, and provides a description of the microstructure of cobalt alloys.

This article describes the presses that are mechanically or hydraulically powered and used for producing sheet, strip, and plate from sheet metal. It also presents the JIC standards for presses, compares the presses based on power source, details the selection criteria and provides information on the various drive systems and the auxiliary equipment. It describes the selection of die materials and lubricants for sheet metal forming and provides information on the lubrication mechanisms and selection with a list of lubricant types for forming of specific sheet materials of ferrous or nonferrous metals. The article reviews the various types of forming processes such as blanking, piercing, fine-edge blanking, press bending, press forming, forming by multiple-slide machines, deep drawing, stretch forming, spinning, rubber-pad forming, three-roll forming, contour roll forming, drop hammer forming, explosive forming, electromagnetic forming, and superplastic forming.

This article focuses on the significant fundamental powder characteristics, which include particle size, particle size distribution, particle shape, and powder purity, followed by an overview of general and individual powder production processes such as mechanical, chemical, electrochemical, atomizing, oxide reduction, and thermal decomposition processes. It also covers the consolidation of powders by pressing and sintering, as well as by high density methods. Further emphasis is provided on the distinguishing features of powders, their manufacturing processes, compacting processes, and consolidated part properties. In addition, a glossary of powder metallurgy terms is included.

Autoclave molding is a process used to impart a controlled heat and pressure cycle cure to a layup. This article describes the materials used for preparing a layup, including peel ply, separator, bleeder, barrier, breather, dam, and vacuum bag. It describes the major elements and functions of an autoclave system, including pressure vessel, gas stream heating and circulation sources, gas stream pressurizing systems, vacuum systems, control systems, and loading systems. The article includes information about modified autoclaves for specialized applications and safety practices in autoclave molding. It also describes the tooling configuration and type of tooling which includes aluminum and steel tooling, electroformed nickel tooling, graphite-epoxy tooling, and elastomeric tooling.

Malleable iron is a cast ferrous metal that is initially produced as white cast iron and is then heat treated to convert the carbon-containing phase from iron carbide to a nodular form of graphite called temper carbon. This article provides a discussion on the melting practices, heat treatment, microstructure, production technologies, mechanical properties, and applications of ferritic, pearlitic, and martensitic malleable iron.

This article provides a detailed discussion on heat treatment of titanium alloys such as alpha alloys, alpha-beta alloys, and beta and near-beta alloys. Common processes include stress-relief, annealing, solution treating, aging, quenching, and age hardening. It provides information on the effects of alloying elements on alpha/beta transformation. The article also discusses the heat treating procedures, and the furnaces used for heat treating titanium and titanium alloys.