Electric arc cutting is used on ferrous and nonferrous metals for rough severing, such as removing risers or scrap cutting, as well as for more closely controlled operations. This article describes the operating principles, equipment selection, process variables, and safety measures recommended for plasma arc cutting and air carbon arc cutting. Special applications of electric arc cutting, including shape cutting, gouging, and underwater cutting, are also discussed. The article provides information on other electric arc cutting methods, namely, the exo-process and oxygen arc cutting. It concludes with information on the seldom-used electric arc cutting methods, such as shielded metal arc cutting, gas metal arc cutting, and gas tungsten arc cutting.

Plasma arc cutting (PAC) is an erosion process that utilizes a constricted arc in the form of a high-velocity jet of ionized gas to melt and sever metal in a narrow, localized area. This article discusses the process description, equipment, gases, operating sequence, process considerations, and applications of PAC. It concludes with a discussion on the safety measures associated with the PAC process.

This article discusses the operating principles, types, and applications of shearing and slitting of different forms of steel, including plates, flat sheets, bars, coiled sheet and strips. In addition, it provides a detailed account of the cutting methods such as oxyfuel gas cutting, plasma arc cutting, oxygen arc cutting, laser beam cutting, and air carbon arc cutting and gouging, describing their process capabilities, equipment used, operating principles and parameters, and factors affecting their efficiency.

This article describes the process, advantages, limitations, applications, and equipment used for shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). It provides information on the types of electrodes, weld schedules, and welding procedures. The article explains the electrodes used in the SMAW process that have different compositions of core wire and a variety of flux-covering types and weights. It includes information on gravity and firecracker welding and discusses dry and wet types of underwater welding. Finally, the article reviews the safety considerations to be followed during SMAW.

Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), commonly called stick or covered electrode welding, is a manual welding process whereby an arc is generated between a flux-covered consumable electrode and a workpiece. This article discusses the advantages and limitations and applications of the SMAW process and describes the equipment used. It provides information on various coated electrodes used in the SMAW process, including mild and low-alloy steel-covered electrodes, stainless steel covered electrodes, and nickel and copper alloys covered electrodes. It reviews weld schedules and procedures, as well as the variations of the SMAW process. The article concludes with information on the special applications of the SMAW process and safety considerations.

Oxyfuel gas cutting (OFC) includes a group of cutting processes that use controlled chemical reactions to remove preheated metal by rapid oxidation in a stream of pure oxygen. This article discusses the operation principles and process capabilities of the OFC. It reviews the properties and compositions of fuel types such as acetylene, natural gas, propane, propylene, and methyl-acetylene-propadiene-stabilized gas. The article describes the effects of OFC on base metal, including carbon and low-alloy steels, cast irons, and stainless steels. It provides information on light cutting, medium cutting, heavy cutting, and stack cutting. The article informs that the basic oxyfuel method can be modified to allow gas cutting of metals, such as stainless steel and most nonferrous alloys, that resist continuous oxidation.

This article describes the features, benefits and limitations of petrolatum and microcrystalline wax. It provides a detailed discussion on the steps to be followed before applying the various forms of the wax-based coatings. The wax-based coating forms include petrolatum and microcrystalline tapes, marine petrolatum-based pile systems; cold-applied petrolatum-based paste coating systems; hot-applied microcrystalline wax flood coating systems; wax-based dips, brushons, and sprays; and wax-impregnated fabrics and wax-coated papers. The article also discusses the applications and limitations of these wax-based coatings. It concludes by highlighting the steps involved in the installation of wax-based casing fillers.

This article focuses on marine coatings associated with protecting commercial and military vessels. It provides detailed information on the common issues and requirements encountered when coating ballast tanks, freeboard, topside, and decks of the vessel. The article describes the advent of ultra-high solids coatings technology, and reviews the marine-specific coatings such as antifouling and their mechanisms and common failure modes.

This article presents the major thermal spray processes and their subsets, presenting each of the commercially significant processes together with some of their important variations. Each process is presented along with the attributes that influence coating structure and performance. The article summarizes the essential equipment components and necessary controls. The various thermal spray processes are conventional flame spray, detonation gun, high-velocity oxyfuel spray, electric arc spray, and plasma arc spray. Other processes, such as cold spray, underwater plasma arc spray, and extended-arc and other high-energy plasma arc spray, are also considered.

This article focuses on the mechanical and nonmechanical cutting methods used in metal fabrication industries. The most prevalent equipment used for mechanical cutting includes shears, iron workers, nibblers, and band saws. Nonmechanical methods of cutting include gas cutting, electric arc cutting, and laser cutting. The article concludes with information on the advantages of abrasive waterjet cutting, which is an alternative to laser cutting, gas cutting, and plasma cutting.

This article focuses on a variety of laser beam machining (LBM) operations of aluminum and its alloys, namely, laser cutting, laser drilling, laser milling, laser turning, laser grooving, laser scribing, laser marking, and laser micromachining. It presents different approaches for carrying out machining operations, laser processing parameters, efficiency and accuracy of the process, and the effect of laser processing parameters on the quality of the machined surface. The article provides an overview of the various conventional (chip forming) and nonconventional machining techniques employed for aluminum-based materials. A comparison of the various aspects of LBM with other non-conventional techniques is also presented. The article also describes the features of LBM techniques employed for aluminum and its alloys for different types of machining.

This article focuses on the mechanisms and common causes of failure of metal components in lifting equipment in the following three categories: cranes and bridges, particularly those for outdoor and other low-temperature service; attachments used for direct lifting, such as hooks, chains, wire rope, slings, beams, bales, and trunnions; and built-in members such as shafts, gears, and drums.

It is recommended that repairs be made whenever damage consists of delamination cracks or broken fibers. This article provides an overview of the repair classification, characterization, and cycle of the composite ship structure. The methods outlined in this article, which covers gel coat repairs, patching, scarfing, and step repairs, have undergone extensive development and rigorous testing for use on composite ship structures. Resin infusion repair, which is a relatively new method for repairing marine composites, is also described.

A coating can be defined as a substance spread over a surface to provide protection or to serve decorative purposes. This article discusses two industrial coating components, namely, nonvolatile components such as the resin or binder, pigments, and any additives that may be incorporated into the formulation; and volatile components such as solvents, or water in emulsions and their composition. It provides general information on volatile organic compounds. The article describes the film-forming mechanisms of various coating types, namely, lacquers, chemically converting coatings, latex coatings, alkyds and other resins, which cure by oxidation, moisture-curing polyurethanes and inorganic zinc primers, and powder coatings. The article concludes with a discussion on the functions of the primer, intermediate coat, and topcoat in coating systems.

The types of metal components used in lifting equipment include gears, shafts, drums and sheaves, brakes, brake wheels, couplings, bearings, wheels, electrical switchgear, chains, wire rope, and hooks. This article primarily deals with many of these metal components of lifting equipment in three categories: cranes and bridges, attachments used for direct lifting, and built-in members of lifting equipment. It first reviews the mechanisms, origins, and investigation of failures. Then the article describes the materials used for lifting equipment, followed by a section explaining the failure analysis of wire ropes and the failure of wire ropes due to corrosion, a common cause of wire-rope failure. Further, it reviews the characteristics of shock loading, abrasive wear, and stress-corrosion cracking of a wire rope. Then, the article provides information on the failure analysis of chains, hooks, shafts, and cranes and related members.

This article discusses the historical background of composite construction in recreational equipment and sporting goods. It provides information on the applications of composites in baseball bats, tennis rackets, and golf clubs. The applications of composites in bicycling, winter sports, aquatic sports, track, field, and archery equipment are also discussed.

This article describes the fundamental theory of magnetic pulse welding (MPW). It reviews the equipment used for MPW, namely, work coil, capacitor bank, high-voltage power supply, high-voltage switches, and field shapers. The article discusses the MPW process and explains the critical parameters needed to obtain acceptable welds. Applications and safety guidelines of the MPW are also presented.

Oxyfuel gas cutting (OFC) includes a group of cutting processes that use controlled chemical reactions to remove preheated metal by rapid oxidation in a stream of pure oxygen. This article provides a detailed discussion on the principles of operation and the process capabilities of OFC. In addition to providing information on the equipment used, the article describes the properties of fuel gases (acetylene, natural gas). It also presents an overview of the effect of OFC on base metal and explains the application of OFC in cutting thin, medium, and thick sections, bars, and structural and close-tolerance shapes.

Metal is removed from the workpiece by the mechanical action of irregularly shaped abrasive grains in all grinding operations. This article discusses three primary components of grinding wheels, namely, abrasive (the cutting tool), bond (the tool holder), and porosity or air for chip clearance and/or the introduction of coolant. It describes the compositions and applications of coated abrasives and types of grinding fluids, such as petroleum-base and mineral-base cutting oils, water-soluble oils, synthetic fluids, semisynthetic fluids, and water plus additives. The article concludes with information on different types of grinding processes, namely, rough grinding, precision grinding, surface grinding, cylindrical grinding, centerless grinding, internal grinding, and tool grinding.

This article focuses on the corrosion and deterioration of components on recreational and small workboats. It discusses the materials selection and corrosion control for the components. These components include hulls, fittings, fasteners, metal deck gear, winches, backing plates, lifeline supports, inboard engines, cooling systems, propulsion systems, electrical and electronic systems, plumbing systems, masts, spars, and rigging.