Pattern equipment is the tooling utilized to form the mold cavity of a casting. This chapter first discusses the following factors that should be considered for determining the type of pattern equipment: number of castings to be produced, mold processes to be employed, dimensional tolerances required, casting design, and pattern cost. It also discusses the factors that should be considered when engineering a pattern. The chapter then presents the types of materials used for pattern construction. It provides an overview of patternmaker's shrinkage allowance. Finally, the chapter presents the factors that govern the space requirements for pattern storage.

This chapter discusses the effect of fiber length and orientation on the strength and stiffness of discontinuous-fiber composites. It also describes several fabrication processes, including spray-up, compression molding, reaction injection molding, and injection molding.

This chapter describes processes for evaluation of nitrided parts, including case depth and case hardness, and discusses the factors contributing to corrosion and distortion of parts after ferritic nitrocarburizing.

This article describes key processing methods and related design, manufacturing, and application considerations for plastic parts and includes a discussion on materials and process selection methodology for plastics. The discussion covers the primary plastic processing methods and how each process influences part design and the properties of the plastic part. It also includes a brief description of functional requirements in process selection; an overview of various process effects and how they affect the functions and properties of the part; and the selection of processes for size, shape, and design detail factors.

The need for precise targeted interactive surgery on boards or modules is the main driver of backside preparation technology. This article assists the analyst in making decisions on backside thinning and polishing requirements. Thinning of the substrates can be accomplished by flat lapping, laser assisted chemical etch, plasma reactive ion etch, and CNC based milling and polishing. The article discusses the general characteristics, key principles, advantages, and disadvantages of these processes. It also contains case studies that illustrate the application of these processes to ceramic cavity devices, injection molded parts, and ball grid arrays.

Fiber-reinforced metal-matrix composites have carved out a niche in applications requiring high strength to weight ratios, but they are susceptible to failure when exposed to high temperatures and cyclic loads. This chapter discusses the obstacles that must be overcome to improve the creep-fatigue behavior of these otherwise promising materials. It addresses six areas that have been the focus of intense research, including thermal-expansion and elastic-viscoplastic mismatch, thermally induced biaxiality and interply stresses, creep and cyclic relaxation of residual stresses, and enhanced interfaces for oxidation.

The complexity of semiconductor chips and their packages has continuously challenged the known methods to analyze them. With larger laminates and the inclusion of multiple stacked die, methods to analyze modern semiconductor products are being pushed toward their limits to support these 2.5D and 3D packages. This article focuses on these methods of fault isolation, non-destructive imaging, and destructive techniques through an iterative process for failure analysis of complex packages.

This chapter presents the criteria, methods, and benefits of cast-weld construction.

This chapter discusses the process characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and applications of various processes involved in surface hardening of steel. These include pack carburizing, liquid carburizing, gas carburizing, vacuum carburizing, plasma carburizing, gas nitriding, liquid nitriding, carbonitriding, and hardfacing. The chapter describes two surface hardening processes by localized heat treatment: flame hardening and induction hardening. It also briefly summarizes other surface hardening processes, namely, aluminizing, siliconizing, chromizing, titanium carbide coatings, and boronizing.

This chapter provides an overview of the tools and techniques, as well as some of the underlying theory, that have proven useful for process modeling and simulation. It begins by presenting the framework of a thermoset cure model that accounts for kinetics, viscosity, heat transfer, flow, voids, and residual stress. It then discusses each variable in detail, explaining how it affects the cure process, how it is measured, and how it can be expressed mathematically in the form of a simple model. The discussions throughout the chapter are supported by numerous images, diagrams, and data plots.

This appendix provides detailed information on design deficiencies, material and manufacturing defects, and service-life anomalies. It covers ingot-related defects, forging and sheet forming imperfections, casting defects, heat treating defects, and weld discontinuities. It shows how application life is affected by the severity of service conditions and discusses the consequences of using inappropriate materials.

This chapter defines steel castings, explains when to use steel castings, gives an overview of casting processes, and gives examples of suitable applications for cast steel parts.

Most of the counterfeit parts detected in the electronics industry are either novel or surplus parts or salvaged scrap parts. This article begins by discussing the type of parts used to create counterfeits. It discusses the three most commonly used methods used by counterfeiters to create counterfeits. These include relabeling, refurbishing, and repackaging. The article presents a systematic inspection methodology that can be applied for detecting signs of possible part modifications. The methodology consists of external visual inspection, marking permanency tests, and X-ray inspection followed by material evaluation and characterization. These processes are typically followed by evaluation of the packages to identify defects, degradations, and failure mechanisms that are caused by the processes (e.g., cleaning, solder dipping of leads, reballing) used in creating counterfeit parts.

To ensure the proper application of plastics, one must keep in mind three factors that determine the appropriate end-use: material selection, processing, and design. This article begins by providing information on various factors pertinent to the anticipated use conditions of the article to be designed. This is followed by a discussion on several stages necessary to define the geometry of plastic parts. Details on the strength of and cost estimation for plastic parts are then provided. The article ends with a section providing information on the structure, properties, processing, and end-use applications of plastics.

This chapter discusses the processes used in manufacturing to thermally alter the properties of metals and alloys. It begins with a review of the iron-carbon system, the factors that affect hardenability, and the use of continuous cooling transformation diagrams. It then explains how various steels respond to heat treatments, such as annealing, normalizing, spheroidizing, tempering, and direct and interrupted quenching, and surface-hardening processes, such as flame and induction hardening, carburizing, nitriding, and carbonitriding. It also addresses the issue of temper embrittlement and discusses the effect of precipitation hardening on aluminum and other alloys.

The design of case-hardened components is an iterative process, requiring the consideration of multiple interrelated factors. This chapter walks readers through the steps involved in selecting an appropriate material and assessing the influence of alloy composition and cooling rate on core properties including hardenability, microstructure, tensile and yield strength, ductility, toughness, and fatigue resistance. It likewise explains how carbon affects case hardenability, surface hardness, and case toughness and how case depth influences residual stresses and bending and contact fatigue. It also discusses the effect of quenching methods and addresses the issue of distortion.

This chapter discusses the ambient-temperature corrosion characteristics of aluminum metal-matrix composites (MMCs), including composites formed with boron, graphite, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, and mica. It also discusses the effect of stress-corrosion cracking on graphite-aluminum composites and the use of protective coatings and design criteria for corrosion prevention.