Product category:
Materials testing equipment
News Release from: Mitutoyo (UK) | Subject: Corus
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 15 April 2002
Corus of approval for automatic hardness
testers
Corus depends on two Mitutoyo fully automatic hardness testers to cope with the volume of testing required without the need of full-time operators to carry out the work.
The Metallurgical Services function of the giant Corus organisation can be called on to carry out investigative testing on any materials supplied by the company to many of the most demanding metal customers around the world An ongoing task involves hardness testing of welded pipes used in oil and gas fields
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 12 Mar 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Mitutoyo catalogue goes on-line
In a new departure, the Mitutoyo (UK) product catalogue for 2001 is now available on-line at www.mitutoyo.co.uk as well as in its 400+ page printed format.
Castings company opts for Mitutoyo CNC CMM
When MBC Precision Castings was asked to produce a new intricate, high precision automotive casting, the company invested in a state-of-the-art CNC Co-ordinate Measuring Machine from Mitutoyo
For this, Corus depends on two Mitutoyo fully automatic hardness testers to cope with the volume of testing required without the need of full-time operators to carry out the work.
Test blocks manufactured by Corus Tubes and Pipes that include a section of submerged-arc weld are sent to Metallurgical Services where they are cut into sections, prepared to a suitable finish of three microns and then etched to reveal the weld micro-structure in readiness for the hardness testing.
To perform the test, the Mitutoyo Series 810 IN2 View HT fully automatic hardness tester is programmed by a technician for the required number and spacing of indents - different customers specify different surveys and number of indents in either weld or plate.
Further reading
Affordable DRO with impressive features
A new Digital Readout system for lathes and electro-discharge machines enables any number of holes between two and 360 to be programmed with full angular offset automatically positioning the workpiece
Surface contours and roughness measurements
Mitutoyo's new SVC Series Formtracers combine surface contour and roughness in one unit.
Typically a survey consists of around 80 indents and takes one hour to complete - the time being governed by the required load time for each indent.
Corus has two series 810 IN2 View HT machines at its Redcar, Cleveland facility, both automatically carrying out the hardness test before producing a table of results, as well as printing out a test certificate and schematic diagram of the weld showing results for each indent.
The two Mitutoyo machines provide very accurate, consistent results and free-up labour whilst the test takes place.
Cath Fennel, Section Manager in Metallurgical Services at Corus explained, "The technicians just programme the machine for the required test, hit the Go button, and the machine takes over.
Before we had the Mitutoyo machines, they could spend 12 hours a day manually carrying out the tests and writing down all the results.
It was a ridiculous use of labour! Now they are free to do other work".
When Corus was looking to automate its hardness testing function, it had difficulty finding a company able to fulfil its needs.
Ms.
Fennel continued, "We contacted a company called QC Plus for help with image analysis.
This was about seven years ago: there were automatic hardness testers about but none that would test on an etched sample".
"QC Plus, hand in hand with Mitutoyo, developed the software specifically for our needs and we ended up with the ideal system for hardness testing of welds.
Since then the same system has become available to any company concerned with weld assessment". Request a free brochure from Mitutoyo (UK) ...
• Mitutoyo (UK): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
