Louisville, KY–Leon Strong is a no-nonsense engineer who insists on stability in his operations. Not stability in the sense that he doesn't like change. He wants the materials he uses to be stable, and he has good reason for that.
Strong is director of industrial engineering at Racque Foods in Louisville. Racque (pronounced "Rocky") makes a rotary vacuum dispenser that puts food in plastic containers for Stouffers, Weight Watchers, and other food processors. Critical to the operation is the platform that holds the trays with the plastic receiving the food. And critical to the platform is its dimensional stability. "If the tolerance isn't good, we can't guarantee the seal," he says. To get that stability, he uses Mic 6® Precision Machined Cast Aluminum Plate from Alcoa Mill Products (www.alcoa.com) to hold the trays and keep them straight throughout the process. "It's a cast plate and we machine all over it and it doesn't warp," he says.
Fixtures and quality-control equipment such as the type Racque Foods uses are perfect examples of applications that need close tolerances—controlled thickness and flatness. When it comes to parts that are machined by removing extensive levels of metal, dimensional stability is key. Aluminum plate is often the material of choice for tooling in these applications, but, says Leighton Cooper, of Alcoa Mill Products, "wrought aluminum plate doesn't offer the tolerance control or stress-relieved properties in cast-aluminum plate."
For his part, Strong, of Racque Foods, endorses the material because his processes can't tolerate equipment failure. "Other materials have better tensile strength," he says, but Mic 6® has the dimensional stability."
By experimenting with the photovoltaic reaction in solar cells, researchers at MIT have made a breakthrough in energy efficiency that significantly pushes the boundaries of current commercial cells on the market.
In a world that's going green, industrial operations have a problem: Their processes involve materials that are potentially toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. If improperly managed, this can precipitate dangerous health and environmental consequences.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
