Archive for July, 2007

To make bronze, tin flakes do a wild dance - Brief Article

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Jitterbugging flecks of metal are challenging some prevailing ideas of how alloys form. When deposited atop a pure copper crystal, tin atoms form into 100,000-atom rafts that scoot around madly, depositing bronze spots in their wake, physicists at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., have found. So much for the long-held notion ...

Isothermal Aging of Near-Eutectic Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Alloys and Its Effect on Electrical Resistivity

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Solder joints were prepared from seven eutectic and near-eutectic Sn-based compositions and characterized for electrical resistivity after 100 h and 1,000 h of isothermal aging at 423 K. The solder joint samples were prepared by hand soldering to copper substrates, and the post-heat treatment resistivity was measured at room temperature ...

Study of Immersion Silver and Tin Printed-Circuit-Board Surface Finishes in Lead-Free Solder Applications

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

The wetting of I-Ag (immersion silver) and I-Sn (immersion tin) printed-circuit-board (PCB) finishes by Sn/Ag/Cu and eutectic Sn/Pb solders was studied in this work with Ni/Au (electroless nickel/immersion gold) and organic solderability preservative (OSP) finishes as baselines. Wetting tests were performed on fresh boards and boards subjected to different preconditioning ...

Controlling the Microstructures from the Gold-Tin Reaction

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

The microstructures from the reaction between Au and Sn under different conditions were studied. A Sn/Au/Ni sandwich structure (2.5/3.752 µm) was deposited over the Si wafer. The overall composition of the Au and Sn layers corresponded to the Au20Sn binary eutectic (wt.%). When the reaction condition was 290°C for 2 ...

Turning difficult-to-machine alloys: the special properties of superalloys and titanium alloys call for special machining considerations - Emphasis: Cutting Tools

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Metallurgical changes that have improved superalloys and titanium alloys--making the metal stronger, tougher and/or more resistant to oxidation or corrosion--have also made these metals more difficult to machine. For the nickel-, iron- and cobalt-based superalloys, high temperature characteristics translate directly to machining challenges. The combination of high cutting force and high ...

Grounded: the commercial aviation slump has left specialty metals dealers looking for a silver lining - Commodity Focus

Friday, July 20th, 2007

The commercial airline sector has been in financial turmoil in the past year, and the reduction in new aircraft manufacturing has negatively affected the consumption of specialty and high-temp alloys, such as titanium, chromium and nickel. According to a report in the December 13 edition of Manufacturing News, civil aviation sales ...

Hi-Temp’s Island dreams light a fire in Babylon

Friday, July 20th, 2007

When local leaders learned Canon USA was eyeing the Garden State, the Suffolk Industrial Development Agency offered up to $35 million in tax breaks to keep Canon here. Now, Babylon's IDA is working overtime to lure Hi-Temp Specialty Metals Inc.'s headquarters from Willingboro, N.J., to Deer Park. The economic development group ...

Taking off: nickel alloys are in demand, while aircraft orders could help titanium take off. It appears as if the atmosphere for specialty metals is improving

Friday, July 20th, 2007

The aerospace industry is the bull in the high-temp and titanium alloy markets. If aerospace is asleep, any bull market in specialty metals is dead to the world, too. But put a bit of spark into aircraft, and the bull starts shaking in the specialty metals market. Like Sleeping Beauty, the ...

DRMS hi-temp alloy values firm - Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, high temperature scrap metals - Scrap

Friday, July 20th, 2007

CHICAGO - Prices for high-temperature alloy scrap remained firm in a pair of recent sales by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. Some scrap industry sources attributed this to the recent upsurge in world prices for cobalt metal, especially for superalloys with both nickel and cobalt. Even small lots of cobalt ...

Special Metals hikes high-temp alloys

Friday, July 20th, 2007

Special Metals hikes high-temp alloys PITTSBURGH--Special Metals Corp. late last week said that it was hiking the price of its high-temperature alloy products by about 4.5 percent across the board effective with orders Friday. The New Hartford, N.Y.,-based producer of high-temperature long products attributed the increase to rising raw materials costs, including ...