Feature Article


It’s All About The Data…. by Patrick McCrevan, Account Executive, Business Development, B&L Information Systems


of their chosen alloys to assure they meet their customer’s specifications. This is a common fact and is practiced throughout the industries that melt and form metal into products. The process used to assure the accuracy of the alloy composition is commonly performed with spectrometers. Some processors do this task internally, others send test bars out for examination. Depending on the internal pouring processes and holding time of the metal in liquid form, it is often more practical to perform this task internally to assure the poured alloy is suited to the customer’s specifications. In the investment casting processes, this a most important requirement as their products are often sent to customers requiring certification, traceability, serialization and guaranteed conformance to specifications provided for the product they are purchasing.


M 20 ❘ May 2021 ®


etal casters everywhere are commonly required to manage the melting process


Foundries have relied on chemical


analysis from spectrometers for quite some time now. The Quality Lab is where this is commonly performed, and there is often a manual process to get the results back to the melt deck to indicate the suitability of the alloy for pouring; additional adjustments may occur, which call for additional spectrum- analysis before the molten alloy is ready. This process generates a lot of data. Spectrometers can deliver a wide range of compositional data, some of which is required for the alloy’s accuracy, some of which is not. This of course depends on the customer’s specification. Standards are available for most alloys that a spectrometer‘s analysis can be compared to, and sometimes, a specific Customer’s specification may be more or less stringent than the standard. A staff person with the awareness of these varying standards and the output of the spectrometer has to do real time comparison of all the data. There is


good news though; there are systems available today that can automatically collect the output from the spectrometer, compare it to the needs of the customer’s specification and deliver those results electronically right to the melt/pour deck. This then allows for a realtime decision to pour or modify, as opposed to waiting an hour or more to get results back from the Quality Lab. The data generated in these


systems can also be stored to allow for longer term analysis of the furnace performance with specific alloys, using real data as opposed to a gut feel or a “recommended” maintenance period for the furnace, an added bonus. Once


poured and prepped for


delivery, physical characteristics are often required as part of a customer’s specification. These


physical


characteristics are intended to be an indicator of the quality of the alloy poured and now solidified, and it can be argued these are the final gate or “Go/


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