Jochen Adams is a pragmatic man who has worked with steel throughout his studies and his career. The materials selection program he developed serves only one purpose: helping the customer. cleaning agents with which the machine works and which are not rinsed off completely – and thus have an abrasive effect on the metal. In another example, someone produces a pressure vessel for domestic gas lines, and bores a steel round for this purpose. In the telling, his voice goes up a register, his relaxed demeanor has vanished, and one can only hear words like “incredible mistakes, quite the catastrophe.” “Why? A pressure vessel is built from steel rounds by boring it. I told them that would not work, because the interiors of steel rounds of this thickness are not always gastight and therefore gas can escape. Incredible!” However, how many people like to admit their mistakes? No one does, according to Adams’ long years of experience. Therefore, he laid the basis all the more persistently for locating mistakes where they arise – wherever this may be, and even if it is in his own company. Adams is a much too honest practitioner of his craft to keep the truth to himself. After all, a considerable portion of his career success lies in the fact that he has developed and built up a system that serves both to detect errors and to avoid mistakes. EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE TO BE SHARED Whenever he retires, who will take over this legacy of his intensive professional life? He holds out great hopes for three of the technicians who work with him and are set to follow in his footsteps. Everything augurs well for this at the moment, for Adams will pass on all the expertise he has gained. So far, so good. However, a residual insecurity remains. Everyone must gather experience for himself or herself, and experience is an intrinsic component of Adams’ materials selection program for ordinary, alloyed and high-alloy steel. It is hardly imaginable that someone (like Adams) at some stage would no longer be able to say: “Read up in this passage in the technical literature from 1968, or in this text from 1978, or read the materials specification sheet from 1989.” There is no question that Jochen Adams will be sorely needed for some time to come. 7 TK <strong>Magazin</strong>e | 1 | 2004 | MATERIALS SELECTION 83 THE MATERIALS SELECTION PROGRAM AT A GLANCE In line with the individual user’s respective requirements, the program recommends the suitable material for the relevant application. Finding the right material in three steps: 1. Select the sector 2. Identify the characteristics 3. Define specifications The sector selection is followed by the indication of up to three pre-selected characteristics, which are particularly relevant for this sector. The user can confirm these characteristics or select new ones. The necessary specifications for each characteristic can then be determined precisely. During the selection process, the program also checks the required availability of the production material. Precise selection possibilities Characteristics are divided into 37 categories, such as vibration strength, cold-forming properties, heat conductivity, weather resistance, rolling properties, yield strength, tensile strength, elongation after fracture, weldability, bend radius, elasticity moduling and surface treatability etc. Each of these characteristics can be indicated through a precise value; to this end, up to 50 specifications per characteristic are laid out. Comprehensive contents The program database contains about 500 steels, including the 32 most commonly used high-alloy steels. The data are based on measured materials analyses – which are also documented in works products – from steel production. The information is regularly adjusted and updated to reflect the latest status of norms and technology. Materials sheets are available for several steels. For steels that can be handled warm, time-temperature conversion presentations are available. As for steel types that can be used in components, where vibration stress capability is required, stresscycle diagrams are available that rate the fatigue strength. All search results as well as the various ZTU presentations on file, stress-cycle diagrams and material specifications sheets, can be easily printed out.
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