On-site Testing and Analysis of Steel Tanks
Sometimes projects involve samples or artifacts too large or too valuable to remove or cut for evaluation in MEE’s laboratories. In these cases, in situ evaluation is required. For this project, MEE was asked to evaluate the functional integrity of large steel tanks that had been exposed to elevated temperatures from a fire. Associate […]
Metallography Webinar
Join MEE Senior Scientist Dieter Scholz and Principal Engineer Larry Hanke for a webinar titled “Advanced Specimen Preparation for Metallography” on July 7th at 1:00 PM CDT. The webinar, hosted by ASM International, will cover tripod polishers, target sectioning tools, and broad beam ion milling. For more details and to register for the webinar: https://lnkd.in/eceSZX2
ASM Board Appointment
MEE’s CEO/Senior Engineer, Larry Hanke, was just appointed to the Board of the ASM International Metallographic Society (IMS). The Metallographic Society is a professional organization serving those involved in the examination, analysis, characterization, structure and evaluation of materials. Service on the IMS Board of Directors involves planning and driving the future strategy of the […]
Metallurgical Engineering Intern
Welcome to MEE’s new intern, Kelsy Holtgrewe. Kelsy received her Bachelor’s in Metallurgical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology in December. She’ll be starting work toward a Master’s at Colorado School of Mines this fall. She has previous work experience in the materials labs of two large industrial companies so she is familiar […]
Microscope Monday
Twenty years ago, MEE Lab Manager, Kurt Schenk, figured out a way to capture the beauty of a freshly fallen snowflake with an SEM. Those images and hundreds of others taken over the years in our laboratory have been saved in a file on our network simply called “cool images”. Five years ago, we thought […]
Paper Published in Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention
Alkaline Carbonate SCC Failures at a Refinery, co-written by MEE staff engineers, Ryan Haase and Larry Hanke was recently published in the Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention ( First Online: January 16, 2018) A metallurgical evaluation was performed to investigate two failures from carbonate-containing sour water service at a refinery. The paper details the […]
Graphitic Corrosion Case Study
We were asked to determine the mechanism and possible causes of corrosion of a cast iron sanitary sewer pipe. Metallurgical testing and EDS analysis pointed to graphitic corrosion. With graphitic corrosion there is no reduction in the size or shape of the pipe but the strength of the material is severely reduced. The Vent Pipe case study explains […]
The Intern Experience at MEE
Interns, Reid Schur and Josh Polzin, were a welcome addition to our team this summer. Reid completed a project comparing the chemical vs mechanical test methods used in ASTM D3483, Standard Test Methods for Accumulated Deposition in a Steam Generator Tube. We will use the information from his work to help our customers decide on the best test method to use with their […]
MEE Hires Second Intern
Welcome to summer intern, Josh Polzin. Josh will be a freshman in the college of engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor this fall. We met Josh last summer when he was a high school senior attending the Minnesota ASM materials science camp. Students spend one day of the camp in the MEE laboratory learning […]
Update to MEE website
A fire inside a three story stainless steel chamber is the subject of the latest case study added to our webpage. The goal of the evaluation was to determine what material required replacement or repair, and what material could remain in service. Thus, the evaluation could only be nondestructive. This required an on-site investigation and in situ metallographic examination. […]