Carburization – Case Study
An interesting new case study has been added to our website. We were asked to investigate the failure of perforated steel plates from a gas-fired boiler. Initial macroscopic examination was consistent with a corrosion fatigue mechanism. Further examination using a metallographic light microscope revealed an unusually high concentration of carbides that became more concentrated in a gradient toward the […]
Preparing Samples for Metallographic Examination
Not all of our projects come to us in small packages. How do we get that 7′ long, 6″ diameter steel tube or the 4′ diameter industrial fan under a microscope? Sample preparation often begins in our machine shop. The MEE shop is equipped with a variety of cut-off saws, a Bridgeport mill, plasma cutter, […]
Failure analysis case studies
Stress corrosion cracking in a chemical storage tank, hydrogen damage in a boiler tube, fatigue fracture in titanium sternal plates are just a few of the case studies on our website. They were specifically chosen to highlight the variety of projects we see in our laboratory and more importantly, demonstrate the thorough, analytical approach we take on all of […]
MEE hosts Materials Science Camp
MEE, Inc is a long- time sponsor of the MN Chapter of ASM International Materials Science Camp for high school students. Thirty students got to spend a day in our laboratory learning about and using scanning electron microscopes, Rockwell hardness testers, microhardness testers and a variety of light microscopes. Three on our staff, Larry, Kurt and Neal, are also […]
Materials and their reaction to fire
Principal Engineer, Larry Hanke, spoke at the spring seminar of the Wisconsin chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) on materials analysis for fire investigations The purpose of the presentation was to describe and demonstrate what a metallurgical engineer can add to the investigation of a structural fire or explosion. His presentation included an overview of […]