Technical Tips

Protect your plant – during shut down

Even in normal times, conventional pressures in the economy and in industry can lead to fluctuating production demands, temporary downturns, or even unexpected shutdowns, but with the current COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down restrictions this pressure is now even greater. There may be a need for many companies to consider localised closure and hence temporary mothballing […]

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Austenite to Martensite Transformations and Memory Alloys

Within the realm of steel alloys there is a vast range of alloys and properties, and indeed, as is well known, the carbon content plays a significant role. Together with other alloying elements the carbon content is crucial with regard to the capacity to heat treat the alloy, and the heat treatment condition in which […]

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Don’t let your rump fall into the coals

An essential part of summer in South Africa is the ubiquitous meeting point around a braai, to enjoy a steak, a good chop, a stuk wors, a piece of fish or even a skilpadjie or two. Other countries try to emulate this South African tradition, with the Australian ‘barbies’, gas barbecues in America, or related […]

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Non Uniform Loading Of Bolts Induces Bending

The use of bolts in engineering applications is ubiquitous: they are used everywhere, and in general the Engineering public think they understand their usage. This perception is broadly correct when the loading on the bolt is symmetrical and axial, but this is not strictly true when the loading is not perfectly axial, or accommodates some […]

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Pitfalls in marine corrosion prevention: Electrical Isolation

In marine environments galvanic corrosion cells are readily formed between two dissimilar metals that are electrically connected and exposed to a common electrolyte (i.e. seawater). Provided the galvanic potential of the materials (i.e. of the anode and cathode sites) differs by more than approximately 250 mV, the more active metal (the anode) will be oxidised […]

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Pitfalls in marine corrosion prevention: Cathodic protection (sacrificial anodes)

In marine environments, galvanic corrosion cells are readily formed between two dissimilar metals that are in electrical contact and exposed to a common electrolyte (e.g. seawater). Provided the galvanic potential of the materials (i.e. of the anode and cathode sites) differs by more than approximately 250 mV , the more active metal (the anode) will […]

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Pitfalls in marine corrosion prevention: Surface coatings

In marine environments, galvanic corrosion cells are readily formed between two dissimilar metals that are electrically connected and exposed to a common electrolyte (e.g. seawater). Provided the galvanic potential of the materials (i.e. of the anodic and cathodic sites) differ by more than approximately 250 mV, the more active metal (the anode) will be oxidised […]

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Section Thickness Temperature effects and Residual Stress

As an organisation that often deals with engineering component failures, we have come across a number of situations where section thickness changes and temperature variation effects have led to premature failures caused by differential cooling. The phenomenon is related to differential expansion and contraction during cooling for components of varying thicknesses. This mechanism can, however, […]

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Fatigue Life Estimation

The failure of engineering components as a result of cyclic loading induced fatigue is widespread and probably one of the major causes of component failure. Some estimates indicate that close to 80% of all engineering failures are primarily due to fatigue. The fracture mechanics approach to quantifying fatigue, presented in our August 2017 and July […]

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Journal Bearings: Lubrication Modes

Bearings are devices used to transmit a load from one surface to another when a relative motion exists between the surfaces. This is most easily achieved by either some form of sliding action or rolling motion. Based on this fundamental difference, bearings are typically divided into two classes, nominally rolling element bearings or sliding surface […]

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