Engineering and producing a product or structure involves many decisions and actions, and occasionally mistakes are made. Sometimes they are easy to fix and not costly. Other times the mistakes take a great deal of effort and money to fix. Regardless, the general categories of mistakes can be put into two categories – mistakes due to process or procedure errors and mistakes due to ignorance.   in this episode Michael discusses these types of mistakes, their causes, and ways to prevent them...

Supplier selection involves many considerations from several different perspectives, such as design engineering, quality engineering, sourcing, finance, and shipping and logistics. in this episode Michael discusses supplier selection considerations based on the materials engineering perspective, with a focus on metal stock and metal components. To learn more about the supplier selection from the materials engineering perspective check out this video and...

Michael discusses a high level view of the component design process from the metals engineering perspective. To learn more about the component design process, check out these resources: https://youtu.be/4qGDbbBe4g4 https://www.imetllc.com/materials-selection/ https://www.imetllc.com/materials-selection-design-requirements/ https://www.imetllc.com/designing-optimized-components/ --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works...

In this episode, Michael discusses different aspects of product development, product launch, and post-launch where materials engineering will improve product success. Developing and launching a product can be stressful – there are many decisions, problems to overcome, and risks to mitigate. While we’d like the process to go smoothly and be able to calmly meet deadlines, this usually is not the case – things we didn’t consider pop up or things that shouldn’t have been a problem become a...

In this episode I discuss residual stress in metals  See this blog post on residual stress to learn more about residual stress https://www.imetllc.com/residual-stress-in-metals/ --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection Manufacturing process development Supplier evaluation Failure analysis and root cause analysis He received a B.S. and M.S....

In this episode I discuss five key metallurgy concepts that apply to all metals and are necessary to understand to be able to apply metallurgy to Produce stock metal Design and fabricate low-cost, reliable components. Figure out the root cause of component failures and production quality problems. See this blog post on the five concepts to learn more https://www.imetllc.com/five-key-metallurgy-concepts/ --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and...

In this episode I discuss the hydrogen embrittlement mechanism and the engineering steps needed to prevent hydrogen embrittlement of steel fasteners. See our blog post on hydrogen embrittlement to learn more https://www.imetllc.com/steel-hydrogen-embrittlement/ --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection Manufacturing process development ...

In this episode I discuss a lesson I learned from boxing – being purposeful - and how it applies to engineering (and probably other disciplines) and other aspects of life. Check out my articles on the Industrial Metallurgists website https://www.imetllc.com/. --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection Manufacturing process development Supplier...

In this episode I discuss another failure analysis project I worked on - an equipment reliability problem. This example demonstrates how failure analysis is applied to improve reliability. I also discuss my motivation for working on failure analyses. This episode is a complement to articles and podcasts available on the Industrial Metallurgists website https://www.imetllc.com/. --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with...

From an engineering perspective, what is a successful product? In this episode I discuss what I think it is and the influence of metals engineering on product success. I also discuss three new resources for learning about successful component design, designing for reliability, and various metallurgy and metals engineering topics that apply to product design and manufacturing....

In this episode I discuss two failure analysis projects I worked on. This episode is a complement to articles and podcasts available on the Industrial Metallurgists website https://www.imetllc.com/. --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection Manufacturing process development Supplier evaluation Failure analysis and root cause analysis He...

In this episode I discuss product reliability. Reliability refers to the ability of a product to perform as needed for a period of time. This episode is a complement to an article (Designing for Reliability) and short video presentation (Product Reliability and Materials Engineering) available on the Industrial Metallurgists website at https://www.imetllc.com/designing-for-reliability/ --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works...

In this episode I discuss 6-sigma, statistical process control, and the role of materials engineering in developing capable manufacturing processes. Materials are used to fabricate components and join components together. And, we want manufacturing processes capable of producing components and assemblies without defects or problems, and whose materials have the desired properties. So, developing and maintaining a six-sigma manufacturing process depends heavily on materials engineering. To...

In this episode I discuss the state of steel metallurgy knowledge and the things this knowledge have enabled including ultra-high volume steel production and the ability to engineer components with a wide range of properties for a wide range of applications. To learn more about this subject check out https://www.imetllc.com/a-tribute-to-steel-metallurgy-knowledge/ Also, on May 17, 2023 there's a live online course...

How do you look at any product? See just a thing that performs a certain function? In this episode I discuss my perspective on how I see a product - as an assembly of materials - and how it influences how I help design products to meet performance, reliability, and cost goals. --------------------------- Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., PE is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection Manufacturing process...

In this episode I discuss learning and professional development. There’s so much to know to be an engineer and college courses cover the tip of the iceberg, even if you go to grad school. I learned this early in my career as I was faced with decisions and problems related to topics that I never encountered in school. I also learned that I had to shoulder the responsibility of learning the topics. Some of the learning came from colleagues, some came from taking short courses, and some came...

In this episode I discuss Design for Manufacturability related to component fabrication and joining components by welding, brazing, or soldering. Design for manufacturing is concerned with designing components and assemblies that can be repeatedly produced with consistent good quality without hassles, and at low-cost. DFM applies to primary component fabrication processes, secondary processing (coating, heat treating), and joining. Primary component fabrication processes include casting,...

In this episode I discuss failure analysis component or joint failures during product testing or use and manufacturing problems such as supplier quality problems and manufacturing output that doesn't meet specifications.  Failure analysis is part of performing a root cause analysis to identify the action, event, or decision that led to a component failing in a product or led to a manufacturing problem. The information from a root cause analysis is used to either fix a problem - in the case...

(Apologies up front - I recorded this episode using the wrong microphone. So, the sound quality is fair. I'll do better next time.) There are microscopic structures and processes in metals that have large effects on metal properties, performance, and reliability. Being able to conceptualize these structures and processes goes a long way toward understanding the behavior of metals and the effects of mechanical processing and heat treating on metal properties. In this episode I discuss some of...

In this episode Michael discusses the metals engineering perspective to component design. The concepts actually apply to all materials – metals, polymer, ceramics, and new classes of materials. No matter the application, the considerations when designing a component are always the same. It’s necessary to understand all the design requirements when selecting materials and finalizing a component’s shape and features. The design requirements include performance, reliability, weight, cost, how...

Metals engineering is the application of metallurgy (the science of metals) to design and manufacturing decisions and problems involving metals. In this episode I explain the fundamental principles of metallurgy and how they are applied to engineer metals for component design and solving component failures and production quality problems. Michael is a metallurgist and metals engineer. He works with design and manufacturing clients to help with Component materials selection ...

In this episode I discuss two lessons I learned as a process engineer in the semiconductor fab. One lesson was a real-life example of the effects of manufacturing processes on metal microstructure and the resulting effects on a metal property that was used to monitor a manufacturing process. The other lesson was about the fallacy of engineering or scientific ingenuity.