We were pleased to see that our December issue of TLT magazine contains THREE articles related to metalworking fluids. Three is the magic number than earns an edition "Save Status" and permanent shelf space. This month's edition includes three articles that appear in order of increasing complexity.
Long ago, science provided every consumer with a simple, reliable, and cost effective method for early detection of a human pregnancy. Decades later, we can't tell if the metalworking fluid system we are standing in front of at has deteriorated without the application of multiple time consuming tests. Engineers at Texas A&M are diagnosing malaria with cell phones converted into polarized microscopes (Reuters). Honestly, which is more complicated? That may change soon.
Oelheld U.S. Inc introduced AirForge 4500 this summer. Oelheld reports the product to be "a capable die lubricant with excellent separation and lubricating properties. The product is particularly suitable for and on applications where full flood lubrication is needed. On contact with hot surfaces, AirForge 4500 forms a film which controls the heat transfer between the tool and the work piece.
Measuring what? From Wikipedia (their drawing on the left): A protease (also called peptidase or proteinase) is any enzyme that performs proteolysis, that is, begins protein catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in a polypeptide chain. Proteases have evolved multiple times, and different classes of protease can perform the same reaction by completely different catalytic mechanisms. Proteases can be found in animals, plants, bacteria, archaea and viruses.
Michelle Rioux of Lonza Industrial Solutions finished her presentation "Metal Removal Biocides - What's Left?" at 3:00 PM on Day One of the ILMA conference. But for me, her message of doom was delivered much earlier. By 2:40, I understood clearly that there was no real hope for mankind. All is lost. There is no killing this stuff. Zombies? They're real. It's just a matter of time before the right bacteria species organize and figure out how to kill us all. The previous sessions enjoyed good attendance without overcrowding. This presentation was different.
Pure Water v Hard Water. Well, a paper with that title wouldn't look so great on a resume so the official title was "The Tribological Effects of Metal Removal Fluids Diluted with Purified Water vs. Hard Water." So - hard water vs pure water - a no-brainer right? It's well known that as the hardness of the water increases, so does the number of issues with the metalworking fluid. Water makes up 80-97% of the metalworking fluid system. It's generally known that pure water increases the life of the metalworking fluid system. But that's not the end of the story.
It's Day 1 at the 5th Metal Removals Conference. After the opening, I attended the first practitioner session titled "Minimum Quantity Lubrication vs. Traditional Flood Application - A Break-Through or Only for Niche Applications?" Presenter was Heinz Dwuletzki, PhD, and the head of R&D at Carl Bechem GmbH. The presentation was excellent and let me tell you, Dr. Dwuletzki knows his stuff. First, a brief history of MQL was provided, including definitions. A detailed study followed that outlined the critical pluses and minuses.
Summer is over and its back to work for all of us, but there is much to look forward to. The most important international conference events in the metalworking fluid industry's history were the 4 International Conferences of Metal Removal Fluids presented by ILMA. The 5th conference is this month, in Chicago. Click the pic to register and we'll see you there.
The Monday schedule for Metalworking Fluids is:
8-10AM METALWORKING FLUIDS IA - Trinty 1.
1:30-4:30 METALWORKING FLUIDS II - Trinity 1.
See your Program Guide for more detail.
