Where Do We Begin?
For a first (well, technically second) blog post, I thought a good place to start would be to give away some resources for people to begin (or continue) learning some common alloy specifications. One of these documents is simply a quick reference, mainly for XRF, and the other is populated with a more in-depth list of specs as published in the Unified Numbering System, including all relevant elements.
Now…that said…these are a tool, and they’re one of many. We have to be careful not to only see nails because all we have is a hammer. The world is a big place, full of lots of new and different things. Many of those new and different things aren’t on these sheets. Ultimately, the PMI tech is responsible for knowing the environment and what alloys may be in play there. I’ve selected the alloys in these pages because they show up time and time again across multiple applications. I would consider these to be living documents, and the content may change with usage patterns in various industries.
In future posts I’ll be giving some examples of data from tests performed on these common alloys, which you can use to keep your alloy recognition skills sharp. The point isn’t to become a walking alloy library, but to give yourself the ability to double-check your analyzer and make good decisions out in the field. These sheets will definitely come in handy for that. Feel free to share them as much as you like. I hope it helps.
Until next time, take care,
Paul