Electroless nickel (EN) is industry’s most common plated finish. It’s widely used for applications that demand wear resistance, hardness and corrosion protection—particularly if parts have complex geometries. It is also used in PCB manufacturing within a process known as ENIG, electroless nickel immersion gold. 

The aerospace industry wouldn’t function without first article inspection.

Eddy current testing (ECT) is an electromagnetic testing technique used to inspect non-ferromagnetic materials, and eddy current array (ECA) is an advanced form of ECT that allows efficient scanning over larger areas. 

Of all the various NDT disciplines, it is safe to say that remote visual inspection (RVI) is the one most widely used across all industries. While radiography and ultrasonic testing, for example, are essential in certain situations and applications, there is no real substitute for being able to visually inspect and monitor the condition of internal components.

Load cells are an integral part in a force measurement system. Understanding load cell terminology, common sizing techniques, and how they function will help you choose the most appropriate load cell for your application, which will help prevent accidental damage due to an incorrect selection.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) continues to gain in popularity as manufacturing teams seek to quantify plant and machine-level performance to find ways each area can be improved and keep production lines running at peak efficiency.

Our industry is fraught with tales of quality audits from hell and other less than desirable places, usually the result of standards written by folks who know a little but expand it to encompass a lot.

If you’ve ever worked in a lab, you know an optical microscope uses an eyepiece and objective to magnify a small object. But as technology continues to advance, digital microscopes are becoming more popular.

Anyone involved in medical device manufacturing knows that their industry is highly regulated. Almost every medical device manufacturer or pharmaceutical supplier uses materials testing systems in their quality control and research laboratories or outsources their testing to approved third-party laboratories.