The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) through its European Hard Materials Group (EHMG) is launching a new club project - 'Ultrasonic fatigue testing of hardmetals in the gigacycle regime'. This new project planned for a September 2009 start date, will work in collaboration with leading academic institutions, such as TU Vienna, CEIT San Sebastian and NPL London to realise the project's outcomes.
Over the projects 8-month lifespan, collaborating companies will assist in the selection of materials to be studied, which will then lead on to the Gigacycle Fatigue Testing regime, followed by Measurement of Residual Stresses and finishing with a further series of measurement and characterisation tests.
The collation of the data and final report will be generated by the EPMA together with research centre leaders and then disseminated to the participating EPMA Members.
The outcome of the project will benefit hardmetal components manufacturers and users to help them produce higher strength fatigue loaded components.
Interest from Non-EPMA companies/organisations in participating in the project are welcome, however, EPMA Membership is mandatory as part of the terms and conditions of the project, the cost of which will be divided equally amongst the contributing stakeholders.
Expressions of Interest from companies/organisations should be sent to Dr. Olivier Coube, EPMA's Technical Director by no later than 15th September 2009.