Acoustics sound out strained steel

Japanese researchers have found a way of predicting the remaining lifetime of stressed steel. The researchers have shown that structural faults in carbon steel make it absorb sound very effectively at a certain point in its life. The non-contact technique is based on the effect of this absorption on a magnetic field, and could be used to monitor the condition of axles in trains and motor vehicles.
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Bently Nevada Wins Exxon Account for Equipment Health Monitoring

Bently Nevada announced today that ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, has named Bently Nevada as global supplier of products and services for their Equipment Health Monitoring (EHM) program. EHM is a methodology that uses automated monitoring instrumentation for assessing the mechanical condition of rotating equipment, and combines this equipment health information with information from the process control system. The combination is more powerful than using only process data or only rotating equipment data, allowing operators and others to make better decisions regarding how the process is operated and its effect on equipment assets. When applied properly, EHM can reduce overall maintenance costs, unplanned outages, and equipment failures while increasing process and machine availability and reliability.
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Method to Calibrate Acoustic Emission Sensors

National Physical Laboratory has completed a collaborative project with Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and Airbus UK, to develop a method for the calibration of acoustic emission (AE) sensors. The application of the sensors is the detection and location of discrete micro-fracture events that accompany stable crack growth in metals, due to fatigue and stress corrosion.

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