Advantages of UIT (Ultrasonic Impact Treatment) compared with Hammer Peening

When compared with hammer peening, UIT (Ultrasonic Impact Technology) is superior for the following reasons:

1. UIT is faster and more efficient than hammer peening when used to treat welds, by at least 2x.
2. UIT is easier for the operator to control due to less vibration and force being required (1/8 as much force).
3. UIT is a more accurate treatment than hammer peening, because the indenter travels only 30 microns versus 1/4 inch for hammer peening.
4. UIT is lighter and more portable, and it can access areas hammer peening cannot.
5. UIT produces significantly less noise.  It is 20% quieter than hammer peening.
6. UIT allows for better process control, because treatment variables are controlled by PLC, as opposed to man + air compressor for hammer peening.
7. UIT can be machine or robotic mounted for use in manufacturing.
8. UIT can produce a surface finish equal to rough machining.

In summary, UIT achieves equal or better results than hammer peening, with what is clearly a superior process.

CF Industries Dragline Life Extended 4x (and counting- still no cracking), saving at least $1.5 Million in repair/downtime costs

In September 2009, Applied Ultrasonics treated weld connections on the A-frame and propel structure of a Page 852 dragline owned by CF Industries with their patented UIT (Ultrasonic Impact Technology).
In the past, these welds would crack every 2-3 months and fail every 6 months, requiring repair and associated downtime, year after year, for the entire 15 years of the asset’s service.

The Ultrasonic Impact Treatment was done during a repair outage with one crew over a period of 3 days. The UIT crew supported several welding crews making repairs, yet due to the speed and efficiency of UIT, only added a few hours to the total repair time.

Since the UIT treatment, CF Industries has not had any problems with cracking and has not had to take the dragline out of service for weld repairs. UIT extended the time between failure by at least FOUR TIMES and has saved CF Industries at least $1.5 million in repair and non-productive time (downtime) costs.

Original post: http://appliedultrasonics.com/news.html#-2

Applied Ultrasonics UIT resets fatigue life to ZERO and extends operation life by 15 years on Noble Ton van Langeveld Semi-Submersible Oil Rig

In May 2007, Applied Ultrasonics treated 82 welds on 12 critical column bracing connections on the rig; GustoMSC, a leading offshore engineering firm, conducted a detailed fatigue analysis for Noble and determined these connections would fail in the next 15 years…...

The shipyard works took two weeks with two crews to complete. After UIT treatment, GustoMSC determined the fatigue life of the connections were reset to zero and ABS granted a 15-year life extension for the rig to continue operations in the North Sea.

In September 2010, Noble performed the inspections required for 5-year special survey (done a year early due to contract timing). They did an underwater in lieu of dry dock (UWILD) inspection and found ZERO cracks on the welds treated with UIT. The rig resumed contract in December 2010, garnering a competitive day-rate for a North Sea rig of its class.

Original post: http://appliedultrasonics.com/news.html#-1

Downtime Reduction and Cost Saving in the Mining Industry

Applied Ultrasonics can in many cases achieve 3-5 times the life of crack repairs on draglines, electric shovels, trucks and other assets.

UIT uses a portable handheld ergonomic tool, shown right, that uses ultrasonic energy to enhance the grain structure of metal and extend its utility. The tool delivers this ultrasonic energy into the material, imparting compressive stress and relieving tensile stresses created during the welding process. The process plastically deforms the material’s surface and effectively realigns the grain structure of the material resulting in exceptional life extension. Benefits include a fast treatment for fatigue life improvement and an increase in hardness without increasing brittleness.

The effects of UIT translate into tremendous maintenance cost savings on repairs, as well as peace of mind that uptime will be maximized.

Crack repairs are commonplace in the mining industry and result in extensive downtime. The picture shown below shows a typical crack repair of a dragline bucket. The crack has been gouged out and will be re-welded to make it operational again until the next repair. The time between repairs can be as little as two weeks. By using UIT during the welding process, the time between new repairs is increased dramatically – saving time and money. This holds true for other high stress areas such as draglines, electric shovels, trucks, etc.

UIT has been repeatedly proven to increase fatigue life resulting in less downtime and money saved. Applied Ultrasonics provides service onsite to maximize cost effectiveness for the customer. Let us go to work for you.

Applied Ultrasonics
"Companies that rely on strength, rely on us"

UIT Adopted by AASHTO: Ultrasonic Technology Offers Millions in Infrastructure Cost Savings

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officers, or AASHTO, controls the guidelines used in the design, build and maintenance of bridges in the United States. UIT, or Ultrasonic Impact Treatment, was added to the code as a method of fatigue strength and life enhancement. The code update cites research work conducted at Lehigh University.

UIT has been used on bridge repairs in thirteen different states as well as Canada. Applied Ultrasonics provides UIT equipment and training for bridge work.

Gulf Lumber Finds Strength in Metal

From Timber Processing

New technology enhances endurance of Debarker Shafts: A technology developed by the former Soviet Union's Military Industrial Complex is alive and well, and has immigrated to the U.S. Now, this cutting edge technology is making in-roads into an age-old industry in the South.

When Birmingham, AL.-based Applied Ultrasonics asked Gulf Lumber Company in Mobile, Alabama for a chance to prove that the technology works, Gulf pointed them toward the drive shafts in their Cambio debarker. When these shafts fail, the pineapple falls into the trough below, requiring two to four hours of downtime to retrieve the pinapple, replace the broken shaft, and get the debarker back up and running. As with any equipment shutdown, the resulting labor costs, loss of production, and repair costs are considerable and a major headache for Jack Few, Maintenance Manager at the Mobile operation...

A technology developed by the former Soviet Union’s Military-Industrial complex is alive and well, and has immigrated to the USA. Now, this cutting edge technology is making inroads into an age-old industry in the South. Gulf Lumber Company in Mobile Alabama has turned to Birmingham, Alabama based Applied Ultrasonics and their patented Esonix Technology to solve plant maintenance problems in the debarker.

When Birmingham, AL.-based Applied Ultrasonics asked Gulf Lumber Company in Mobile, Alabama for a chance to prove that the technology works, Gulf pointed them toward the drive shafts in their Cambio debarker. When these shafts fail, the pineapple falls into the trough below, requiring two to four hours of downtime to retrieve the pinapple, replace the broken shaft, and get the debarker back up and running. As with any equipment shutdown, the resulting labor costs, loss of production, and repair costs are considerable and a major headache for Jack Few, Maintenance Manager at the Mobile operation.

“I was first introduced to the technology by one of our Board members (Mr. Jim Bridges) who is also the President and Board Chairman for Applied Ultrasonics” stated Mr. Few. “At first I didn’t know what to expect, and I was very skeptical that there would be anything new under the sun that could help with this problem, but I was wrong.”

Applied Ultrasonics took two debarker shafts from Gulf Lumber and treated them with their patented Esonix UIT process using their PLC 05 unit. This process uses ultrasonic energy to improve the useful life of metals. Many in the forest products industry are familiar with using ultrasound to detect cracks in machinery or to scan lumber for moisture; however, Esonix UIT is using ultrasound for a very different purpose than imaging. Mr. Horace Ward, Vice President of Operations for Applied Ultrasonics describes the technology as follows: “In the medical field, ultrasound is commonly used to destroy kidney stones and to treat pulled muscles; Esonix UIT uses ultrasound to improve the grain structure of the metal and impart residual compressive stress.”

The technology was first developed back in the 1970’s by Dr. Efim Statnikov who is currently the Vice President of Technology and Research for Applied Ultrasonics. When the technology was brought to the USA under a technology transfer program funded the US Government and administered by the University of Virginia, it was sponsored by a group of Birmingham, Alabama businessmen. The technology has been thoroughly vetted by a number of leading research institutions, including Lehigh University, the University of Texas, the Federal Highway Administration, the US Navy, Coast Guard, and many others domestically and internationally.

The results include:

Ability to survive a much higher number of load cycles, or fatigue life (think repeatedly bending a coat hangar to break it)
Enhanced resistance to corrosion
Increased hardness

In the Gulf Lumber test, the life expectancy of the debarker shafts was increased by over 300% resulting in a significant reduction in downtime and cost. This kind of life extension is delivered using a handheld, portable tool that sends ultrasonic energy deep into the treated material which strain hardens the material while also introducing residual compressive stress. The result is improved grain structure, increased localized hardness, improved geometry, and most important, longer life. “I was truly surprised by the results from our initial testing and am now looking at all of our equipment problems to find other areas where this technology can help us” stated Mr. Few. Applied Ultrasonics’ CEO, Jim Bridges, believes this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of maintenance benefits that the sawmill industry can obtain by adoption of the Esonix Technology. “This technology has an extremely broad array of applications and has been used & tested on everything from steel highway bridges to aircraft components. We have business offices in different parts of the world and are finding an increasing number of applications that benefit many different types of industries. The experience we had at Gulf Lumber is fairly typical of the results we have seen in other applications.”

Applied Ultrasonics has established a truly global footprint with partners in Asia, Australia, and Europe. The Birmingham headquarters was largely focused on research and development from the company’s inception in 1997 until mid-2005. At that time, Esonix UIT was used primarily to treat and revitalize highway and railroad bridges, powered by research results from the Federal Highway Administration.

Since mid-2005, Applied Ultrasonics has extended its reach into a number of other industries from oil explorations and ship building to timber processing. The technology has been used to successfully treat overhead crane girders, heavy equipment, gears, automobile brake drums and rotors, iron pipe, enormous bronze ship propellers, aerospace components, offshore oil platforms, and a variety of railroad components to name a few. The typical life extension that is achieved by treating a component or structure with Esonix UIT is 3-5 times greater than normal, and these results have been verified by a number of independent research institutes and published in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals and publications. In addition to being recommended by the Federal Highway Administration for bridge and light pole repairs and retrofits, Esonix UIT has been certified by the American Association of Transportation and Highway Officers (AASHTO), the American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd’s of London, and DNV Veritas.

Esonix UIT was developed after extensive study of the structure and behavior of metal at the microscopic level. The molecules of metal form grains that fit together similar to crystals. The size and structure of these grains has a huge impact on the characteristics of metal such as strength, fatigue life, susceptibility to corrosion, hardness, and toughness. Many of these characteristics are manipulated during the manufacture of the metal or the end product. Esonix UIT allows the improvement of the grain structure after the product is manufactured, even after it has been in use for a number of years.

Welding is one example of a process that has a huge effect on the grain structure and performance of metal parts. When two pieces of metal are welded together, the weld material shrinks significantly as it cools. This reduction in size causes tensile stresses in the weld area, and these tensile stresses are detrimental to the life of the structure. Esonix UIT imparts compressive stresses, the reverse of tensile stresses. The result is that a welded part that is under repetitive stress will last about four times longer than normal when treated with Esonix UIT. The reason for this is that Esonix UIT refines the grain structure of the metal and imparts compressive stress, removing the stress riser that is normally found at the toe of the weld.

Shafts and other mechanical components are slightly different in that in many cases they are not welded; however, they do wear out, and they frequently break at areas of higher stress concentrations such as changes in diameter and sharp radiuses. The forces that these shafts are exposed to on an almost continual basis are extreme. Take the shaft in the debarker as an example. These shafts are torqued as they continuously start and stop, they are worn as they come in contact with bearings or bushings, and they are jarred by the impact of each passing log. With all of these stresses, it is no wonder that these shafts develop cracks and break.

In this situation, Esonix UIT is used to treat the radius at the step-down where the shaft changes in diameter. This is the weak point of the shaft, and the place where they typically break. The result, after treatment, is a shaft that lasts about three times longer than normal.

The Esonix UIT process works by delivering ultrasound deep into the granular structure of the treated metal. This is achieved using a tool that has a transducer resonating at twenty-seven thousand cycles per second (27 kHz). The transducer is connected to a steel rod that transfers the resonating energy wave. The steel rod is called the wave guide, and the wave guide moves about thirty microns or 1.2 thousandths of an inch. This high frequency and low amplitude are important because they were determined by studying the speed of sound in various metals.

American industry has always led the world in innovation and development of best practices. This tradition is carried on today by American greats like Gulf Lumber Company. As Gulf Lumber’s President, Fred Stimpson, said, “Any time one of my guys like Jack Few can show me how to decrease downtime, I’m very interested.”

5 Reasons why Ultrasonic Impact Treatment is Your Best Option for Metal Improvement

Industries such as transportation, aerospace, mining, military, and infrastructure that rely so heavily on the resilience of their structures, require a metal improvement technique that is not only superior in terms of results and longevity, but can also be performed quickly, cleanly and without restrictive costs.  Ultrasonic Impact Treatment utilizes the strength of ultrasonic energy to achieve these goals more effectively than any metal improvement technique to come along prior to its availability.

Here are 5 reasons why ultrasonic impact treatment exceeds conventional peening, grinding or other traditional metal improvement methodologies:

1. Improved Surface Condition

Poor surface conditions lead to deteriorations in the material, which create microscopic stress concentrations that reduce fatigue strength and lead to eventual cracking.  By introducing compressive stresses at the surface, UIT creates a smoother, hardier surface condition that’s more resistant to stress and corrosive climactic or chemical elements.  This metal improvement at the surface helps to prevent fatigue failure, thereby extending the useable life of the component and markedly reducing replacement and repair costs. 

2. Refortified Intergranular Composition

Beneath the surface, UIT lends to metal improvement by refortifying the size, shape and orientation of grains within the material.  As such, microscopic flaws that would otherwise grow to detrimental levels are combated in their earliest stages, and weakened components are transformed back to their strongest composition.  Once again fatigue life is increased and the need for more extensive repairs down the line is alleviated.

3. Alleviation of Tensile Stresses

Repetitive cyclic loading beyond given thresholds creates destructive tensile stresses, which propagate across the surface and lead to disastrous results.  Ultrasonic impact technology drives tensile stresses deeper than any competitive metal improvement treatment to a depth of 12 mm.  By removing tensile stresses to such a superior depth, UIT again outperforms conventional methods of improving metal strength more effectively and for a longer period of time. 

4. Extended Fatigue Life

By improving surface condition, creating a more corrosion-resistant material, strengthening metal at the grain structure, removing tensile stresses and introducing fortifying compressive stresses; metal improvement via ultrasonic impact treatment greatly extends fatigue life in critical components.  Beyond the financial benefits, the confidence and peace-of-mind delivered in the knowledge that structures, such as aircraft, mining equipment, offshore platforms, and heavy machinery are safe and reliable provides immeasurable advantages over less effective methods of metal improvement. 

5. Speed & Ease of Application

Through its patented ultrasonic impact tool, UIT can be applied faster and more conveniently than other metal improvement methodologies.  The portability and configurability of the tool allows it to access formerly hard-to-reach areas without the need to disassemble components and put a lengthy stop in production.  Furthermore, the lack of debris means less time required to section off areas and cleanup following service.  The elimination of these previous drawbacks means ultrasonic impact treatment is not only faster and more affordable, but also reduces downtime – all of which contribute to a healthier bottom line.

Structural solidity, extended fatigue life, less downtime, increased profit margins and improved confidence all make ultrasonic impact treatment your best solution when considering metal improvement processes.