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Although there are different processing methods for parts, sometimes because of some material requirements (such as PTFE, titanium, G-10 composite), strict tolerance, surface treatment or other required properties, it is better to achieve them through CNC processing. CNC processing may be expensive, but fortunately, manufacturing platforms such as Speed Plus can undertake CNC processing of high mixing, proofing and small and medium batches through cost-effective distributed collaborative manufacturing networks, realizing low cost and short delivery time for CNC processing. In addition, what else can you do to save your CNC proofing cost? Follow these four tips on part prototyping, design, and supply chain best practices. Ask yourself: Is this the most appropriate design requirement? When designing a part, ask yourself: Can I use the default tolerance in this part? The manufacturing standards of rapid acceleration provide generally acceptable minimum requirements for manufacturing. Specifying tighter tolerances may slightly increase part prices. The smaller the tolerance, the tighter the tolerance area, and the more expensive your parts will be. Do I need these post-processing? Although the cost of laser marking and silk screen printing in batch production is relatively low, their installation costs will have a significant impact on the price and delivery time of small batches. If your CNC machining prototype is only used for functions, you can remove these post-processing requirements. This consideration also applies to non-standard surface finishes, such as reducing surface roughness or post-treatment finishing services. Is this the final material required for the prototype? Aluminum 6061 is the most commercially available metal for CNC processing. The price of aluminum parts is lower and the delivery time is usually faster. Compared with many other engineering alloys (such as 7000 series aluminum or titanium), prototyping with 6061 aluminum can save cost and time. Allocate cost in batches Fast acceleration provides competitive prices for one-time CNC machining parts. However, even if the quantity is increased, the price of each piece will still drop significantly. This is because some fixed costs are shared among machined parts. When quoting for prototype milling parts, it is best to change the price by changing the quantity - the price difference is usually smaller than you think. Make full use of the automatic quotation tool of fast acceleration The best part of the quick acceleration AI intelligent quotation is the simplicity and transparency of obtaining the quotation. The accuracy of uploading drawings with one key and obtaining the quotation within 5 seconds is up to 95.3%. The pricing on the quotation is automatically updated based on the quantity, features, tolerances, and finishing options of the part drawing. In addition, there will be professional process engineers to provide drawing optimization suggestions to help you get the maximum benefit from the budget.

No matter which industry you belong to, selecting the right materials is one of the most important components to determine the overall function and cost of parts. Here are some quick tips for choosing the right material. CNC machining can produce high-precision parts for almost any application. It allows very small tolerances for part dimensions and complex designs. But like any manufacturing process, material selection is a key component that determines the overall function and cost of a part: the designer has defined the important material characteristics of design - hardness, rigidity, chemical resistance, heat treatment and thermal stability. Rapid processing can process various metal and plastic materials and other customized materials that can be provided on request. Metal Generally speaking, softer metals (such as aluminum and brass) and plastics are easy to process, and it takes less time to remove materials from part blanks, thus reducing processing time and processing costs. Hard materials, such as stainless steel and carbon steel, must be processed with slower spindle RPM and machine feed rate, which will increase processing time compared with soft materials. Generally speaking, the processing speed of aluminum is 4 times faster than that of carbon steel, and the processing speed of stainless steel is half that of carbon steel. Metal type is a key driver in determining the total cost of parts. For example, the cost of 6061 aluminum bar is about half of the cost of aluminum plate; The cost of 7075 aluminum bar can be 2 to 3 times that of 6061 aluminum bar; The cost of 304 stainless steel is about 2 to 3 times that of 6061 aluminum and about twice that of 1018 carbon steel. Depending on the size and geometry of the part, the cost of materials may account for a large part of the total price of the part. If the design cannot guarantee the performance of carbon steel or stainless steel, please consider using 6061 aluminum to minimize the material cost. Plastic If the design does not require the rigidity of metal, plastic materials can become cheaper substitutes for metal. Polyethylene is easy to process, and the cost is about 1/3 of 6061 aluminum. The cost of ABS is usually 1.5 times that of acetal. The cost of nylon and polycarbonate is about three times that of acetal. While plastic may be a cost-effective alternative to materials, remember that depending on geometry, plastic may have difficulty achieving tight tolerances and that parts may warp after processing due to the stresses created when removing materials. When choosing the metal or plastic suitable for your parts, you need to consider the following issues: What will your parts be used for? The end use of the part to be machined using CNC will have the most significant impact on material selection. For example, if you use parts outdoors or in a humid environment, use stainless steel instead of carbon steel so that the parts do not rust. Design specifications such as stress load, tolerance and fastening type (welding, rivet) will also affect your choice of materials. Specifications such as military and aerospace components or FDA regulatory environment will also affect your choice of materials. Is the weight of the part important? Generally speaking, if metal is needed, standard aluminum alloys like 6061 are a good low-density choice, which can reduce weight. If strength can be weighed, plastics like ABS can help further reduce weight. Strength and heat resistance There are many different methods to measure material strength, including tensile strength, material hardness and wear resistance. Selecting materials of different types and strengths that combine your design requirements will enable you to select the best materials for your parts. Also, very low or high temperatures will limit your use of certain materials. Environments with large temperature fluctuations are particularly important because some materials can expand or contract significantly even with small temperature changes.

CNC machining is a common material reduction manufacturing technology. Unlike 3D printing, CNC usually starts with a solid piece of material and then uses various sharp rotating tools or knives to remove the material to obtain the desired final shape. CNC is one of the most popular manufacturing methods. It has excellent repeatability, high precision and a wide range of materials and surface finish. It can be used from proofing to mass production. CNC processing diagram Additive manufacturing 3D printing is to build parts by adding layers of materials without special tools or fixtures, so the initial cost can be kept at the lowest level. Schematic Diagram of 3D Printing Process When choosing between CNC and 3D proofing, there are some simple guidelines that can be applied to the decision-making process. In this article, we will introduce the key considerations of these two technologies to help you choose the right technology. According to experience, all parts that can be made by reducing materials should normally be processed by CNC. It is usually meaningful to use 3D printing only in the following cases: L When parts cannot be produced by material reduction manufacturing, such as highly complex topology optimization geometry. L When the delivery date is very short, 3D printing parts can be delivered within 24 hours. L When low cost is required, 3D printing is usually cheaper than CNC for small batches. L When a small number of identical parts are required (less than 10). L When the material is not easy to process, such as metal superalloy or flexible TPU. CNC machining provides parts with higher dimensional accuracy and better mechanical properties, but it usually brings higher costs, especially when the number of parts is small. If more parts are needed (hundreds or more), CNC machining and 3D printing are not cost competitive options. Due to economies of scale, traditional molding technologies, such as investment casting or injection molding, are usually the most economical choice.

1. Aluminum alloy Aluminum alloy has excellent strength to weight ratio, high thermal conductivity and conductivity, and natural corrosion protection. They are easy to process and have low batch costs, so they are often the most economical option for manufacturing custom metal parts and prototypes. Aluminum alloys usually have lower strength and hardness than steel, but they can be anodized to form a hard protective layer on their surface. Aluminum 606 is the most common and universal aluminum alloy, with good strength to weight ratio and excellent machining performance. Aluminum 608 has similar composition and material properties as 6061. It is more commonly used in Europe because it meets British standards. Aluminum 7075 is the most commonly used alloy in aerospace applications. In aerospace applications, weight reduction is crucial because it has excellent fatigue properties and can be heat treated to the same high strength and hardness as steel. Aluminum 5083 has higher strength and excellent seawater resistance than most other aluminum alloys, so it is usually used in construction and marine applications. It is also the best choice for welding. Material properties: L Typical density of aluminum alloy: 2.65-2.80 g/cm3 L Can be anodized L Non magnetic 2. Stainless steel Stainless steel alloys have high strength, high ductility, excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and are easy to weld, process and polish. Depending on their, they can be (basically) non-magnetic or magnetic. Stainless steel 304 is the most common stainless steel alloy with excellent mechanical properties and good machinability. It is resistant to most environmental conditions and corrosive media. Stainless steel 316 is another common stainless steel alloy with similar mechanical properties to 304. Although it has higher corrosion resistance and chemical resistance, especially for salt solutions (such as seawater), it is usually the first choice for applications in harsh environments. Stainless steel 2205 Duplex is the strongest stainless steel alloy (twice as strong as other ordinary stainless steel alloys), with excellent corrosion resistance. It is used in harsh environments and has many applications in the oil and gas industry. Compared with 304, 303 stainless steel has excellent toughness, but low corrosion resistance. Because of its excellent machinability, it is usually used in large batch applications, such as the manufacture of nuts and bolts for aerospace applications. The mechanical properties of stainless steel 17-4 (SAE Grade 630) are equivalent to 304. It can be precipitation hardened to a very high degree (equivalent to tool steel), and has excellent chemical resistance, making it suitable for applications with very high performance, such as the manufacturing of turbine blades. Material properties: L Typical density: 7.7-8.0 g/cm3 L Non magnetic stainless steel alloy: 304, 316, 303 L Magnetic stainless steel alloy: 2205 Duplex, 17-4 3. Mild steel Low carbon steel has good mechanical properties, good machinability and good weldability. Because of their low cost, they can be used for general applications, including the manufacture of machine parts, jigs and fixtures. However, low carbon steel is vulnerable to chemical corrosion and erosion. Low carbon steel 1018 is a universal alloy with good machinability, weldability, toughness, strength and hardness. It is the most commonly used low carbon steel alloy. Low carbon steel 1045 is a medium carbon steel with good weldability, good machinability, high strength and impact resistance. Low carbon steel A36 is a common structural steel with good weldability. It is suitable for various industrial and architectural applications. Material properties: L Typical density: 7.8-7.9 g/cm3 L Magnetic 4. Alloy steel Alloy steel contains other alloy elements besides carbon, which improves hardness, toughness, fatigue and wear resistance. Like low carbon steel, alloy steel is vulnerable to corrosion and chemical attack. Alloy steel 4140 has good comprehensive mechanical properties, good strength and toughness. This alloy is suitable for many industrial applications, but is not recommended for welding. Alloy steel 4340 can be heat treated with high strength and hardness, while maintaining its good toughness, wear resistance and fatigue strength. This alloy is weldable. Material properties: L Typical density: 7.8-7.9 g/cm3 L Magnetic 5. Tool steel Tool steel is a metal alloy with extremely high hardness, stiffness, wear resistance and heat resistance. They are used to make manufacturing tools (hence the name), such as molds, stamps, and molds. In order to obtain good mechanical properties, they must be heat treated. Tool steel D2 is a wear-resistant alloy, which can maintain its hardness at 425 ℃. It is usually used to make tools and moulds. Tool steel A2 is an air hardening universal tool steel with good toughness and excellent dimensional stability at high temperatures. It is commonly used for manufacturing injection molds. Tool steel O1 is an oil hardening alloy with hardness up to 65 HRC. Commonly used for cutting tools and cutting tools. Material properties: L Typical density: 7.8 g/cm3 L Typical hardness: 45-65 HRC 6. Brass Brass is a metal alloy with good machinability and excellent conductivity, which is very suitable for applications requiring low friction. It is also commonly used in architecture to create components with a golden appearance for aesthetic purposes. Brass C36000 is a material with high tensile strength and natural corrosion resistance. It is one of the most easily processed materials and is therefore commonly used in large quantities.

1. ABS ABS is one of the most common thermoplastic materials with good mechanical properties, excellent impact strength, high heat resistance and good machinability. ABS has low density and is very suitable for lightweight applications. ABS parts processed by CNC are usually used as prototypes before injection mass production. Material properties: Typical density: 1.00-1.05 g/cm3 2. Nylon Nylon, also known as polyamide (PA), is a thermoplastic that is often used in engineering applications because of its excellent mechanical properties, good impact strength, high chemical resistance and wear resistance. But it is easy to absorb water and moisture. Nylon 6 and 66 are the most commonly used brands in CNC processing. Material properties: Typical density: 1.14 g/cm3 3. Polycarbonate Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic plastic with high toughness, good machinability and excellent impact strength (superior to ABS). It can be colored, but is usually optically transparent, making it ideal for a wide range of applications, including fluid devices or automotive glass. Material properties: Typical density: 1.20-1.22 g/cm3 4. POM POM is generally known as Delrin, which is the engineering thermoplastic with the highest mechanical processing performance among plastics. POM (Delrin) is usually the best choice for CNC machining of plastic parts requiring high precision, high stiffness, low friction, excellent high-temperature dimensional stability and extremely low water absorption. Material properties: Typical density: 1.40-1.42 g/cm3 5. PTFE (Teflon) PTFE, commonly known as Teflon, is an engineering thermoplastic with excellent chemical resistance and heat resistance and the lowest friction coefficient of any known solid. Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) is one of the few plastics that can withstand operating temperatures above 200 ℃ and is an excellent electrical insulator. However, it has purely mechanical properties and is often used as a lining or insert in components. Material properties: Typical density: 2.2 g/cm3 6. HDPE High density polyethylene (HDPE) is a thermoplastic with high strength to weight ratio, high impact strength and good weather resistance. HDPE is a lightweight thermoplastic, suitable for outdoor use and pipelines. Like ABS, it is often used to create prototypes before injection molding. Material properties: Typical density: 0.93-0.97 g/cm 3 7. PEEK PEEK is a high-performance engineering thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability in a very wide temperature range and excellent resistance to most chemicals. PEEK is often used to replace metal parts because of its high strength weight ratio. Medical grades are also available, making PEEK suitable for biomedical applications. Material properties: Typical density: 1.32 g/cm 3

As with everything, having multiple choices is usually a good thing. But for an upcoming CNC processing project, it is very difficult and expensive to choose too many options without a clear goal. Therefore, we analyzed six factors that should be considered before processing hard metals or soft metals. Mechanical properties of metal: Let's start with mechanical properties, which are measured by the properties of materials when different forces are applied. The main mechanical properties of metal to be considered are: L Strength (hard metal) L Ductility (soft metal) L Elasticity (hard metals tend to be more elastic than soft metals) L Hardness (hard metal) L Density (density varies from soft to hard) L Magnetic (steel) L Fracture toughness (all metals have the highest range of fracture toughness, but the range from soft to hard is the hardest) L Damping (hard metals often have less damping capacity) If any of the above attributes are important to your project, we recommend that you conduct some research to obtain an actual attribute rating for each material. Check our materials page for a comprehensive list of all our metals and link to a detailed data sheet. 1. Wear and fatigue properties of metals Environment loop: There are many resources for environment loop testing. In most cases, materials are placed in a controlled environment and tested for high and low temperature, high and low humidity, thermal cycling and thermal shock. Generally, if you are machining a part to achieve prototype fit and function, you do not need to worry about material wear. If you need to ensure that the strength or parts can withstand extreme temperature and other environmental performance tests, the selection of materials will be very important. Let's break down the most important fatigue properties. Fatigue strength and toughness: This is the stress that the material can withstand under a specific number of cycles. These changes have been extensively studied to help select the appropriate materials to meet your end use requirements. In fact, according to the research on this subject, "it is estimated that about 90% of the failures in metals are caused by fatigue." Failures occur quickly and without warning, so we usually measure fatigue strength by average ratio. When selecting materials, if you know that the part will withstand multiple stress cycles, it is recommended to evaluate the fatigue strength level. Environment loop: There are many resources for environment loop testing. Most materials are tested in low humidity, low temperature and high temperature environments. --High temperature resistant metals: titanium and stainless steel. --Metals capable of withstanding extremely cold temperatures and maintaining toughness at low temperatures: copper and aluminum. Creep resistance: Creep resistance is defined as the ability of a material to resist "creep". Creep is the tendency of solid materials to deform over a long period of time due to exposure to high levels of stress. It should be noted that the creep resistance may exceed the standard stress limit of the material because it will last for a long time. Creep is particularly important for use cases that may be exposed to high temperatures, such as aerospace applications or spacecraft. The creep resistance of metals is controlled by their alloy composition and melting temperature. Nickel, titanium and stainless steel have the highest creep resistance to metals. The melting temperature of aluminum is often very low, and it is not recommended for aerospace applications. 2. Corrosion (oxidation) resistance of metal Metal corrosion is the result of chemical reaction between metal and surrounding environment, which is degradation or oxidation. There are many reasons for metal corrosion. It is worth noting that all metals will corrode. Pure iron usually corrodes quickly, but stainless steel combines iron with other alloys and corrodes slowly. If you are worried about corrosion, stainless steel is a good metal choice. Another alternative to stainless steel is anodized aluminum. This method helps to reduce corrosion and is a very durable surface treatment. As anodizing is an ancillary service, it may increase the project lead time, so it may not make sense to your project requirements. 3. Thermal properties of metal We've been exposed to it a little bit, but metals react very differently under hot pressure. Metals can expand, melt and conduct electricity. List a few changes we will explore. Let's decompose metals and their thermal properties in the following table.

When it comes to CNC processing, time is money. For small batch production, part setup, programming, and machine run times often far exceed material costs. Understanding how part geometry determines the required machine tool is an important part of minimizing the number of settings a mechanic needs to perform and the time it takes to cut parts. This speeds up the part manufacturing process and saves you money. Here are 3 tips you need to know about CNC machining and tools to ensure that you can effectively design parts. 1. Create wide corner radius The end mill will automatically leave an internal angle. A larger corner radius means that larger tools can be used to cut corners, reducing run time and therefore cost. In contrast, a narrow internal radius requires not only a small tool to process materials, but also more tools - usually at a slower speed to reduce the risk of deflection and tool breakage. To optimize the design, always use the largest corner radius possible, and take 1/16 ″ radius as the lower limit. Corner radii less than this value require very small tools and run time increases exponentially. In addition, if possible, try to keep the inner corner radius the same. This helps eliminate tool changes, which increase complexity and significantly increase run time. 2. Avoid deep pockets Parts with deep cavities are usually time-consuming and costly to manufacture. The reason is that these designs require fragile tools, which are easy to break during machining. To avoid this situation, the end mill should gradually "decelerate" in even increments. For example, if you have a 1 "deep groove, you can repeat the tool path of 1/8" pin cutting depth, and then perform the finishing tool path with the last cutting depth of 0.010 ". 3. Use standard drill and tap size Using standard taps and drill sizes will help reduce time and save part costs. When drilling, keep the dimensions as standard fractions or letters. If you are not familiar with the size of drills and end mills, it is safe to assume that a traditional fraction of one inch (such as 1/8 ", 1/4", or a millimeter integer) is "standard". Avoid measurements such as 0.492 "or 3.841 mm. For taps, 4-40 taps are more common and generally more available than 3-48 taps.

Common arc welding methods: 1. Manual arc welding Manual arc welding is one of the earliest and most widely used arc welding methods. It uses the coated electrode as the electrode and filler metal, and the electric arc burns between the end of the electrode and the surface of the workpiece to be welded. On the one hand, the coating can produce gas to protect the arc under the action of arc heat, on the other hand, it can produce slag to cover the surface of the molten pool to prevent the interaction between the molten metal and the surrounding gas. The more important role of the slag is to produce physical and chemical reaction with the molten metal or add alloy elements to improve the weld metal energy. Manual arc welding equipment is simple, portable and flexible to operate. It can be used for welding short seams in maintenance and assembly, especially for welding parts that are difficult to reach. Manual arc welding with corresponding electrodes can be applied to most industrial carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, copper, aluminum, nickel and their alloys. 2. Submerged arc welding Submerged arc welding (SAW) is a melting electrode welding method, in which the granular flux is used as the protective medium and the arc is buried under the flux layer. The welding process of submerged arc welding is composed of three links: 1. Apply sufficient granular flux evenly at the joints of weldments to be welded; 2. The conductive nozzle and the weldment are connected to two levels of welding power supply respectively to generate welding arc; 3 Automatically feed the welding wire and move the arc for welding. The main characteristics of submerged arc welding are as follows: ① Unique arc performance L High weld quality The slag has good air protection effect. The main component of the arc zone is CO2. The nitrogen content and oxygen content in the weld metal are greatly reduced. The welding parameters are automatically adjusted, the arc travel is mechanized, the molten pool exists for a long time, the metallurgical reaction is sufficient, and the wind resistance is strong, so the weld composition is stable, and the mechanical properties are good; L Good working conditions, slag isolation arc light is conducive to welding operation; Mechanized walking, low labor intensity. ② The electric field strength of arc column is high, which has the following characteristics compared with MIG welding L The equipment has good adjustment performance. Because of the high electric field strength and the high sensitivity of the automatic adjustment system, the stability of the welding process is improved; L The lower limit of welding current is high. ③ High production efficiency Because the conductive length of the welding wire is shortened, the current and current density are significantly improved, so that the penetration ability of the arc and the deposition rate of the welding wire are greatly improved; Because of the heat insulation effect of flux and slag, the overall thermal efficiency is greatly increased, which greatly improves the welding speed.

Heat treatment can be applied to many metal alloys to significantly improve key physical properties such as hardness, strength, or machinability. These changes are due to changes in the microstructure, sometimes due to changes in the chemical composition of the material. These treatments include heating metal alloys to (usually) extreme temperatures and then cooling them under controlled conditions. The temperature to which the material is heated, the time to maintain the temperature, and the cooling rate will greatly affect the final physical properties of the metal alloy. In this paper, we review the heat treatment related to metal alloys most commonly used in CNC machining. By describing the impact of these processes on the final part properties, this article will help you choose the right materials for your application. When to conduct heat treatment Heat treatment can be applied to metal alloys throughout the manufacturing process. For CNC machined parts, heat treatment is generally applicable to: Before CNC processing: When ready standard metal alloys are required, CNC service providers will directly process parts from stock materials. This is usually the best choice to shorten the lead time. After CNC machining: Some heat treatments significantly increase the hardness of the material or are used as finishing steps after forming. In these cases, heat treatment is carried out after CNC processing, because high hardness will reduce the machinability of materials. For example, this is the standard practice for CNC machining tool steel parts. Common heat treatment of CNC materials: annealing, stress relief and tempering Annealing, tempering, and stress relieving all involve heating a metal alloy to a high temperature and then slowly cooling the material, usually in air or in an oven. They differ in the temperature at which the material is heated and in the order in which it is manufactured. During the annealing process, the metal is heated to a very high temperature and then slowly cooled to obtain the desired microstructure. Annealing is usually applied to all metal alloys after forming and before any further processing to soften them and improve their machinability. If no other heat treatment is specified, most CNC machined parts will have material properties in the annealed state. Stress relief includes heating parts to high temperature (but lower than annealing), which is usually used after CNC machining to eliminate residual stress generated during manufacturing. In this way, parts with more consistent mechanical properties can be produced. Tempering also heats parts at a temperature lower than annealing temperature, usually used after quenching of low carbon steel (1045 and A36) and alloy steel (4140 and 4240) to reduce their brittleness and improve their mechanical properties. quench Quenching involves heating the metal to a very high temperature and then rapidly cooling it, usually by immersing the material in oil or water or exposing it to a cold air stream. Rapid cooling "locks" the microstructure changes that occur when materials are heated, resulting in extremely high hardness of parts. Parts are usually quenched as the last step of the manufacturing process after CNC processing (think of the blacksmith immersing the blade in oil), because the increase in hardness makes the material more difficult to process. Tool steel is quenched after CNC machining to obtain extremely high surface hardness characteristics. The resulting hardness can then be controlled using the tempering process. For example, tool steel A2 has a hardness of 63-65 Rockwell C after quenching, but can be tempered to a hardness between 42-62 HRC. Tempering can prolong the service life of parts, because tempering can reduce brittleness (the best result can be obtained when the hardness is 56-58 HRC). Precipitation hardening Precipitation hardening or aging are two terms commonly used to describe the same process. Precipitation hardening is a three-step process: first, the material is heated to a high temperature, then quenched, and finally heated to a low temperature for a long time (aging). This leads to the dissolution of alloy elements in the form of discrete particles of different components and their uniform distribution in the metal matrix, just as sugar crystals dissolve in water when heating the solution. After precipitation hardening, the strength and hardness of metal alloys increase rapidly. For example, 7075 is an aluminum alloy, which is usually used in aerospace industry to manufacture parts with tensile strength equivalent to stainless steel, and its weight is less than 3 times. The following table illustrates the effect of precipitation hardening in aluminium 7075: Not all metals can be heat treated in this way, but compatible materials are considered superalloys and are suitable for very high performance applications. The most common precipitation hardening alloys used in CNC are summarized as follows: Case hardening and carburizing Case hardening is a series of heat treatment, which can make the surface of parts have high hardness while the underlined material remains soft. This is usually preferable to increasing part hardness throughout the volume (e.g. by quenching), as harder parts are also more brittle. Carburizing is the most common case hardening heat treatment. It includes heating low-carbon steel in a carbon rich environment, and then quenching the parts to lock the carbon in the metal matrix. This increases the surface hardness of steel, just as anodizing increases the surface hardness of aluminum alloys. How to specify heat treatment in your order: When you place a CNC order, you can request heat treatment in three ways: Refer to manufacturing standards: many heat treatments are standardized and widely used. For example, T6 indicators in aluminum alloys (6061-T6, 7075-T6, etc.) indicate that the material has precipitation hardened. Specify the required hardness: This is a common method for specifying the heat treatment and case hardening of tool steels. This will explain to the manufacturer the heat treatment required after CNC machining. For example, for D2 tool steel, a hardness of 56-58 HRC is usually required. Specify the heat treatment cycle: when the details of the required heat treatment are known, these details can be communicated to the supplier when placing an order. This allows you to modify the application's material properties specifically. Of course, this requires advanced metallurgical knowledge. Rule of thumb 1. You can specify the heat treatment in the CNC processing order by referring to specific materials, providing hardness requirements or describing the treatment cycle. 2. Select precipitation hardening alloys (such as Al 6061-T6, Al 7075-T6 and SS 17-4) for the most demanding applications because they have very high strength and hardness. 3. When it is necessary to improve the hardness within the whole part volume, quenching is preferred, and only surface hardening (carburizing) is carried out on the part surface to increase the hardness.

Using rapid prototyping to manufacture parts to test the fit and function of components can help your products reach the market faster than competitors. Based on the test and analysis results, the design, material, size, shape, assembly, color, manufacturability and strength can be adjusted. Today's product design teams can use many rapid prototyping processes. Some prototyping processes use traditional manufacturing methods to make prototypes, while other technologies have only recently emerged. There are dozens of ways to make prototypes. With the continuous development of prototyping process, product designers constantly try to determine which method or technology is most suitable for their unique application. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the main prototyping processes available to designers at present. It provides a process description and discusses the material properties of the parts produced by each specific prototyping option, with the goal of helping you choose the best prototyping process for the product development cycle. Compare prototyping process Each prototype definition is different, and may vary in different organizations, but the following definitions can be used as a starting point. Conceptual model: a physical model made to show an idea. The conceptual model allows people from different functional areas to see the idea, stimulate thinking and discussion, and promote acceptance or rejection. Prototype Properties Speed: turnaround time for converting computer files into physical prototypes Appearance: any visual attribute: color, texture, size, shape, etc. Assembly/assembly test: Make some or all parts of an assembly, put them together, and check whether they fit correctly. At the overall level, this checks for design errors, such as placing two labels at 2 inches. Spacing and mating grooves are 1 inch. In terms of fineness, this is a minor problem of dimensional differences and tolerances. Obviously, any test involving tolerances requires the use of actual manufacturing processes or processes with similar tolerances. Shape of parts: features and dimensions Fits: how parts fit with other parts Function test: check the function of the part or assembly when it is subjected to the stress that represents the stress seen in its actual application. Chemical resistance: chemical resistance, including acid, alkali, hydrocarbon, fuel, etc. Mechanical property: strength of parts measured by tensile strength, compressive strength, bending strength, impact strength, tear resistance, etc. Electrical characteristics: interaction between electric field and parts. This may include dielectric constant, dielectric strength, dissipation factor, surface and volume resistance, static attenuation, etc. Thermal property: change of mechanical property with temperature change. These may include thermal expansion coefficient, thermal deformation temperature, Vicat softening point, etc. Optical characteristics: light transmission capacity. This may include refractive index, transmissivity, and haze. Life test: test the characteristics that may change with time, and these characteristics are very important for the product to maintain its function during its expected life. Life testing usually involves putting the product under extreme conditions (such as temperature, humidity, voltage, UV, etc.) to estimate the reaction of the product within its expected life in a short time. Mechanical property (fatigue strength): the ability to withstand a large number of load cycles under various stress levels. Aging performance (ultraviolet ray, creep): the ability to withstand ultraviolet radiation and have an acceptable degradation amount; It can withstand ultraviolet radiation and has an acceptable degradation amount; Capable of withstanding the force applied to the part with an acceptable level of permanent deformation. Regulatory testing: A test specified by a regulatory or standards organization or agency to ensure that a part is suitable for a specific use, such as medical, food service, or consumer applications. For example, UL, CSA, FDA, FCC, ISO and EC. Flammability: the flame resistance of resin or parts in the presence of flame. EMI/RFI characteristics: the ability of resin, parts or components to shield or block electromagnetic interference or radio frequency interference. Food Grade: Resin or part approved for use in applications in contact with food when prepared, supplied, or consumed. Biocompatibility: The ability of resin or parts to contact human or animal body, whether outside or inside the body, will not cause inappropriate adverse effects (such as stimulation, blood interaction, toxicity, etc.). Biocompatibility is important for surgical instruments and many medical devices.