Trafileria A. Mauri & Figli S.p.A. has an internal laboratory performing different tasks:
- It cooperates with the Purchase Department in the drawing up of the raw material purchase specifications and checks the compliance of the incoming raw material;
- It supports production checking the quality of the finished product with chemical, physical and dimensional tests;
- It supports the Sales Department checking the enquiries and the customer specifications.
The laboratory carries out following tests and inspections:
- Quantometer analysis
- Determination of the mechanical features Rm – Rp0,2 – A5%
- Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers hardness
- Metallographic tests
- Records of the most important steel standards
A fixed and a portable quantometer (SPECTROLAB) allow the determination of the chemical analysis of a steel and its belonging to a certain heat.
A special software enables the analysis of
non-alloy / alloy steels
free-cutting steels;
stainless steels.
The check can be carried out on pieces of small, medium and big sizes (starting from 2 mm)
Determination of the mechanical features Rm – Rp0,2 – A5%:
Tensile stress test
It consists in subjecting a test piece to a gradually growing tensile stress till the test piece breaks.
The stress is exerted by a machine with a tensile capacity of 60 tons enabling the execution of tests on samples with full, round, square, hexagonal section with a size between 2 and 35 mm.
As far as bigger sizes are concerned and upon request we use standard test pieces.
The tensile stress test provides values concerning material elasticity, deformability and resistance.
The determined parameter are listed below:
- Tensile stress test Rm
- Yield point Rp0,2
- Breaking elongation A5 %
The tensile stress test results in a chart showing the values loads-elongation.
It is a chart in the Cartesian coordinates system with the X-axis representing the elongations undergone by a test piece and the y-axis the applied loads.
Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers hardness:
Hardness is defined as the resistance offered by a material to the penetration of a harder body.
The laboratory is equipped with two fixed hardometers for the determination of the Brinell (HB 30) and of the Rockwell (HRC, HRB, HRA etc.) hardness and for the hardness test on pieces in the as rolled, annealed,normalized or hardened and tempered condition.
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A Vickers microhardometer enables the check of surface hardened layers, structural components, pieces of small thickness, wire, decarburization depth, etc.
This image shows a series of Vickers impressions
HV0,5 carried out from the surface to the core at a distance of
0,05 mm from each other.
Hardened sample of steel grade 100Cr6
Magnification: 200 X
The metallographic department has a room for the preparation of test pieces (cut, incorporation of the test piece in resin, polishing, acid etching, electrolytic etching) and a room destined to their examination and evaluation.
The metallographic test enables the check of:
- structure (as rolled, spheroidized annealed, ferrite/pearlite annealed, normalized, hardened and tempered)
- condition of the inclusions (microcleanness K, manganese sulphides in free-cutting steels etc.)
- surface defects and decarburization
Manganese sulphides
11SMnPb37
magnification: 100 X
Ferrite/pearlite blocks
C45
magnification: 500 X
Standard records:
The laboratory has a broad collection of the most important standards (UNI, DIN, AFNOR, EN, ISO standards).
The recurrent consultation of the internet site of the Italian standardization body UNSIDER enables the continuous update of standards, the replacement of the old standards and the adoption of the new ones.