There’s a gleam in Dr. Russ Rosmait’s eye when he talks about the Thermatest machine at Pittsburg State.
“It’s just the idea of letting students use state-of-the-art equipment that we can’t afford to buy,” said Rosmait, Pittsburg State metal casting professor. “Our budget won’t allow us to buy it. But it’s fun to play around with it for a while.”
But the Thermatest machine will only stay at Pittsburg State through the end of the month. It’s part of a project by German student Steffen Voigt in conjunction with Foseco, the maker of the Thermatest.
Voigt has been in Pittsburg since October to test the performance of the relatively new Thermatest machine against the standard across most of America: the ALU Delta, a product of the 1980s.
Both machines perform relatively the same function of testing the cooling rate and grain size of molten aluminum.
“When molten aluminum solidifies, the way it solidifies is very important for the properties it has,” Voigt said. “You can alter the properties by adding elements. Those elements will cause different solidification rates. These machines analyze a sample of aluminum based on the cooling rate. It can also determine the grain size, which will determine how ductile the aluminum is. But all you need is a small sample to save time and money to evaluate the whole batch.”
Voigt said different elements, such as strontium and titanium, can be added to the aluminum to alter the properties of the metal. These elements can alter the grain size and the makeup of the molten aluminum, adding strength and changing the microscopic makeup from needle-like to bubble-like.
“It’s like tasting when you’re cooking. You can try just a bit to figure out how the whole batch works,” Voigt said. “With this small taste, we can evaluate the whole batch. Testing can sometimes be really expensive.”
Voigt comes from the Technical University in Freiberg, although his home is in Berlin. As part of his master’s thesis, he has to perform an internship of sorts. Through connections between professors, Voigt was set up to work at Pittsburg State testing the two machines.
The Thermatest must go back to Europe at the end of the month, but Rosmait said it has already made an impact on Pittsburg State.
“Part of this is to stay active and engage industry,” Rosmait said. “They don’t know you’re here unless you go out and engage them. This helps us stay current so our students are familiar with this equipment when they leave here and go out to get a job.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
PITTSBURG —
