By Tom Irvine The spruce soundboard of a concert grand piano and the sheet-steel housing of an industrial gearbox have more in common than their outward appearances suggest. Both are thin panels driven into vibration by an internal source. Both radiate sound into the surrounding… Read more
A reader who leads Product Development for an aeronautical supplier of cabin electronics — seat power systems and security cameras — asked whether VibrationData covers electromagnetic emission and thermal management, particularly for engineers who are not strong on the simulation side. This post is written… Read more
By Tom Irvine | Marine Corrosion Series — Madeira, Portugal (ISO 9223 Category C5) The photograph below was taken in Funchal, Madeira on 4 July 2026. It shows the corner bracket connection of a painted mild steel railing to a rendered concrete fascia on a… Read more
By Tom Irvine While enjoying a glass of orange juice at an outdoor café in Madeira, Portugal on a sunny Independence Day morning, I noticed the reusable stainless steel straw resting across the glass — its elegant curved bend a perfect reminder that one of… Read more
This is the second post in a series on marine corrosion observed at coastal infrastructure in Madeira, Portugal, July 2026. Part 1 covered a severely corroded bolt and nut at a seaside retaining wall. Here we examine two additional specimens from the same location: a… Read more
Photograph taken at a seaside retaining wall in Madeira, Portugal, July 2026. The bolt and nut shown are carbon steel — heavily corroded after prolonged exposure to the Atlantic marine environment.Figure 1. Severely corroded carbon steel bolt and nut at a seaside retaining wall, Madeira,… Read more
Image Courtesy of http://www.mbrosia.co.kr/en/product/product0101.php Ultrasonic fatigue testing at 20 kHz has become the standard method for characterizing material fatigue in the Very High Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) regime — beyond 107 cycles, extending to 109 (gigacycle) and beyond. At 20 kHz, a test that would require… Read more
ZW12 (Mg–1Zn–2Y wt.%) is a research-stage magnesium alloy developed at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Geesthacht, Germany) targeting lightweight structural applications under cyclic loading. Recent work presented at IFC14 (14th International Fatigue Congress, 2026) by Trujillo-Tadeo et al. reveals that ZW12’s fatigue and corrosion-fatigue performance is strongly microstructure-dependent… Read more
A6061-RAM2 is a new aluminum alloy developed specifically for additive manufacturing (AM) that achieves mechanical properties comparable to wrought 6061-T6 — a capability that has eluded conventional AM processes for decades. Developed by Elementum 3D using Reactive Additive Manufacturing (RAM) technology and matured by NASA… Read more
intergranular SCC of an Inconel heat exchanger tube with the crack following the grain boundaries. photo courtesy Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a time-dependent fracture mechanism driven by the simultaneous presence of sustained tensile stress and a corrosive environment. Neither factor alone is sufficient. Their combination… Read more