“For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.”
― Benjamin Franklin

In this episode I discuss learning and professional development.

There’s so much to know to be an engineer and college courses cover the tip of the iceberg, even if you go to grad school. I learned this early in my career as I was faced with decisions and problems related to topics that I never encountered in school. I also learned that I had to shoulder the responsibility of learning the topics. Some of the learning came from colleagues, some came from taking short courses, and some came from reading textbooks and technical journals.

I this episode I discuss my learning experiences and philosophy about learning, the pitfalls of relying on learning just from experience, and resources for learning and professional development.

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is about 12 minutes long.

Subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

In this episode I discuss Design for Manufacturability related to component fabrication and joining components by welding, brazing, or soldering. Design for manufacturing is concerned with designing components and assemblies that can be repeatedly produced with consistent good quality without hassles, and at low-cost.

DFM applies to primary component fabrication processes, secondary processing (coating, heat treating), and joining. Primary component fabrication processes include casting, extruding, stamping and other cold forming, forging, and machining. Secondary processes include heat treating, machining, and coating by painting, electroplating, anodizing and other processes. And joining includes welding, brazing, soldering, and using adhesives.

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is about 10 minutes long.

Subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

In this episode I discuss failure analysis of component and joint failures during product testing or use and manufacturing problems such as supplier quality problems and manufacturing output that doesn't meet specifications. 

Failure analysis is part of performing a root cause analysis to identify the action, event, or decision that led to a failure or manufacturing problem. The information from a root cause analysis is used to either fix a problem - in the case of product design and manufacturing - or assign blame - in the case of an insurance claim or litigation.

It's a critical part of getting the data needed to help determine the root cause of a metal problem.

The discussion includes the steps of a failure analysis, how a metallurgist works with other engineers on a failure analysis and root cause analysis, examples of failure analyses (including one where it was raining in someone's living room), and the analyses performed.

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is about 22 minutes long.

Subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

There are microscopic structures and processes in metals that have large effects on metal properties, performance, and reliability. Being able to conceptualize these structures and processes goes a long way toward understanding the behavior of metals and the effects of mechanical processing and heat treating on metal properties. In this episode I discuss some of the microscopic structures and their effects on metal properties.

I also discuss recent projects and a bonus at the end - some details about my recent trip to Seward, Alaska

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is about 20 minutes long. (Apologies up front - I recorded this episode using the wrong microphone. So, the sound quality is fair. I'll do better next time.)

You can subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

A written and shorter version of this podcast is at https://www.imetllc.com/thinking-small/.

No matter the application, the considerations when designing a component are always the same. It’s necessary to understand all the design requirements when selecting materials and finalizing a component’s shape and features.

In this Metal Conversations episode Michael discusses the metals engineering perspective to component design. The concepts actually apply to all materials – metals, polymer, ceramics, and new classes of materials.

The design requirements include performance, reliability, weight, cost, how the component will be fabricated, and how it will be joined to other components. With this information it’s possible to identify alloys and make changes to the component’s shape and features as needed to meet the design requirements at low-cost. Often, trade-offs between component materials and form are made to optimize the design. This is especially important for design for manufacturability to keep costs down and ensure a receptive supply base.

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is ten minutes long.

You can subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

Metals engineering is the application of metallurgy (the science of metals) to design and manufacturing decisions and problems involving metals. In this Metal Conversations episode I explain the fundamental principles of metallurgy and how they are applied to engineer metals for component design and solving component failures and production quality problems.

Here's a link to the episode. The episode is twelve minutes long

You can subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

In this Metal Conversations episode I discuss two lessons I learned when I was a process engineer in a semiconductor fab. One lesson was a real-life example of the effects of manufacturing processes on metal microstructure and the resulting effects on a metal property that was used to monitor a manufacturing process. The other lesson was about the fallacy of engineering or scientific ingenuity. The podcast is seven minutes long.

Here's a link to the episode. You can also subscribe to the Metal Conversations podcast series on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, and Stitcher.

The episode is seven minutes long

I just posted my second podcast episode. In this episode I discussed my education, my experience working in a semiconductor factory and as part of a product design group, and the many different product design and manufacturing activities I was involved in as a metals engineer.

I'm still trying to feel my way through this podcasting business - producing it and coming up with topics. I hired someone to help with the audio editing. That saved a lot of time. Future episodes will contain more engineering content.

Here's the episode link .

I recently started a podcast about metallurgy and metals engineering. It's called Metal Conversations and is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts , Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. The links go to the podcast. Go ahead and subscribe to the podcast.

I'll talk about metallurgy and metals engineering as they apply to product design and manufacturing. This covers many different areas including alloy selection, component fabrication, reliability and product verification testing, manufacturing process development, and fixing quality problems, just to name a few.

I also plan on interviewing people involved with these different areas.

I hope you'll listen and that it'll be helpful when you're dealing with metal decisions. Send your feedback and requests for topics I should cover.