At Boston Centerless, we pride ourselves on offering the latest advancements and equipment in precision grinding and material solutions. One of our areas we invest in and look for opportunities to grow is our material validation and testing services. We understand the use of testing to identify and resolve quality issues is vital to the performance, functionality, integrity, and reliability of the final product – and are crucial to maintaining our customers’ brand reputation.
In 2023, we expanded our suite of in-house material validation and testing services in order to grow our offerings and enhance customer responsiveness. Along with a long list of existing value added services, such as ultrasonic testing, chamfering, laser marking and just in time supply offerings, we added equipment to test material hardness and micro-hardness as well as tensile strength.
As the name implies, hardness testing measures the resistance to deformation, or hardness. Tensile strength is a mechanical test that applies stress to a sample until it fails in order to measure the strength of the material. Our new testing equipment is able to be used with all metallurgies and our team is in the process of obtaining NadcapTM certification. Our new testing capabilities are just another reason Boston Centerless is a “One-Stop Shop” for our customers.
Advantages of Leveraging Boston Centerless' In-House Testing Services
At Boston Centerless, our material testing and validation program is second to none – and we stand behind our products. Our ability to perform all testing and validation services in-house is an area that sets us apart from the competition. This is a considerable advantage for our customers as we are able to avoid significant time and money spent on the transport of products to a 3rd party location for these services – enabling our team to deliver unparalleled lead times.
Since we perform testing in-house, Boston Centerless is able to perform 100% product testing as opposed to testing a small sample size. This is another significant benefit for our customers, especially those that supply critical products to industries like the medical and aerospace sectors where failure in the field is not an option. Our ability to test 100% of our products gives customer’s a level of quality assurance that other suppliers simply cannot deliver. Because we are able to perform a wide range of value-added services in-house for our customers, we are able to perform testing before and after services such as heat treatments, straightening, and cutting – giving our customers a peace of mind that most other precision machining shops cannot provide.
Would your team benefit from the in-house testing services that Boston Centerless offers?
Contact us today to learn more about the suite of in-house material validation and testing we perform.
The team at BC offers the following testing and validation services. We test for internal defects, surface defects, alloy verification and laser marking of the bar with customer-provided identifiers. Each of these capabilities can be provided in any combination based on the requirements of the customer.
- Ultrasonic Testing (UT)
- Round bar from approximately .180” diameter to a maximum of 1.000+0” diameter
- AMS-STD-2154 Class A, Class AA UT test standards
- Detects internal defects to within approximately 1 mm of the surface
- Automated re-direct of rejected bars to a separate collection bed
- Eddy Current Testing
- Detects surface defects in bar products
- Adheres to ASTM E309, 571, E426, 576 (OD Solid Bar) test standards
- XRF Alloy Verification Analyzer
- X-Ray analysis to detect non-conforming chemistry
- Pass/fail test for alloy verification
- Automatic identification and capture of rejected bars
- Laser Line Marking
- Diameter Range of 0.090” to 3” dia.
- Standard Font Height of 1 mm to 1.5 mm with custom fonts available.
- Laser marking typically applied to the drop-end of the bar; can be used as Lot Retain Sample for material traceability
About Boston Centerless
Boston Centerless provides solutions that enhance our customers' manufacturing processes. With over 60 years of experience with precision grinding, we grind the tightest tolerances in the industry. We have proven experience with an extensive range of materials, and our manufacturing solutions include:
- AccuRod® Precision Bar
- BC Medical Grade
- Grinding Services
- Value-Added Services
- Material Testing & Validation
- Supply Chain Management
- SwissAssist
Contact us today at (781) 994-5000 to see how we can help with your next precision bar material project, or click here for a quote.