News at sentenso
Table of Contents
09.03.2023 – “F1rst Job – First Contact”
Pupils explore occupations
sentenso GmbH is present once again at the established Datteln job trade fair “F1rst Job – First Contact” on 14 March 2023. At the small information booth in the local secondary school, interested pupils will receive detailed information about the mechatronics and technical product design apprenticeships.
This year, an industrial robot will be live at the booth again, giving pupils the opportunity to actively interact with it – a tried and tested experience from the past. In addition, our technical trainee, who got to know us due to his interest at the last job training trade fair, will offer a practical introduction to the field of activity of programming by means of an Arduino construction kit.
To make the product designer’s field of work more tangible, various objects and prototypes created through the adaptive manufacturing process of 3D printing will be exhibited. Here, the students will be able to see how high-quality prototypes and objects are created through the use of the latest technology and innovative manufacturing processes – from the head through the computer into the hand.
sentenso GmbH is looking forward to participating again in the Datteln training fair and to many interested visitors.
02.01.2023 – Review: Laser Shock Peening Demo at Airbus
LAcubed from Japan and sentenso demonstrate mobile system at EcoMaT in Bremen
In December 2022, sentenso had a visit by a four-member Japanese delegation led by Prof. Yuji Sano from LAcubed and the University of Osaka. Prof. Sano is considered one of the pioneers of the industrial use of laser shock peening since he developed laser peening without coating (LPwC) for the Toshiba Corporation in the 1990s to combat stress corrosion cracking in nuclear reactor pressure vessels. Now he and his team have succeeded in developing an extremely compact laser shock peening demo unit that fits into two travel cases, making it ideal for mobile applications.
In addition to the Japanese demo system for flat samples, sentenso built a small demonstration system in which the laser head is guided by an industrial robot. Using an exemplary aluminium component, it was possible to show how a three-dimensional surface contour can also be processed with it. On 20 December 2022, the experts from Japan and sentenso demonstrated the two systems at EcoMaT in Bremen in front of about 30 interested spectators. Immediately afterwards, sentenso was able to prove the introduced residual compressive stresses with the help of the mobile µ-X360s X-ray stress analyser.
20.12.2022 – Laser Shock Peening
Mobile setup for automated laser shock peening
In addition to shot peening, laser shock peening offers another possibility to extend the lifetime of cyclically stressed components by introducing residual stresses. In this process, the component to be processed is peened with a high-energy laser pulse. Upon impact, a plasma is created which expands and thereby sends a shock wave into the material. A film of water on the surface ensures that this shock wave is confined and does not simply spread into the surrounding air.
Prof. Yuji Sano and his team have succeeded in developing a very compact laser that despite its low pulse energy of only 10 mJ, can still inject enough energy into the surface to achieve the desired effect thanks to very short pulse duration and strong focusing. With an industrial robot, sentenso is able to process even complex surface contours.
16.11.2022 – Shot Peening Workshop in November 2022
Review of sentenso Shot Peening Workshop in Datteln
The autumn edition of the Shot Peening Workshop took place from 08 to 10 November 2022 at sentenso. The 21 participants from various companies, including aviation, had the opportunity to learn and deepen their knowledge of shot peening in theory and practice.
As with every sentenso Shot Peening Workshop, the practical part was carried out in the attached technical centre under expert guidance.
During the Westphalian Dinner, there was the great opportunity to discuss various shot peening applications. Our popular foos ball tournament put a big smile on everyone’s face.
During the Workshop, the participants successfully passed FAA and Nadcap-relevant training content in the form of an examination. A special congratulations applies to the two participants who were able to successfully complete the sophisticated Level 3 exam.
We had a lot of fun again and thank you for the great time!
03.10.2022 – Review International Conference on Shot Peening
The world’s most important event in shot peening
The “14th International Conference on Shot Peening” took place in Milan from 4 to 7 September 2022. International experts from science, technology and application of shot peening and related processes met here.
In the lectures, the latest research results, new developments and process optimisations were presented and discussed. In addition to shot peening, one focus was on laser shock peening, which is constantly evolving.
In his lecture “Shot Peening 4.0”, Volker Schneidau from sentenso presented technologies for process and quality management in shot peening with an outlook on possibilities for simulating the process.
At the sentenso booth, visitors were able to experience the “flux:on” Media Flow Management as well as the “vector:on” Media Speed Management with speed measurement of peening particles live in a robot peening cell. Furthermore sentenso presented the µ-X360s Stress Analyser with automated stress determination and the battery-operated “RotoFlapMaster” for mobile rotary flap peening.
26.09.2022 – Review International Conference on Gears
World’s most important conference in gears and transmission industry
From 12 to 14 September 2022, the International Conference on Gears was held at the Technical University of Munich in Garching. Leading experts from the international gear and transmission industry met to exchange the latest developments and research results.
For sentenso, application expert Sebastian Holz was present at the Pulstec booth. Using the example of the tooth flank of a bevel gear, he showed the automated generation of residual stress mappings with the µ-X360s Stress Analyser and a robot. Furthermore, live measurements with the muraR hardness variance scanner could be seen.
16.09.2022 – Review Mid European Shot Peening Workshop
First shot peening workshop in the Czech Republic
The newly launched Mid European Shot Peening Workshop at WISTA in Zlin, Czech Republic was a complete success. Dave Barkley, head of the seminar, Volker Schneidau, head of the practical, Nils Kaben from KrampeHarex and Jiri Neuwirth from the shot peening machine manufacturer WISTA, provided the 16 participants with a complete programme of lectures and practical training and with excellent care from the WISTA team. The participants took the exams in Level 1, Level 2 and Rotary Flap Peening.
22.07.2022 – Robot programming
Offline robot programming using CAD data
Shot peening of components with complex geometries is becoming increasingly common. In modern compressed air peening systems, the peening nozzle is moved by a robot at a fixed angle to the component surface. Usually, the robot movements, which consist of individual path points, are recorded manually by teaching-in. In the case of curved surfaces, this is very difficult to do because the peening angle to the surface can often not be determined correctly.
In order to create a suitable robot motion programme for parts with complex geometries, the sentenso programmers work with so-called offline programming software. After virtually integrating the peening chamber and the setup with part fixture or rotary table and peening nozzles once, it is now possible to place part models as 3D CAD files in the peening area. The programming software can then generate robot movements along a surface path semi-automatically. On one hand this procedure provides stability and continuous adaption of the desired peening angle along the surface path. On the other hand it avoids machine downtime needed for long lasting robot teaching.
28.05.2022 – sentenso Shot Peening Workshop
Review of sentenso Shot Peening Workshop in Datteln
From 03 to 05 May 2022, the spring edition of the Shot Peening Workshop took place at sentenso. The 13 participants from various companies, including aviation, once again had the opportunity to learn and deepen their knowledge of shot peening in theory and practice.
As in every sentenso Shot Peening Workshop, the practical part was carried out in the technical centre under expert guidance on a real production part.
During the Workshop, the participants successfully passed FAA and Nadcap-relevant training content in the form of an examination. A special congratulations applies to the four participants who were able to successfully complete the sophisticated Level 3 exam.
29.04.2022 – Internal peening lances from sentenso
Shot peening of difficult to reach part areas
Shot peening of undercuts, internal contours and bores is gaining importance, as there is still considerable potential for enhancement of dynamically stressed and failure-critical surface areas of parts with increasing loads.
Not only for applications in jet engine construction and the aerospace industry, but also in the automotive industry and in general mechanical engineering, direct peening of hard-to-access and complex-shaped part areas is more and more moving into the focus of component developers.
In order to meet the growing demand, sentenso has developed a portfolio of deflector peening lances and peening lance heads with inner deflector which meet typical requirements and which have been tested in sentenso´s own technical centre. Peening lances and peening lance heads are available in sizes ranging from 2.5 to 16 mm outside diameter, in several lengths and with one or two outlet openings. Of course the standard portfolio also includes classic cylindrical peening nozzles for external peening.
Furthermore, the sentenso engineering team is available for individual and specific solutions.
15.04.2022 – Review of the Shot Peener Forum
Shot Peening Experts from the Aviation Industry Exchanged Ideas
On 30 and 31 March, sentenso hosted 12 different companies with a total of 15 experts from the field of shot peening in aircraft engine manufacturing. The German-speaking group of experts meets once a year at alternating locations to discuss practical application issues in the field of shot peening.
Some of the intensively discussed topics were saturation curves in operating mixtures, comparison of measuring methods with Almen Mini-Strips and shaded Almen Strips, distribution of roles and responsibilities of employees in shot peening and many more.
The community of interest was already founded in 2017 and forms a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences regarding applications, technologies and nomenclature on a high technical level while excluding commercial interests.
06.04.2022 – Review of the cos-alpha User Meeting 2022
Review of the cos-alpha User Meeting 2022
The new edition of the cos-alpha user meeting for residual stress analysis was held on 23 March 2022 with 16 participants in sentenso’s digital meeting room in Datteln. The online conference, moderated by sentenso application expert Jörg Behler, ensures an intensive and regular exchange of experiences among German-speaking users of the cos-alpha method for X-ray residual stress determination.
In addition to the illustrative live demonstration on the determination of stress tensors, the critical depth determination in the creation of residual stress profiles was discussed. Furthermore, the planned round robin test was also addressed, which is intended to verify the comparability of results from different measurement laboratories and equipment operators. A separate meeting is to be arranged to determine the type and dimensions of the round robin samples.
The User Meeting is very popular and is held annually in addition to the Expert Meeting. While the Expert Meeting focuses on scientific issues, the User Meeting focuses primarily on laboratory and industrial measurement practice.
31.03.2022 – Review of International Conference on Residual Stresses
Review of International Conference on Residual Stresses
The “11th International Conference on Residual Stresses“ (ICRS) was held in Nancy from 27 to 30 March 2022. At this conference, scientists and engineers from many countries met to discuss the latest research results on residual stresses.
At the exhibition booth, which was shared with Pulstec from Japan, practical examples were used to demonstrate how the determination of residual stresses can be easily and reliably automated with the help of an industrial robot and suitable software.
In the poster session, sentenso presented the basics of the cos-alpha method. All in all, there were many opportunities for interesting technical discussions.
24.02.2022 – UV-Curing Masking Resins
Cures in Seconds for Excellent Surface Protection During Shot Peening
When shot peening components, in addition to the surface areas that have to be shot peened explicitly and or optionally, there are often functional surfaces that must be protected from the impact of the shot peening medium.
This requires temporary masking of certain sensitive areas of a component. In addition to time-consuming methods such as masking tapes or expensive solutions as masking devices, UV-curable masking resins are receiving more and more attention in various shot peening and blast cleaning processes. This is also obvious, as this masking process involves little work, moderate material costs, optimal adaptation to complex component geometries, good removability and also automation options.
sentenso Smart Peening Solutions is testing different masking resins and their suitability for various components and peening processes in order to develop recommendable system solutions. You can expect the results and a product presentation in the PeenLetter in spring.
27.01.2022 – RotoFlapMaster
Angled Handpiece Planned for Spring 2022
sentenso develops another handpiece for the RotoFlapMaster. The 90° angled design allows the user to apply flap peening even in hard-to-reach areas – user-friendly and compliant to standards.
The design is based on customer-specific requirements of real repair jobs of aircraft components. With the innovative and ergonomic angled handpiece, a further facilitation of work in mobile rotary flap peening is created, which will be optional available to our RotoFlapMaster from spring 2022 on. Due to the powerful battery pack and the comfortable one-button control on the handpiece, the operator works with distinct operating comfort and according to AMS2950 as well as other specifications.
The angled handpiece is fully compatible with the established control unit. Switching between straight and angled handpiece is extremely quick and easy thanks to the push-pull connector.
23.12.2021 – Review 2021
Residual Stresses and their Evaluation are Gaining Relevance
The importance of residual stresses for the service life of dynamically loaded parts has long been known. Until now, however, the consideration and determination of the residual stress state was mainly limited to experts in materials engineering, aerospace and the automotive industry..
In the recent past, we have been observing a clear trend in various branches of industry towards the expansion of applications for component enhancement through work hardening and the introduction of residual compressive stresses. Shot peening as a variable and broadly applicable process is of particular importance here, especially as it can achieve very homogeneous residual stress states.
With the increasing application of shot peening in new areas, X-ray residual stress determination is also becoming more relevant as faster evaluation methods are required in production environments.
Due to increasing demands for faster and automated measurements and the advancing digitalisation, sentenso developed StressEasy, a powerful software tool that allows the automation of a variety of measurement tasks for residual stress analysis with the fast X-ray diffractometer µ-X360s and a six-axis robot.
26.11.2021 – Materials Testing Conference
Experts meet online
DGM, DVM and Stahlinstitut VDEh are organising this year’s materials testing conference and welcome scientists and experts from universities, institutes and industry to Aachen. The focal points of the event include test methods, damage analysis and fatigue strength. At the accompanying trade show, sentenso will be carrying out live residual stress measurements.
25.11.2021 – Expert meeting cos-alpha 2021
X-ray residual stress determination using the cos-alpha method is becoming increasingly important in German professional circles as well.
With the µ-X360s, sentenso offers an X-ray stress analyser with area detector for fast and mobile residual stress analysis using the cos-alpha method. However, since the corresponding evaluation method is still quite young, sentenso organises one expert meeting and one user meeting each year. The upcoming expert meeting with residual stress specialists from science and research will take place online due to the pandemic.
The planned topics can be found in the corresponding Quick Info.
08.11.2021 – sentenso Shot Peening Workshop
Unique combination of theory and practice
The shot peening workshop with level 1 to 3 shot peening training and rotary flap peening in German and English is characterised by its extensive practical programme at sentenso’s technical center in Datteln, where otherwise sophisticated shot peening processes are developed.
20.10.2021 – StressEasy
Automation of residual stress analyses
With StressEasy in version 1.3.0, sentenso has now presented a powerful software tool after a one-year test phase with selected customers, which allows the automation of a variety of measurement tasks for residual stress analysis with the fast X-ray stressanalyser µ-X360s and a six-axis robot.
Supported measurement procedures include out-of-plane stress state analysis, complete stress tensor determination, residual stress mapping and stack measurements in laboratory and production environments.
19.10.2021 – ASM International
Residual stress analysis with the cos-alpha method
In the next-to-last online meeting of the ASM International Technical Committee on Residual Stress on 27 August 2021, the cos-alpha method for simple residual stress analysis was discussed for the first time. Advantages and limitations compared to the classical sin²-psi method were discussed.
The topic is becoming increasingly relevant as faster evaluation methods are needed for residual stress determination, e.g. in production environments. The inclusion of cos-alpha in the new ASM Handbook is being prepared.
19.10.2021 – Shot Peener Forum 2021
Shot peening experts from the aviation industry exchange ideas
After a one-year break due to the pandemic, the shot peening forum with experts from German engine manufacturers and MRO companies is back at the starting line.
The 15 to 20 dedicated shot peening experts and process managers from a total of ten manufacturing and maintenance companies for jet engines and components in Germany have been meeting annually since 2017 to discuss general issues related to shot peening of engine components across companies. The confidentiality of company-specific information is of course maintained.
This year, sentenso is hosting the fourth edition online. The planned topics can be found in the corresponding Quick Info.
15.04.2021 – Operator meeting µ-X360 – cos-alpha
Organisation of the first operator meeting µ-X360 – cos-alpha as online conference
The operator meeting µ-X360 – cos-alpha for residual stress analysis took place on 15.04.2021 with 24 participants in the digital meeting room of sentenso GmbH. The newly created format, moderated by sentenso application expert Jörg Behler, is intended to ensure an intensive exchange of experiences among German users of the cos-alpha method with the X-ray diffractometer µ-X360 from Pulstec in Japan.
In addition to a very lively exchange of experience on measurement practice, the naming of the variables of the method for publications and the evaluation of the standard deviation and the confidence interval were discussed, among other topics.
Furthermore, Jörg Behler presented possibilities for data backup of the software used and showed a live online demonstration of StressEasy, the software extension developed by sentenso for the automation of measurement tasks in the determination of residual stress states.
For the managing director Volker Schneidau and the sentenso
development team, another goal is in the foreground besides the transfer
of knowledge: The reception of positive and negative criticism as well
as ideas for the further development of the measurement technology, the
software functions as well as the automation technology.
As with the previous expert meeting, sentenso provides all participants with the collected information in a structured and compact form. The operator meeting was very well received by the participants and is to be held annually in future in addition to the already established expert meeting. While the expert meeting on the cos-alpha method will focus on scientific applications, the operator meeting will mainly focus on laboratory and industrial measurement practice.