Materials Lab

[renzon]

I recently took over the duties of checking our thermal spray qualification coupons, that are preformed daily or with any change in powder. We handle HVOF of, copper nickel indium, tungsten carbide, and aluminum; we also plasma spray copper nickel indium. Needless to say this is not my strong suit but with the decline in the economy we have been asked to take on extra duties. This one inspection is not difficult and our materials engineer is a great teacher but he is concerned with too many other jobs and his complete focus is hard to obtain. He is also a consultant.

Our set up…
We have a small and simple materials lab where we perform the inspection. We have two microscopes, one that does the hardness testing and the other to check the polished samples prior to hardness testing. The hardness tester is connected to a computer using the confident software from Lecco, we also check for un-melts, porosity, and coating thickness. There is also a phoenix 4000 sample polisher and a small table where we prepare the coupons in epoxy. Real simple and to be honest it is all that I know about material labs.

We have a couple audits coming up and I was wondering what type of information or materials should always be available in the lab, apart from our repair manuals, SOP's and some reference material. Also, how do you all keep the equipment clean and the room clean? We try to keep the room closed off to anyone without a key so that the room is as clean and dust free as possible but sometimes this does not seem to be enough.

 

[dbooker630]

Calibration certificates should be available for the microscope and microhardness tester, located in the lab itself or in a central gage standards and tracking system. If the calibration sources are A2LA or ISO 17025 certified (they should be), make sure you have a copy of their scope, not just the logo on the calibration paper.

Check to see if work instructions are available for your equipment. Anything stated in those instructions is auditable. Daily verifications of the hardness tester should be available. Test blocks used should have a certificate.

I am sure you will hear from others in this forum but this is a place to start.

 

[unclesyd]

Apart from the sage advice posted above you should have a record keeping system that provides traceability of the coupons to the operator. Also a system that verifies the base metal that the coupon material that was tested and the production. That was a sticking point in one our audits where we couldn't verify the base metal of the weld test coupons and made them ourselves.

As for your calibration blocks mentioned above make sure you have a test block for all ranges you will be ask to check.

You might want to have a written backup plan in case a piece of you equipment fails. This isn't something that is required but looks good if it is in your SOP's. This shows that you have plan that will be viable and you want stop testing your production while the equipment is be repaired.

Make sure your lab has posted copies of any cetificates issued plant wide, like ISO, OSHA, etc. I was asked by an auditor whether our lab was included in the ISO 9000 process.

Depending on what type of audit is being formed there should be list of emergency telephone numbers displayed near your equipment.

Again depending on what type of audit make sure your equipment is properly tagged and if hard wire make sure you have a local electrical disconnect.

I would have a list of any plug in devices were a ground continuity check is require and the last test date. All our plug in equipment is tested twice a year.

 

[CoryPad]

You should have a written calibration interval, in addition to the actual calibration certificates.

You should have safety information available - what to do in case of exposure to heat, electricity, compressed air, chemicals, etc.

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[unclesyd]

{b]CoryPad[/b], has very good point about the safety rules. We have both plant wide and laboratory safety rules posted at the water cooler. Both rules should should be up to data. During the last audit I was involved we got gigged for having an out of date plant safety rules posted. I don't see why as they were only two years behind.

It may not be applicable in your case but a building evacuation plan should be posted. As we are a large chemical complex we have posted evacuation assembly points and routes base on what type of alarm signal is sounded.

 

[TVP]

If you are required to show compliance to standards (customer, SAE, ASTM, MIL, etc.) then make sure you have the access to the standards and that they are maintained at the latest revision level. Paper copies of old revisions is not sufficient. It is not sufficient to have a printed version of a webpage with hardness conversions: you need to reference a standard like ASTM E 140 or ISO 18265. Calibration frequency should be proportional to usage and importance, meaning if it is important and it is frequently performed, then it should be regularly calibrated. NIST has a great publication on hardness testing:

http://www.msel.nist.gov/practiceguides/SP960_5.pdf

 

[metengr]

We have a couple audits coming up and I was wondering what type of information or materials should always be available in the lab, apart from our repair manuals, SOP's and some reference material.

One item that came to my attention was the word "audit" in your OP. Are these audits for lab certifications from an outside accreditation agency or repair organization? Or is this for an internal company quality audit by your engineering group or from customers or what? Typically, prior to an audit, you have information as to what will be covered for the audit so that you can prepare in advance using the responses above.