NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY Ashli Bailey, Jefferson College Area Technical School, Hillsboro, Mo.; and Jose Capiglioni, South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia, Wash. The 2014 team winners were Lauren Quinn and Chris Gannon, Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Marlborough, Mass.; Larry Peoples and Matt Parrott, Santa Fe College, Gainesville, Fla.; and Garrett Williams, Preston Simpson, Lane Stewart, Turner Osbun, and Colby Wenger, LaGrone Advanced Technology Complex, Denton, Tex. Instructor Sarah Patterson of South Puget Sound Community College stated that winning a competition of this nature boosts welding students’ self-esteem. Her winning student, Jose Capiglioni, wrote the struggles in his life were like an oxyfuel torch going out. After being laid off from two government contracts within a year and having a family to support, he said, “I simply relit my ‘torch’ by making one very important decision, and that was to return to school to earn my associates degree” in welding technology. Voestalpine Develops SteelAluminum Hybrid Components Voestalpine, Linz, Austria, has developed a process to combine steel with aluminum and produce hybrid components. The company cooperated with Fronius International GmbH on this undertaking. Hybrid blanks for small series have already been produced on a joint prototype line. The process of welding steel with aluminum is complex. All parameters must match exactly to achieve the right results. It requires in-depth knowledge of relevant material properties, corrosion properties, thermal expansion coefficients, and atomic properties. Temperature also plays a key role. A cold metal transfer process is used to join the two different materials. The aluminum base metal melts together with the aluminum filler material, yet the molten metal only wets the zinc-coated steel. Due to its high complexity, the process is still cost intensive, and it’s not yet possible to predict when voestalpine parts will be built into production cars. However, the process is being continually optimized. Casper College Set to Meet Energy Industry Workforce Needs With a grant totaling nearly $2.5 million, Casper College will work to address Wyoming’s energy industry workforce needs, according to Lesley Travers, dean for the college’s School of Business and Industry. It’s part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training competitive grant program through the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. The eight programs to receive funding are as follows: welding, extractive technology, diesel power, geology, electronics, GIS, process technology, and renewable energy. “The grant will create and enhance learning opportunities to serve more students, provide student retention, and accelerate student completion. We have hired a career navigator and will develop an online orientation and formal procedures for adoption of credit for prior learning,” Travers added. Industry Notes • Duke Energy and Beaufort County Community College, Washington, N.C., recently revealed a $248,302 investment from the Duke Energy Foundation to upgrade equipment used in the college’s welding technology program. New Lincoln Electric Vrtex® virtual welding machines and robotic welding machines will be purchased. • Mike Kartsonis, president of Dynamic Fabrication, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif., recently announced his donation of $100,000 to the National Tooling and Machining Foundation. This supports its education teams, plus assists in funding programs and scholarships for young people entering the field of precision custom manufacturing. • Definity Partners, Ojett, Upside Innovations, and Scarlet Oaks Career Campus of Cincinnati held a manufacturing and STEM workshop for two troops from the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio. They participated in a marshmallow engineering challenge, welding an aluminum flower, and using a plasma cutting machine to trace their initials on aluminum. Sabrina Smith, a senior in the welding program at Scarlet Oaks of Great Oaks Career Campuses in Cincinnati, led them through the welding station. WJ APRIL 2015 / WELDING JOURNAL 125 — continued from page 21 Shown above is a hybrid component. (Copyright: voestalpine.) Do You Have Some News to Tell Us? If you have a news item that might interest the readers of the Welding Journal, send it to the following address: Welding Journal Dept. Attn: Kristin Campbell 8669 NW 36 St., #130 Miami, FL 33166. Items can also be sent via FAX to (305) 443-7404 or e-mail to kcampbell@aws.org.
Welding Journal | April 2015
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