Material Matters: Choosing the Right Metal for Your Project

The dedicated team at Keats Manufacturing Co. has been crafting stamped metal parts since 1958. Over the past few decades, we’ve seen a number of unique projects and individual parts come through our facility. While many decisions — from design details to custom tooling — influence these parts’ performance, one of the first choices made in the manufacturing process is always the most critical: material.

Common Materials, Uncommon Quality

Every metal comes with its own benefits and weaknesses, and these properties lend each material to different ideal uses. StampingsAchieving the best results for a stamping project is always the result of carefully researching and choosing a part’s optimal material fit.

At Keats Manufacturing Co., we pride ourselves on offering the highest quality products, from common steel components to custom crafted specialized alloy parts. Here are our top five material choices for custom stamping projects.

Copper

Copper offers some of the best available conductivity (100%), behind only silver and gold in its performance. copper-metal-stampingCopper is also known for its corrosion resistance to industrial atmospheres, water, non-oxidizing acids, alkalis, and neutral saline solutions. While it doesn’t react with water, copper gradually forms a brownish-black oxide when exposed to atmospheric oxygen. Unlike rust, this oxide will actually protect the copper underneath from further corrosion.

Copper is very malleable, ductile, and responsive to precision tooling. For automotive and electrical stamped part applications, it is best used at 0.010” – 0.050” thickness.

Copper alloys commonly used at Keats are: C102, C110, C122, C194 & C197.

Our copper part highlights include reel to reel terminals, loose terminals, conductive lead frames, grids, wire forms, clips, antennas, and prototype and short-run parts. Our custom metal stamping portfolio also includes beryllium copper springs for use in hearing aid applications.

Phosphor Bronze

A specialized alloy of copper, phosphor bronze contains up to 10% tin and up to 1% phosphorous, which provides deoxidizing during melting. While phosphor bronze lacks copper’s extreme conductivity (only 15%), it allows for electrical connections to devices at ultra-low temperatures due to its fair electrical performance combined with very low thermal conduction.

Keats-Phosphor-Bronze-Terminal-StampingPhosphor Bronze is also insensitive to stress corrosion cracking and offers good corrosion resistance to sea water and industrial atmospheres. Known for its toughness, strength, and low coefficient of friction, phosphor bronze is a popular choice for springs, bolts, and heavy fatigue applications. It is best used at 0.008” – 0.050” thickness for automotive and electrical applications.

Phosphor Bronze alloys commonly used at Keats are: C510, C511, C519 & C521.

Our bronze stamping portfolio includes reel to reel terminals, contacts, loose terminals, conductive lead frames, grids, and prototype and short-run parts.

Brass

Often the most cost effective choice for electrical applications because of its lower price point than pure copper, brass is known for its malleability, hardness, and resistance to corrosion, not to mention its pleasing appearance. Made by blending copper and zinc, it offers higher malleability than bronze or zinc alone. Nearly 90% of its alloys are, in fact, a result of these materials being recycled!

thumb-brass-formed-hinged-contact-jawBrass offers good resistance to fresh water, neutral or alkaline saline solution, organic compounds, and standard atmospheres at sea, on land, and in manufacturing. Adding aluminum to a brass alloy can strengthen its given corrosion resistance, while adding lead can enhance its machinability.

With a solid conductivity of 28%, brass is common in automotive and electrical applications at thicknesses up to 0.050”.

Brass alloys commonly used at Keats are: C210, C220, C230, C260, C268 & C272.

Our brass part highlights include reel to reel terminals and contacts, loose terminals, contacts, conductive lead frames, grids, brush guards and holders, and prototype and short-run parts.

Aluminum

An extremely popular material choice, aluminum is likely best known for its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, making it ideal for strong, lightweight parts, both on its own and in combination with other metals.

bracketAluminum is also known for its corrosion resistance — it is tolerant to moisture and most chemicals — as well as its low density. The metal offers 61% conductivity and is capable of thermal and electrical superconductivity, as well.
Soft, durable, lightweight, ductile, and malleable, aluminum is popular for automotive and mechanical components at thicknesses ranging from 0.012” to 0.120”.

Aluminum alloys commonly used at Keats are: 3003, 1100, 5056, 5052 & 5154.

Our aluminum part highlights include clips, clamps and flat springs, brackets, latches, covers, wire forms, antennas, and prototype and short-run parts.

Steel

Annealed, cold-rolled, stainless — there are countless steel alloys designed to suit any industry. A classic combination of iron with carbon and any number of other elements, steel is created by reducing the carbon in iron ore and replacing it with materials to alter traits such as strength, conductivity, and corrosion resistance. In addition, heat treating processes such as annealing, quenching, and tempering can alter the material and its end performance.

Steel is typically resistant to corrosion with a wide conductivity range (up to 15%) and great formability and durability. A low cost option, it presents good baseline tensile and yield strength. However, all of these properties can vary greatly, offering a wide array of choices to create the perfect fit for a particular project. Annealed steel, for example, is far more ductile and fracture-resistant than its counterpart prior to heat treatment, and G1050 is an alloy specifically created for versatility and machinability in engineering applications.

Material Guidance with Keats Manufacturing Co.

With over 50 years of excellence in custom fabrication and small metal parts, the Keats Manufacturing Co. team knows a thing or two about material choices and manufacturing.

10-ways-reduce-turnaround-timeTo learn more about how solid research and great materials can benefit your next project, download our eBook, 10 Ways to Reduce Turnaround Time and Cost of a Metal Stamped Part, or reach out and contact us today.


reduce time and cost of your metal stamped part




Designing & Manufacturing Metal Stamped Medical Device Components

One of the fastest growing business sectors is the medical device industry. According to the Commerce Department, there are over 6,500 medical device companies, which generate $110 billion in the United States today.

At Keats, we do our best to stay on the cutting-edge of all the latest technology and trends in the manufacturing world. Our expertise is reflected in our latest white paper, Criteria for Design and Manufacturing of Precision Metal Stamped Medical Device Components.
This informative white paper takes an in-depth look at the importance of precision metal stamping in the very important medical device field. To get a better understanding of the future of metal stamped medical device components, let’s take a quick look at what you will find in Criteria for Design and Manufacturing of Precision Metal Stamped Medical Device Components:Designing & Manufacturing Metal Stamped Medical Device Components
  • Trends in Medical Component Manufacturing:
    In this section, we look at how miniaturization, ultra-tight tolerances, and new tooling methods are moving medical device manufacturing forward. We also discuss such hot topics as quality control, increased regulations, and the rapid pace of new medical technology advances.
  • Design Considerations for Metal Stamped Medical Components:
    In this particular section, we describe how every facet of the design and manufacturing process can be improved including: prototype utilization, secondary operation reduction, engineering services, doing a better job of defining micro metal stamping, and tips on exotic metals specialization.
  • Quality Control, Risk Management, and ISO:
    As we mentioned before, quality control is a major issue as massive numbers of different medical devices are being created seemingly everyday. This section covers the various credentials and specifications you need to stay ahead of the competition.

If you want to learn more about the future of high-end precision metal stamping and the medical device industry, please click on the button below to access our white paper, Criteria for Design and Manufacturing of Precision Metal Stamped Medical Device Components.


Designing & Manufacturing Metal Stamped Medical Device Components

Keats’ Commitment to Safety

June is National Safety Month, and we at Keats heartily approve of the push for awareness and implementation of robust safety procedures in the workplace.  Part of what constitutes a job well done for us is a job that minimizes the risk involved with the operation of custom manufacturing equipment to provide the highest levels of safety and comfort to our employees, and peace of mind to their families.  It’s a commitment of ours, which is why we are doing our part to encourage best safety practices, and have taken proactive precautionary steps in our own plant to ensure we keep our employees safe and healthy.

We maintain a high level of cleanliness and organization on our plant floors – reducing clutter is not only efficient for productivity, but we’ve found that maintaining clear pathways between machines and organized works paces leads to a safer work environment.  It’s been years since we’ve had a lost-day accident – and this is thanks in large to our commitment to the continual improvement of our safety protocols.  Another proactive measure we’ve taken is to meet with our floor managers to design improved lock-out/tag-out procedures on our machines, and improved spill containment procedures – these conversations between management and operator are important for consistency and clarity of approach, and ensure that policies are accurate and effective for our operators.  Since our machines require specialized knowledge for operation and control, we have found that lock-out/tag-out procedures work well to ensure only those trained on particular machines can use them.  For spill containment, we not only want to provide our employees with knowledge of how to prevent these occurrences, but resources and training for what to do in the event that a spill occurs – this is why we insist on having our safety training in-house, so that we can be sure each employee is given job-specific instruction for maximum safety in every situation.

These are some of many ways in which we at Keats have chosen to promote the safety of our employees.  We hope you’ll join with us in doing the same, and pursue policies and procedures that work for your company to prevent injury, protect employees, and improve lives.

Getting Involved with Education and the Environment

In February, we blogged about our internship program, and we noted that, increasingly, schools just aren’t spending enough time providing students with the critical skills they need in math and science to prepare them for real-world jobs in areas such as advanced manufacturing.
So we would like to take this opportunity to promote an initiative that is working to remedy this problem. A group called the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics held educational activities throughout the United States in April to boost awareness among young people of the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM).
 
These efforts (in the form of special lectures, events, contests, and so forth in schools) focused on the “Mathematics of Sustainability” in order to “spotlight the role of mathematics in helping us balance human needs against the world’s resources while operating within the constraints of nature, while seeking creative solutions for a sustainable way of life.” It’s quite a mouthful, but we think it translates into reaching out to the next generation of Americans to emphasize how important it is to study hard not just for themselves but also for their communities — and even their world.
 
For example, in our own plant, we recently held an eight-week basic metalworking skills class in partnership with the Jane Addams Resource Corp. (JARC) for our newer employees. We taught math as it applies to manufacturing (introduction to statistical control, etc.). We have a joint partnership with JARC, and their instructors come out to our facility whenever we have enough new employees to run through the program (we had 12 this time).
 
Math Awareness Month is a worthy project, and we encourage our customers and friends to support it if they can — even if you just tweet about it. It’s something we all have a vested interest in.

 

Frankly, we think every month should be devoted to improving the skills of our present and future employees. 

Matt Keats talks about Hiring for the Future

A business is nothing without the right employees. The act of hiring is in itself a hard to master art form. You can have the perfect product and a massive client list, but without an outstanding staff, they aren’t worth much. If you don’t have the right team on the floor, you will find that it is nearly impossible to put out a high quality product that will keep your customers happy and coming back year after year. So what are the secrets to hiring? What can you do to build an organization that will thrive even as employees come and go?
Matt Keats, from Keats Southwest, has some very clear ideas on how to put together a staff that not only produces, but also shares a common vision. In the highly informative video below, Matt takes you through the entire hiring philosophy and process and that has made all three of Keats’ locations leaders in the world of small metal stampings, wireforms, and assemblies.

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