WCA November 2014

From the Americas between the June and July rulings, developers and analysts said. The result was decreased demand for product from some large, low-cost manufacturers – like Yingli and Suntech, both Chinese – that had long dominated the market. But the higher prices were a boon to other companies, in the USA and elsewhere, whose products were suddenly seen as competitive, winning them new business. Ms Cardwell and Mr Bradsher gave some examples of activity in the revived sector:  Rooftop solar power provider SolarCity (San Mateo, California) announced it would buy as much as 240 megawatts’ worth of panels from REC Solar, a Norwegian manufacturer. It also acquired a start-up, Silevo, with plans to produce panels in Buffalo, New York.  SolarWorld Industries America, the Oregon–based unit of Germany’s SolarWorld, is the manufacturing company that brought the original trade case. It announced a deal to sell equipment to RGS Energy (Boulder, Colorado), an installer of power systems.  “We’re scrambling to buy modules with solar cells made in Korea, Japan and Malaysia,” Ocean Yuan, the president and founder of solar panel importer Grape Solar (Eugene, Oregon), told the Times .  The reporters pointed out that the USA had already, in 2012, imposed duties on solar panels made from Chinese solar cells – the final major parts to be assembled into modules. But many makers avoided the duties by using cells produced elsewhere, especially in Taiwan. The current proceeding is part of an effort by SolarWorld Industries America to close that loophole. Indeed, the 25 th July decision included Taiwanese cells and imposed duties on them of 27.59 per cent to 44.18 per cent. Of related interest . . .  The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) on 6 th August ruled out issuing any anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders against certain categories of steel threaded rod from India. The announcement came a month after the US Department of Commerce requested an investigation into Indian steel threaded rod allegedly being sold in the United States at less than fair value. In July the Commerce Department determined that imports of steel threaded rod from India had been sold in the USA at dumping margins ranging from 16.74 per cent to 119.87 per cent, and that imports of the material had received subsidies ranging from 8.61 per cent to 39.46 per cent. But the USITC decided that the domestic industry was neither materially injured nor threatened with material injury by reason of the imports. Imports of steel threaded rod from India into the USA in 2013 were valued at an estimated $19 million.

Technology A study of wear in sliding metal parts may hold key to damage prevention during basic manufacturing processes Wear is a major factor in metal failure during processing. The discovery of a mechanism for wear in metals – swirling, fluid-like microscopic behaviour in a solid piece of metal sliding over another – holds promise for improving the durability of metal parts in many applications. The findings are the result of a collaboration of researchers from Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana); M4 Sciences, a local company; and the Indian Institute of Science, in Bangalore. As described by Emil Venere, of Purdue, in R&D Magazine (formerly Industrial Research ), the researchers, using a microscope, high-speed camera, and other tools, had previously observed the formation of bumps, folds, and vortex-like features on sliding metal surfaces. Building on that, they went on to link the behaviour to wear in sliding metal systems. (“Discovery Is Key to Metal Wear in Sliding Parts,” 24 th July) The team observed what happens when a wedge-shaped piece of steel slides over a flat piece of aluminium or copper – a common method for modelling the mechanical behaviour of metals. Tiny bumps formed at the leading edge, followed by the swirling movement. As the wedge slid across the metal specimen, folds formed between the bumps, crumbling into tears and cracks in the wake of the wedge and eventually falling off as wear particles. “A single sliding pass is sufficient to damage the surface, and subsequent passes result in the generation of platelet-like wear particles,” said lead researcher Srinivasan Chandrasekar, a Purdue professor of industrial engineering and materials engineering. The observed defects range in size from 5 to 25 microns and are similar to those found in the sliding components of parts for a variety of equipment and machinery including automobile engines and compressors. According to Dr Chandrasekar, they also occur in surfaces created by grinding, polishing, burnishing, peening, drawing, extrusion and rolling – basic manufacturing processes in the wire and cable, ground transportation, aerospace and energy systems sectors.  Future work at Purdue will explore how grain size and ductility influence this type of metal wear, with the goal of eliminating these surface defects through such wear-control strategies as modified design of tools and dies.

Dorothy Fabian Features Editor

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2014

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