Wire Material Receive 2

[PAN]

In general, we can use PMI to confirm chemical composition of material. However, wire material has small size. The PMI equipment could not analyze this small wire diameter.

What is the practice to confirm material? Do we need to cut the sample to laboratory? Should we believe the material test report from mill which can not trace back to their heat number?

Please comment.

 

[TVP]

ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) used in conjunction with OES (Optical Emission Spectroscopy) or AES (Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) is frequently used for independent analysis of chemical composition. It is capable of taking small samples and reporting extremely accurate results. The equipment is very expensive, so only certain labs use it.

Regarding certification, if your supplier cannot trace back to the original heat number, then you should not rely on that analysis. QS9000 and similar procedures require heat traceability, and you should enforce this. Good companies follow approved quality standards, and therefore using their test reports is almost never a problem.

 

[quadswift]

Change your supplier for one who can meet your certification requirements!
There are generally two certs - a 'mill' cert for the starter material and a 'product' cert.

Your supplier can only verify the mechanical properties of the wire by testing the product (properties dependant on the 'heat' process)and must therefore know the heat numbers.
I do not see why, in this day and age, it is customers who should be spending money to do PMI to verify product they have purchased.

My feeling for the use of PMI (if any)is to monitor that there has not been a mix-up and the correct product has been installed / utilised, not to prove that we have received what we specified.

If procedures are adhered to, there should be no need / place for PMI.

Regards,
Quadswift

 

[CWIC]

The methods of testing for this type of material are as noted by TVP.

I also agree with the reply by quadswift. If your vendor supplies only a mill test report (MTR), in this case was noted to be untraceable, I would require a Certificate of Conformance or Certificate of Compliance (COC) in addition to a MTR.

When performing audits, I find many companies receive MTR's that cannot be linked to specific lots, batches or heats of materials, the supplier is simply submitting paperwork. Often I have found MTR's to be "genereic" as the mill or supplier claim "...it's all the same..."

I don't believe you should have to test your raw materials to comfirm that they are what you ordered. If the vendor cannot or does not want to provide you with a COC (in addition to a MTR), then I would start looking for a vendor who will provide you with this document. There are many companies who would love to get your business and don't have a problem (or an extra charge) for providing these records.