Technical Terms

ALL

0-9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

M

• Mandrel

  This is the ID tool that supports the tube as it is being bent to prevent collapse. This is required for tight radius bends. Mandrels are made up of balls and a body. All sized to fit near perfectly into the tubes.

• Material Specification Standards, AMS

  AMS is an abbreviation for Aerospace Material Specification, and defines standards for metal materials, tolerances, and quality control procedures and processes. These specs also define chemical composition, detailed technical requirements, and cross-reference similar specifications.

• Material Specification Standards, ASTM

  ASTM is an abbreviation for American Society for Testing and Materials, which is an organization that issues standard data specifications on metal materials (and many other products). It was originally formed to develop a standard for the steel used to fabricate railroad rails, which were frequently breaking.

• Material Specification Standards, MIL

  MIL is an abbreviation for Military specifications or standards, used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense. Many have been withdrawn and replaced by AMS specs, although some material test reports may list both MIL and AMS specs.

• Material Test Report

  This is also called a Mill Certification (or “Mill Cert”), and sometimes abbreviated as an “MTR.” It is a quality assurance document, usually from the producing mill, which provides traceability for a material’s grade, size or original dimensions that were produced, chemistry composition, lot or heat number, any material specifications that it meets or is produced to, and its physical and mechanical properties.

• Mechanical Properties

  This refers to properties that indicate a materials elastic and inelastic behavior where force is applied. Most common measurements include Tensile Strength, Yield Strength, and Elongation, as well as Reduction of Area and Hardness.

• Microstructure

  Microstructure is the very small scale structure of a material, defined as the structure of a prepared surface of material as revealed by a microscope above 25× magnification. The microstructure of a material strongly influences the physical properties such as strength, toughness, ductility, hardness, corrosion resistance, high/low temperature behavior or wear resistance.