Meetings that work

摘要

When the management of Valmont Industries, Valley, Neb., decided it would expand its truck exhaust business, it launched a full-scale research project to evaluate exhaust tubing requirements and assess which materials would best meet the application. By analyzing customer needs, Valmont determined that interstitial-free (IF) steel was the best material to meet the bend requirements of many truck exhaust applications. IF steel is an aluminum-killed steel with extra-low carbon content in which the residual carbon is combined with niobium (columbium), titanium, or a similar element with a strong affinity for carbon. It lacks defective gaps in its microscopic grain structure, which allows it to deform more severely without fracturing during bending.