Clad metals, with their unique ability to match virtually any need of a specific product design, offer design engineers some highly desirable benefits. “Clad” not only can allow you to expand your design possibilities, but also can provide significant improvements in product performance and manufacturability. And may even yield meaningful reductions in product costs as well.
Pick up a U.S. quarter and you’ll be holding a shining example of clad metal economy and performance. Turn it sideways and you’ll see a cost-effective 3-layer sandwich of cupronickel/copper/cupronickel, developed by EMS, that replaced much more costly silver, matched its look and feel, offered exceptional durability, and provided the precise resistivity and density required by automatic coin discrimination systems.
Thermostat metal is an even more pervasive application of clad metal. Based on the translation of temperature changes into physical movement using the thermal expansion characteristics of different metals, clad thermostat metals are easily the most reliable and cost-effective sensing and actuating technology available today. From thermostats to circuit breakers, appliances to fluorescent lights, you are probably at this moment within a few feet of a thermal sensing device designed around “bimetal.”
But coinage and thermostat metals are just two examples of how economies can be realized and performance enhanced through our proprietary methods of bonding two or more metals. EMS clad metals can also save money and improve performance in more subtle ways, which is something our engineers would be happy to discuss with you. They’re used to thinking about materials solutions in unconventional terms and they’re adept at tailoring clad characteristics to precisely match a customer’s application. In virtually all cases, our customers are able to reduce total cost of ownership while actually enhancing performance.
For example, an entire sub-assembly could be eliminated along with the attendant labor, manufacturing and overhead. A manufacturing operation might be simplified. Or you might be able to offer your customers an extended warranty that would make your product more attractive to buyers.
In fact, the more you know about clad metals, the more you’ll come to realize the myriad ways that clad can help you increase performance as well as improve your bottom line.