A local steel fabricator requiring quality assurance for welded rings it makes for an international customer is working with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to verify the strength of the product.

A K Orme and Son’s contract involves creating reinforced rings for large grinding wheels by cutting steel rods to length, bending them and welding the ends together. The Sheffield-based company’s client wanted the weld strength measuring, which meant cutting the welded section out of the ring and machining it so that the tensile strength could be measured perpendicular to the weld surface.