We at Spur Industries have in place tight control measures at every step of our manufacturing process to ensure you the customer that our products will be made to a high standard of quality, and maintain a high level of performance and consistency in the field. We utilize a "bend test" (1/8" trim off the insert and subject it to a "0" radius, 90 degree bend along the bond line) during insert production to insure integrity of the bond. We have found this test to be an excellent gauge of our product during production due to the fact that non-metallurgical bonds will usually fail at the interface. If the insert does not pass this test, it doesn't ship.
We also conduct extensive tensile, shear, and heat tests. Spur Industries also can provide the option of ultrasonic inspection, vacuum leak tests, "C" scans, and conductivity tests at customer's request. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) testing for R&D purposes can also be done on site. We employ complete record keeping, including chemical certifications, on all metal used guaranteeing you the customer that we can trace all steps of our process right down to the metal we used to make your inserts.
Our metallurgical bond is incredibly strong. Testing on our typical steel/aluminum inserts (using 80-90 MPa aluminum) show that the actual bond strength is at the least 20% stronger than the aluminum itself. Simply put, your engineer can design an application to the strength of the aluminum being used, and the bond will be even stronger. There are a number of aluminum alloys available for your specific application.