Passing the torch to the next generation is the theme of this opening shot. I remember attending the SAE Fatigue Design & Evaluation (FD&E) meeting in 1985. There were six divisions of this committee, and I wandered into the Surface Enhancement Division. Charlie Barrett, from Metal Improvement Co. was the chairman. After Barrett’s passing in 2006, I was elected chairman of the division. The FD&E committee was sponsoring a collaborative on FEA study on welds and I suggested that a sample be shot peened. Progressive Surface did the treatment. During the meeting, the results of the fatigue testing were shown along with the estimate of lifetime. There was a long pause when the photo of the shotpeened weld was shown: it had not failed, but rather, the fatigue tester had failed. I was delighted. Now the other five divisions would have an interest in shot peening. Not so fast. They still had no interest in shot peening. I requested a divorce; it was granted. The Surface Enhancement Division became the Surface Enhancement Committee with me as chair- this included a seat on the Materials, Processes and Parts Council.
I was aware of another SAE activity called the Aerospace Metals and Engineering Committee (AMEC), which was founded in 1972. I requested permission to join and was eventually granted admission in 2004. The meetings were held at Asilomar in California, an old YMCA campground. I arranged to get one room on campus that had a small kitchen and a living room with a fireplace. Each year, I would stop at the local liquor store and buy some “good” wine, and then next door at the hardware store, I could purchase the lye needed to make hot soft pretzels. Then chairman Jay Pengra brought the 12” cast iron skillet so I didn’t have to bring that through security.
After attending several meetings where 90% of the conversation focused on heat treating, I suggested we establish a sub-committee devoted to Surface Enhancement- permission granted. In 2008, we met separately from the leading group and then, once again, I suggested we revise our status and become the Aerospace Surface Enhancement Committee (ASEC). Then, for expediency, as chair of both committees, I suggested that we meet only twice a year, rather than four times, in a combined meeting space. Eventually, the Spring meeting was held at SAE headquarters in Troy, and the Autumn meeting was held at the annual EI Workshop, to attract attendees to both meetings.
So, as Paul Harvey would say, “Now you know the rest of the story”.
