MFN started in 2001 to host international shot peening workshops and trade shows. By now, it has recruited 19 official MFN trainers from 10 different countries and received FAA acceptance in 2004. Such events were organized in Singapore and England. This year it took place in Dusseldorf, Germany and lasted from the 10th-12th of May. 92 participants decided to visit this workshop.

Simultaneous Translation

MFN wanted to make this workshop  available for as many people as possible. Due to the fact that the workshop was hosted in Germany, it was very likely to attract a large number of German speaking attendees. Around 50% of the participants finally came from Germany. Since for quite many of them it would have been be difficult to follow an English presentation, a team of 3 simultaneous translators were hired. Each participant received a headset and had a choice between English and German.
The quality of the translation was outstanding. To insure that there is enough time to get familiar with all the technical terms, the translators received a documentation in both languages prior to the workshop. There have been participants from all over the world. Besides attendees from Europe, nationalities such as USA, Canada, Dubai, Jordan, Israel and India were represented.

FAA Accepted Shot Peening Courses

The goal of such a shot peening training is to provide a mixture of knowledge that is beneficial to all those involved in peening, rather than exclusively for one particular group in this field. So operators, supervisors, process & maintenance engineers, buyers, even trainers will be able to either learn something completely new, or at least be able to refresh their knowledge.
All the official MFN courses do get recognition by the FAA. Certificates of achievement are issued to the students who enroll and pass the optional test. An unusual number of 65% of all participants took the optional test. A total of 3 different courses were offered. There was a choice between the basic, intermediate and advanced course.  The training documentation was available either in English or German. For a detailed description of the different topics one can refer to www.mfn.li, link "shot peening workshops".
In order to complete the whole event, a so called guest speaker day was added. Interesting personalities from the industries were invited to talk about their products, technologies and services.

Represented Industries

To insure a long term success of such an event, it is essential that the industry is well presented. Otherwise it is difficult to connect a workshop with a trade show. MFN was able to have some of the most respected names of the industry to send their employees to the workshop. A large percentage of them came from the aviation and spring industries. Here just a few company names in alphabetical order:

- Airbus (England)
- Allevard Rejna (France)
- Brand KG Federnwerk
- Daimler Chrysler (Germany)
- GAMCO (Dubai)
- IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries)
- ITP (Spain)
- ISRI (France)
- Jordan Airmotive (Jordan)
- Lufthansa Technik (Germany)
- MTU Muenchen (Germany)
- Rolls Royce (Germany)
- Rolls Royce (England)
- SR Technics (Switzerland)

Hands-On Training

MFN always tries to implement something new at every workshop. So not just the actual contents of the different topics is constantly reviewed, but also new subjects are integrated. So MFN must be at the pulse of the industry to recognize emerging technologies, which may be of importance for shot peener.
One of those technologies is certainly the X-ray diffractometer. It is a non-destructive analytical technique of residual stress measurement of metals.
The residual stresses are considered the "fingerprint" of the overall technological process of the component itself. The analysis can help to better understand the failure criteria.

MFN's scientific adviser Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.) from Poland gave a hand-on demonstration of this equipment by measuring the residual stresses of peened and unpeened Almen strips. Since the equipment works with X-rays, a special permit was issued to operate the machine in the class room.
MFN did not just do hands-on training on this device, but also on a sieve analyzer, Ervin tester and on flap peening equipment.

MFN's next shot peening workshop and trade show will be from the 24th-26th of October 2005 in Singapore.

For information:
www.mfn.li, link "Shot Peening Workshops"
Or contact info@mfn.li for an information package
Tel. +41.44.831 2644