The ability of a metal

The ability of a metal < The ability of a metal to deform plastically and to absorb energy in the process before fracture is termed toughness. The emphasis of this definition should be placed on the ability to absorb energy before fracture. Recall that ductility is a measure of how much something deforms plastically before fracture, but just because a material is ductile does not make it tough. The key to toughness is a good combination of strength and ductility. A material with high strength and high ductility will have more toughness than a material with low strength and high ductility. Therefore, one way to measure toughness is by calculating the area under the stress strain curve from a tensile test. This value is simply called material toughness and it has units of energy per volume. Material toughness equates to a slow absorption of energy by the material. There are several variables that have a profound influence on the toughness of a material. These variables are: train rate (rate of loading). Temperature. Notch effect. A metal may possess satisfactory toughness under static loads but may fail under dynamic loads or impact. As a rule ductility and, therefore, toughness decrease as the rate of loading increases. Temperature is the second variable to have a major influence on its toughness. As temperature is lowered, the ductility and toughness also decrease. The third variable is termed notch effect, has to due with the distribution of stress. A material might display good toughness when the applied stress is uniaxial; but when a multiaxial stress state is produced due to the presence of a notch, the material might not withstand the simultaneous elastic and plastic deformation in the various directions. There are several standard types of toughness test that generate data for specific loading conditions and/or component design approaches. Three of the toughness properties that will be discussed in more detail are: Impact toughness. Notch toughness. Fracture toughness. Impact Toughness: The impact toughness (AKA Impact strength) of a material can be determined with a Charpy or Izod test. These tests are named after their inventors and were developed in the early 1900s before fracture mechanics theory was available. Impact properties are not directly used in fracture mechanics calculations, but the economical impact tests continue to be used as a quality control method to assess notch sensitivity and for comparing the relative toughness of engineering materials. The two tests use different specimens and methods of holding the specimens, but both tests make use of a pendulum-testing machine. For both tests, the specimen is broken by a single overload event due to the impact of the pendulum. A stop pointer is used to record how far the pendulum swings back up after fracturing the specimen. The impact toughness of a metal is determined by measuring the energy absorbed in the fracture of the specimen. This is simply obtained by noting the height at which the pendulum is released and the height to which the pendulum swings after it has struck the specimen . The height of the pendulum times the weight of the pendulum produces the potential energy and the difference in potential energy of the pendulum at the start and the end of the test is equal to the absorbed energy. Since toughness is greatly affected by temperature, a Charpy or Izod test is often repeated numerous times with each specimen tested at a different temperature. This produces a graph of impact toughness for the material as a function of temperature. An impact toughness versus temperature graph for a steel is shown in the image. It can be seen that at low temperatures the material is more brittle and impact toughness is low. At high temperatures the material is more ductile and impact toughness is higher. The transition temperature is the boundary between brittle and ductile behavior and this temperature is often an extremely important consideration in the selection of a material. Fracture Toughness: Fracture toughness is an indication of the amount of stress required to propagate a preexisting flaw. It is a very important material property since the occurrence of flaws is not completely avoidable in the processing, fabrication, or service of a material/component. Flaws may appear as cracks, voids, metallurgical inclusions, weld defects, design discontinuities, or some combination thereof. Since engineers can never be totally sure that a material is flaw free, it is common practice to assume that a flaw of some chosen size will be present in some number of components and use the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach to design critical components. This approach uses the flaw size and features, component geometry, loading conditions and the material property called fracture toughness to evaluate the ability of a component containing a flaw to resist fracture. A parameter called the stress-intensity factor (K) is used to determine the fracture toughness of most materials. A Roman numeral subscript indicates the mode of fracture and the three modes of fracture are illustrated in the image to the right. Mode I fracture is the condition in which the crack plane is normal to the direction of largest tensile loading. This is the most commonly encountered mode and, therefore, for the remainder of the material we will consider KI. The stress intensity factor is a function of loading, crack size, and structural geometry. The stress intensity factor may be represented. Role of Material Thickness: Specimens having standard proportions but different absolute size produce different values for KI. This results because the stress states adjacent to the flaw changes with the specimen thickness (B) until the thickness exceeds some critical dimension. Once the thickness exceeds the critical dimension, the value of KI becomes relatively constant and this value, KIC , is a true material property which is called the plane-strain fracture toughness. The relationship between stress intensity, KI, and fracture toughness, KIC, is similar to the relationship between stress and tensile stress. The stress intensity, KI, represents the level of stress at the tip of the crack and the fracture toughness, KIC, is the highest value of stress intensity that a material under very specific (plane-strain) conditions that a material can withstand without fracture. As the stress intensity factor reaches the KIC value, unstable fracture occurs. As with a materials other mechanical properties, KIC is commo nly reported in reference books and other sources. Plane Strain: A condition of a body in which the displacements of all points in the body are parallel to a given plane, and the values of theses displacements do not depend on the distance perpendicular to the plane. Plane Stress: A condition of a body in which the state of stress is such that two of the principal stresses are always parallel to a given plane and are constant in the normal direction. Plane-Strain and Plane-Stress: When a material with a crack is loaded in tension, the materials develop plastic strains as the yield stress is exceeded in the region near the crack tip. Material within the crack tip stress field, situated close to a free surface, can deform laterally (in the z-direction of the image) because there can be no stresses normal to the free surface. The state of stress tends to biaxial and the material fractures in a characteristic ductile manner, with a 45o shear lip being formed at each free surface. This condition is called plane-stress and it occurs in relatively thin bodies where the stress through the thickness cannot vary appreciably due to the thin section. However, material away from the free surfaces of a relatively thick component is not free to deform laterally as it is constrained by the surrounding material. The stress state under these conditions tends to triaxial and there is zero strain perpendicular to both the stress axis and the direction of crack propagation when a material is loaded in tension. This condition is called plane-strain and is found in thick plates. Under plane-strain conditions, materials behave essentially elastic until the fracture stress is reached and then rapid fracture occurs. Since little or no plastic deformation is noted, this mode fracture is termed brittle fracture. Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness Testing: When performing a fracture toughness test, the most common test specimen configurations are the single edge notch bend (SENB or three-point bend), and the compact tension (CT) specimens. From the above discussion, it is clear that an accurate determination of the plane-strain fracture toughness requires a specimen whose thickness exceeds some critical thickness (B). Testing has shown that plane-strain conditions generally prevail when: When a material of unknown fracture toughness is tested, a specimen of full material section thickness is tested or the specimen is sized based on a prediction of the fracture toughness. If the fracture toughness value resulting from the test does not satisfy the requirement of the above equation, the test must be repeated using a thicker specimen. In addition to this thickness calculation, test specifications have several other requirements that must be met (such as the size of the shear lips) before a test can be said to have resulted in a KIC value. When a test fails to meet the thickness and other test requirement that are in place to insure plane-strain condition, the fracture toughness values produced is given the designation KC. Sometimes it is not possible to produce a specimen that meets the thickness requirement. For example when a relatively thin plate product with high toughness is being tested, it might not be possible to produce a thicker specimen with plain-strain conditions at the crack tip. Plane-Stress and Transitional-Stress States: For cases where the plastic energy at the crack tip is not negligible, other fracture mechanics parameters, such as the J integral or R-curve, can be used to characterize a material. The toughness data produced by these other tests will be dependant on the thickness of the product tested and will not be a true material property. However, plane-strain conditions do not exist in all structural configurations and using KIC values in the design of relatively thin areas may result in excess conservatism and a weight or cost penalty. In cases where the actual stress state is plane-stress or, more generally, some intermediate- or transitional-stress state, it is more appropriate to use J integral or R-curve data, which account for slow, stable fracture (ductile tearing) rather than rapid (brittle) fracture. Uses of Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness: KIC values are used to determine the critical crack length when a given stress is applied to a component. Orientation: The fracture toughness of a material commonly varies with grain direction. Therefore, it is customary to specify specimen and crack orientations by an ordered pair of grain direction symbols. The first letter designates the grain direction normal to the crack plane. The second letter designates the grain direction parallel to the fracture plane. For flat sections of various products, e.g., plate, extrusions, forgings, etc., in which the three grain directions are designated (L) longitudinal, (T) transverse, and (S) short transverse, the six principal fracture path directions are: L-T, L-S, T-L, T-S, S-L and S-T. Fatigue Properties: Fatigue cracking is one of the primary damage mechanisms of structural components. Fatigue cracking results from cyclic stresses that are below the ultimate tensile stress, or even the yield stress of the material. The name fatigue is based on the concept that a material becomes tired and fails at a stress level below the nominal strength of the material. The facts that the original bulk design strengths are not exceeded and the only warning sign of an impending fracture is an often hard to see crack, makes fatigue damage especially dangerous. The fatigue life of a component can be expressed as the number of loading cycles required to initiate a fatigue crack and to propagate the crack to critical size. Therefore, it can be said that fatigue failure occurs in three stages crack initiation; slow, stable crack growth; and rapid fracture. As discussed previously, dislocations play a major role in the fatigue crack initiation phase. In the first stage, dislocations accumulate near surface stress concentrations and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB) after a large number of loading cycles. PSBs are areas that rise above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) the surface of the component due to movement of material along slip planes. This leaves tiny steps in the surface that serve as stress risers where tiny cracks can initiate. These tiny crack (called microcracks) nucleate along planes of high shear stress which is often 45o to the loading direction. In the second stage of fatigue, some of the tiny microcracks join together and begin to propagate through the material in a direction that is perpendicular to the maximum tensile stress. Eventually, the growth of one or a few crack of the larger cracks will dominate over the rest of the cracks. With continued cyclic loading, the growth of the dominate crack or cracks will continue until the remaining uncracked section of the component can no longer support the load. At this point, the fracture toughness is exceeded and the remaining cross-section of the material experiences rapid fracture. This rapid overload fracture is the third stage of fatigue failure. Factors Affecting Fatigue Life In order for fatigue cracks to initiate, three basic factors are necessary. First, the loading pattern must contain minimum and maximum peak values with large enough variation or fluctuation. The peak values may be in tension or compression and may change over time but the reverse loading cycle must be sufficiently great for fatigue crack initiation. Secondly, the peak stress levels must be of sufficiently high value. If the peak stresses are too low, no crack initiation will occur. Thirdly, the material must experience a sufficiently large number of cycles of the applied stress. The number of cycles required to initiate and grow a crack is largely dependant on the first to factors. In addition to these three basic factors, there are a host of other variables, such as stress concentration, corrosion, temperature, overload, metallurgical structure, and residual stresses which can affect the propensity for fatigue. Since fatigue cracks generally initiate at a surface, the surface condition of the component being loaded will have an effect on its fatigue life. Surface roughness is important because it is directly related to the level and number of stress concentrations on the surface. The higher the stress concentration the more likely a crack is to nucleate. Smooth surfaces increase the time to nucleation. Notches, scratches, and other stress risers decrease fatigue life. Surface residual stress will also have a significant effect on fatigue life. Compressive residual stresses from machining, cold working, heat treating will oppose a tensile load and thus lower the amplitude of cyclic loading. The figure shows several types of loading that could initiate a fatigue crack. The upper left figure shows sinusoidal loading going from a tensile stress to a compressive stress. For this type of stress cycle the maximum and minimum stresses are equal. Tensile stress is considered positive, and compressive stress is negative. The figure in the upper right shows sinusoidal loading with the minimum and maximum stresses both in the tensile realm. Cyclic compression loading can also cause fatigue. The lower figure shows variable-amplitude loading, which might be experienced by a bridge or airplane wing or any other component that experiences changing loading patterns. In variable-amplitude loading, only those cycles exceeding some peak threshold will contribute to fatigue cracking. S-N Fatigue Properties. There are two general types of fatigue tests conducted. One test focuses on the nominal stress required to cause a fatigue failure in some number of cycles. This test results in data presented as a plot of stress (S) against the number of cycles to failure (N), which is known as an S-N curve. A log scale is almost always used for N. The data is obtained by cycling smooth or notched specimens until failure. The usual procedure is to test the first specimen at a high peak stress where failure is expected in a fairly short number of cycles. The test stress is decreased for each succeeding specimen until one or two specimens do not fail in the specified numbers of cycles, which is usually at least 107 cycles. The highest stress at which a runout (non-failure) occurs is taken as the fatigue threshold. Not all materials have a fatigue threshold (most nonferrous metallic alloys do not) and for these materials the test is usually terminated after about 108 or 5108 cycles. Since the amplitude of the cyclic loading has a major effect on the fatigue performance, the S-N relationship is determined for one specific loading amplitude. The amplitude is express as the R ratio value, which is the minimum peak stress divided by the maximum peak stress. (R=ÏÆ'min/ÏÆ'max). It is most common to test at an R ratio of 0.1 but families of curves, with each curve at a different R ratio, are often developed. A variation to the cyclic stress controlled fatigue test is the cyclic strain controlled test. In this test, the strain amplitude is held constant during cycling. Strain controlled cyclic loading is more representative of the loading found in thermal cycling, where a component expands and contracts in response to fluctuations in the operating temperature. It should be noted that there are several short comings of S-N fatigue data. First, the conditions of the test specimens do not always represent actual service conditions. For example, components with surface conditions, such as pitting from corrosion, which differs from the condition of the test specimens will have significantly different fatigue performance. Furthermore, there is often a considerable amount of scatter in fatigue data even when carefully machined standard specimens out of the same lot of material are used. Since there is considerable scatter in the data, a reduction factor is often applied to the S-N curves to provide conservative values for the design of components. Introduction to Materials: This section will provide a basic introduction to materials and material fabrication processing. It is important that NDT personnel have some background in material science for a couple of reasons. First, nondestructive testing almost always involves the interaction of energy of some type (mechanics, sound, electricity, magnetism or radiation) with a material. To understand how energy interacts with a material, it is necessary to know a little about the material. Secondly, NDT often involves detecting manufacturing defects and service induced damage and, therefore, it is necessary to understand how defects and damage occur. This section will begin with an introduction to the four common types of engineering materials. The structure of materials at the atomic level will then be considered, along with some atomic level features that give materials their characteristic properties. Some of the properties that are important for the structural performance of a material and methods for modifying these properties will also be covered. In the second half of this text, methods used to shape and form materials into useful shapes will be discussed. Some of the defects that can occur during the manufacturing process, as well as service induced damage will be highlighted. This section will conclude with a summary of the role that NDT plays in ensuring the structural integrity of a component. In materials science, fracture toughness is a property which describes the ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture, and is one of the most important properties of any material for virtually all design applications. It is denoted KIc and has the units of . The subscript Ic denotes mode I crack opening under a normal tensile stress perpendicular to the crack, since the material can be made thick enough to resist shear (mode II) or tear (mode III). Fracture toughness is a quantitative way of expressing a materials resistance to brittle fracture when a crack is present. If a material has a large value of fracture toughness it will probably undergo ductile fracture. Brittle fracture is very characteristic of materials with a low fracture toughness value. [1] Fracture mechanics, which leads to the concept of fracture toughness, was largely based on the work of A. A. Griffith who, among other things, studied the behavior of cracks in brittle materials. Crack growth as a stability problem: Consider a body with flaws (cracks) that is subject to some loading; the stability of the crack can be assessed as follows. We can assume for simplicity that the loading is of constant displacement or displacement controlled type (such as loading with a screw jack); we can also simplify the discussion by characterizing the crack by its area, A. If we consider an adjacent state of the body as being one with a larger crack (area A+dA), we can then assess strain energy in the two states and evaluate strain energy release rate. The rate is reckoned with respect to the change in crack area, so if we use U for strain energy, the strain energy release rate is numerically dU/dA. It may be noted that for a body loaded in constant displacement mode, the displacement is applied and the force level is dictated by stiffness (or compliance) of the body. If the crack grows in size, the stiffness decreases, so the force level will decrease. This decrease in force level under the same displacement (strain) level indicates that the elastic strain energy stored in the body is decreasing is being released. Hence the term strain energy release rate which is usually denoted with symbol G. The strain energy release rate is higher for higher loads and larger cracks. If the strain energy so released exceeds a critical value Gc, then the crack will grow spontaneously. For brittle materials, Gc can be equated to the surface energy of the (two) new crack surfaces; in other words, in brittle materials, a crack will grow spontaneously if the strain energy released is equal to or greater than the energy required to grow the crack surface(s). The stability condition can be written as; Elastic energy released = surface energy created: If the elastic energy releases is less than the critical value, then the crack will not grow; equality signifies neutral stability and if the strain energy release rate exceeds the critical value, the crack will start growing in an unstable manner. For ductile materials, energy associated with plastic deformation has to be taken into account. When there is plastic deformation at the crack tip (as occurs most often in metals) the energy to propagate the crack may increase by several orders of magnitude as the work related to plastic deformation may be much larger than the surface energy. In such cases, the stability criterion has to restated as; Elastic energy released = surface energy + plastic deformation energy; Practically, this means a higher value for the critical value Gc. From the definition of G, we can deduce that it has dimensions of work (or energy) /area or force/length. For ductile metals GIc is around 50 to 200 kJ/m2, for brittle metals it is usually 1-5 and for glasses and brittle polymers it is almost always less than 0.5. The I subscript here refers to mode I or crack opening mode as described in the section on fracture mechanics. The problem can also be formulated in terms of stress instead of energy, leading to the terms stress intensity factor K (or KI for mode I) and critical stress intensity factor Kc (and KIc). These Kc and KIc (etc) quantities are commonly referred to as fracture toughness, though it is equivalent to use Gc. Typical values for KIcare 150 MN/m3/2 for ductile (very tough) metals, 25 for brittle ones and 1-10 for glasses and brittle polymers. Notice the different units used by GIc and KIc. Engineers tend to use the latter as an indication of toughness. Transformation toughening: Composites exhibiting the highest level of fracture toughness are typically made of a pure alumina or some silica-alumina (SiO2 /Al2O3) matrix with tiny inclusions of zirconia (ZrO2) dispersed as uniformly as possible within the solid matrix. (*Note: a wet chemical approach is typically necessary in order to establish the compositional uniformity of the ceramic body before firing). The process of transformation toughening is based on the assumption that zirconia undergoes several martensitic (displacive, diffusionless) phase transformations (cubic → tetragonal → monoclinic) between room temperature and practical sintering (or firing) temperatures. Thus, due to the volume restrictions induced by the solid matrix, metastable crystalline structures can become frozen in which impart an internal strain field surrounding each zirconia inclusion upon cooling. This enables a zirconia particle (or inclusion) to absorb the energy of an approaching crack tip front in its nearby vicinity. Thus, the application of large shear stresses during fracture nucleates the transformation of a zirconia inclusion from the metastable phase. The subsequent volume expansion from the inclusion (via an increase in the height of the unit cell) introduces compressive stresses which therefore strengthen the matrix near the approaching crack tip front. Zirconia whiskers may be used expressly for this purpose. Appropriately referred to by its first dicoverers as ceramic steel, the stress intensity factor values for window glass (silica), transformation toughened alumina, and a typical iron/carbon steel range from 1 to 20 to 50 respectively. Conjoint action: There are number of instances where this picture of a critical crack is modified by corrosion. Thus, fretting corrosion occurs when a corrosive medium is present at the interface between two rubbing surfaces. Fretting (in the absence of corrosion) results from the disruption of very small areas that bond and break as the surfaces undergo friction, often under vibrating conditions. The bonding contact areas deform under the localised pressure and the two surfaces gradually wear away. Fracture mechanics dictates that each minute localised fracture has to satisfy the general rule that the elastic energy released as the bond fractures has to exceed the work done in plastically deforming it and in creating the (very tiny) fracture surfaces. This process is enhanced when corrosion is present, not least because the corrosion products act as an abrasive between the rubbing surfaces. Fatigue is another instance where cyclical stressing, this time of a bulk lump of metal, causes small flaws to develop. Ultimately one such flaw exceeds the critical condition and fracture propagates across the whole structure. The fatigue life of a component is the time it takes for criticality to be reached, for a given regime of cyclical stress. Corrosion fatigue is what happens when a cyclically stressed structure is subjected to a corrosive environment at the same time. This not only serves to initiate surface cracks but (see below) actually modifies the crack growth process. As a result the fatigue life is shortened, often considerably. Stress-corrosion cracking (SCC): Main article: Stress corrosion cracking: This phenomenon is the unexpected sudden failure of normally ductile metals subjected to a constant tensile stress in a corrosive environment. Certain austenitic stainless steels and aluminium alloys crack in the presence of chlorides, mild steel cracks in the present of alkali (boiler cracking) and copper alloys crack in ammoniacal solutions (season cracking). Worse still, high-tensile structural steels crack in an unexpectedly brittle manner in a whole variety of aqueous environments, especially chloride. With the possible exception of the latter, which is a special example of hydrogen cracking, all the others display the phenomenon of subcritical crack growth, i.e. small surface flaws propagate (usually smoothly) under conditions where fracture mechanics predicts that failure should not occur. That is, in the presence of a corrodent, cracks develop and propagate well below KIc. In fact, the subcritical value of the stress intensity, designated as KIscc, may be less than 1% of KIc, The subcritical nature of propagation may be attributed to the chemical energy released as the crack propagates. That is, Elastic energy released + chemical energy = surface energy + deformation energy: The crack initiates at KIscc and thereafter propagates at a rate governed by the slowest process, which most of the time is the rate at which corrosive ions can diffuse to the crack tip. As the crack advances so K rises (because crack length appears in the calculation of stress intensity). Finally it reaches KIc , whereupon fast fracture ensues and the component fails. One of the practical difficulties with SCC is its unexpected nature. Stainless steels, for example, are employed because under most conditions they are passive, i.e. effectively inert. Very often one finds a single crack has propagated while the rest of the metal surface stays apparently unaffected. See also: Fracture. Fracture mechanics. Brittle-ductile transition zone. Charpy impact test. Izod impact strength test. Toughness of ceramics by indention. Stress corrosion cracking. Toughness. References: Hertzberg, Richard W. (1995-12). Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials (4 ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0471012149. AR Boccaccini, S Atiq, DN Boccaccini, I Dlouhy, C Kaya (2005). Fracture behaviour of mullite fibre reinforced-mullite matrix composites under quasi-static and ballistic impact loading. Composites Science and Technology 65: 325 333. doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2004.08.002. Other References: Anderson, T.L., Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications (CRC Press, Boston 1995). Davidge, R.W., Mechanical Behavior of Ceramics (Cambridge University Press 1979). Lawn, B., Fracture of Brittle Solids (Cambridge University Press 1993, 2nd edition). Knott, Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics (1973). Foroulis (ed.), Environmentally-Sensitive Fracture of Engineering Materials (1979). Suresh, S., Fatigue of Materials (Cambridge University Press 1998, 2nd edition). West, J.M., Basic Corrosion Oxidation (Horwood 1986, 2nd edn), chap.12. Green, D.J.; Hannink, R.; Swain, M.V. (1989). Transformation Toughening of Ceramics, Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-6594-5. http://www.sv.vt.edu/classes/MSE2094_NoteBook/97ClassProj/exper/gordon/www/fractough.html. http://www.springerlink.com/content/v2m7u4qm53172069/fulltext.pdf sriram. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fracture_toughness A fracture is the (local) separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress. The word fracture is

Grey Market

A  grey market  or  gray market  also known as parallel market  is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer. Unlike  black market  goods, grey-market goods are legal. However, they are sold outside normal distribution channels by companies which may have no relationship with the producer of the goods. Frequently this form of  parallel import  occurs when the price of an item is significantly higher in one country than another. This situation commonly occurs with electronic equipment such as  cameras. Entrepreneurs  buy the product where it is available cheaply, often at retail but sometimes at wholesale, and import it legally to the target market. They then sell it at a price high enough to provide a profit but under the normal market price. International efforts to promote  free trade, including reduced  tariffs  and harmonized national standards, facilitate this form of arbitrage  whenever manufacturers attempt to preserve highly disparate pricing. Because of the nature of grey markets, it is difficult or impossible to track the precise numbers of grey-market sales. Grey-market goods are often new, but some grey market goods are  used goods. A market in used goods is sometimes nicknamed a Green Market. The parties most concerned with the grey market are usually the authorized agents or importers, or the retailers of the item in the target market. Often this is the national subsidiary of the manufacturer, or a related company. In response to the resultant damage to their profits and reputation, manufacturers and their official distribution chain will often seek to restrict the grey market. Such responses can breach  competition law, particularly in the European Union. Manufacturers or their licensees often seek to enforce  trademark  or other  intellectual-property  rights against the grey market. Such rights may be exercised against the import, sale and/or advertisement of grey imports. In 2002,  Levi Strauss, after a 4-year legal fight, prevented UK supermarket Tesco  from selling grey market jeans. However, such rights can be limited. Examples of such limitations include the  first-sale doctrine  in the United States and the doctrine of the  exhaustion of rights  in the European Union. Manufactures power towards the Grey Market When grey-market products are advertised on  Google,  eBay  or other legitimate web sites, it is possible to petition for removal of any advertisements that violate trademark or copyright laws. This can be done directly, without the involvement of legal professionals. eBay , for example, will remove listings of such products even in countries where their purchase and use is not against the law. * Manufacturers may refuse to supply distributors and retailers (and with commercial products, customers) that trade in grey-market goods. * They may also more broadly limit supplies in markets where prices are low. Manufacturers may refuse to honour the warranty of an item purchased from grey-market sources, on the grounds that the higher price on the non-grey market reflects a higher level of service even though the manufacturer does of course control their own prices to distributors. * Alternatively, they may provide the warranty service only from the manufacturer's subsidiary in the intended country of import, not the diverted third country where the grey goods are ultimately sold by the distributor or retailer. This response to the grey market is especially evident in electronics goods. Identifying the Grey Market Product * Manufacturers may give the same item different model numbers in different countries, even though the functions of the item are identical, so that they can identify grey imports. * Manufacturers can also use batch codes to enable similar tracing of grey imports. Parallel market importers often de-code the product in order to avoid the identification of the supplier. In the United States, courts have decided that decoding which blemishes the product is a material alteration, rendering the product infringed. Parallel market importers have worked around this limitation by developing new removal techniques. * The development of  DVD region codes, and equivalent  regional-lockout  techniques in other media, are examples of technological features designed to limit the flow of goods between national markets, effectively fighting the grey market that would otherwise develop. This enables movie studios and other content creators to charge more for the same product in one market than in another or alternatively withhold the product from some markets for a particular time. ————————————————- Five reasons for not buying a grey market product ————————————————- ————————————————- The grey market holds a lot of attraction for a number of people looking for tech products. In many cases, it provides people with products that have not been officially released in their countries (consider the iPad) and in others, allows them to buy a product at a much lower rate – a grey market iPhone 3GS for instance comes for around Rs 28,000 as compared to its prim and proper counterpart, which costs in the vicinity of Rs 35,000. However, making a purchase from the grey market comes with its own set of pitfalls, some of which can be significant. Here’s a look at five of the biggest ones. 1. No assurance of authenticity:   No matter how well you know the dealer from whom you have bought the product, you have virtually any way of knowing that what you have got is a genuine, first-hand article. There is a chance that you might end up with a second-hand product that has been repackaged. 2. Absence of warranty and support:  Products purchased from the grey market are not covered by official warranty and support. So the Lord help you if something goes wrong with it – you will have to head right back to the grey market to get it repaired, without any assurance whatsoever that things will be fine. 3. No updates:  In the case of many grey market products, software updates are simply not possible. You therefore run the risk of not getting the latest improvements the company might have made to a product. Many people using pirated versions of Windows have been unable to install the special packages Microsoft released for the software. 4. Limited functionality:  A number of products will work only with limited functionality if you purchase them from â€Å"unofficial† sources. For example, those who have purchased their PS3 from the grey market might have trouble playing games online. 5. No receipt:  A grey market purchase being not strictly legal, you are unlikely to get a proper receipt for your product, which effectively prevents you from showing it in your accounts, when you head to the taxman to show your revenues and expenses. The Darker Shades of the Grey Market The grey market has long been an issue for manufacturers and their retailers, but the problem has grown exponentially because of the Internet. The simple definition of the grey market is â€Å"the sale of products by unauthorized dealers, frequently at discounted prices. † Grey market worries go way beyond the scuba industry. It is a global issue for manufacturers as large as Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Xerox, and a major worry for retailers as sophisticated as Best Buy. It is also a problem within numerous industries, some of which you wouldn't guess. For example, broadcasting has its grey market resellers of Dish Network and DIRECTV. And consider the wine business — for marketing purposes wine is sold for much less money in parts of Europe. Because of the price disparity it is possible to buy wine from an authorized distributor, say in France, and resell it in the United States, often for less than the wholesale price of a U. S. authorized distributor. No, the scuba equipment industry is not uniquely paranoid. You are not alone in your concernsGrey market goods are not necessarily illegal, so some ask, â€Å"What is the harm, especially when consumers can benefit from lower prices? † The answer is that the grey market undermines normal distribution channels. It does this in a number of ways. The most obvious is that products that are diverted to unauthorized resellers usually end up competing with a manufacturer's legitimate dealers with substantially lower prices. This devalues the products, reduces everyone's profits, and alienates the manufacturers' dealers. It also puts the manufacturers' network of dealers, and thus the manufacturers' future distribution, at risk. Pricing is a big issue. The argument that lower prices benefit consumers is grossly incorrect. In a service business the grey market winds up hurting everyone, including the consumer. As price cutting gets out of hand and retailers have to compete with price their margins suffer. Consider that, as a general rule, a 10 percent reduction in a retailer's gross profit requires the retailer to sell to 50 percent more customers to earn the same profit dollars. In a specialty business like scuba that increase is near impossible to achieve. The grey market puts the business of the legitimate dealers in jeopardy. That pressure goes up the line to the manufacturers who are forced to watch their dealer base dwindle, and/or make concessions to dealers to help them compete. Then manufacturer margins suffer. In diving, many companies work on slim net margins, so when the gross margins suffer†¦. Let's put the price and margin factors aside for a moment. Another large issue is that since manufacturers have no control over unauthorized dealers, products and brands can be devalued not just from (the consumer's perception that results from the) low pricing, but because of negative issues surrounding consumer protection, product integrity, service and warranties, and recall notifications. In short, when a manufacturer loses control of its distribution, negative consumer experiences can damage the goodwill and reputation of a brand. And finally, a manufacturer's product pricing structure includes its costs for marketing, promotion, product research and development, product liability and regulatory compliance. Although unauthorized resellers benefit from selling the products, they do not contribute to these expenses. It's a very important consideration that for consumers, the scuba business is as much about service as it is about equipment. The service component becomes such a tangible part of every product's retail price. The profit represents no less than your consumers' access to this sport. And anyone who thinks that price is the pressing issue for our customers doesn't understand the importance of service in the consumer's perception of a product's value. In other words, in this business consumers expect retailers to supply them all of the other (including the social) aspects of the sport. Of course, there's a limit to that loyalty when it's tested by low grey market prices. In short, anyone who thinks that the grey market's lower prices are good for consumers is wrong. It's a Tactical Issue Unauthorized dealers acquire products in a number of ways. In scuba, as in the wine example above, much of the product comes from overseas, where favorable exchange rates or pricing structures make America an attractive market. Unauthorized dealers also work to acquire product from sources within the authorized dealer network. I would like to emphasize again that people in the diving business tend to see their industry as paranoid, too provincial, too protective of retailers. But you are not. In fact, in all industries afflicted by the grey market, concerned manufacturers use a number of tactics to fight those sales. In the electronics industry, for example, Sony and many others won't honor the warranty on products bought through the grey market. The U. S. division of Nikon goes further. They will only service products that are purchased through an authorized retailer. It declines grey-market repairs even if a customer is willing to pay for them. Another lever that manufacturers use is the threat of prosecution of trademark laws to restrict advertisements for the products. So when grey market products are advertised on Web sites it is possible to petition for removal of advertisements that violate trademark or copyright laws. Our business, Net Enforcers, has been helping companies combat grey-market distribution of their wares. We understand the darker sides of the grey market because we work in a number of industries for some very large companies like Samsung and Sony as well as for many of the manufacturers in the scuba industry. The companies hire us as a private police force to monitor Web sites for illegal use of product photography, copyrighted product descriptions, trademark logos and branding material. We also look for false or fraudulent statements of warranty or statements to the effect that the manufacturer supports the product they sell. We're the plumbers, finding leaks in the distribution pipes through sophisticated methods of investigation. When we find sites that we suspect are illegitimate, we issue takedown notices, a method of copyright enforcement that compels Internet service providers to pull suspected copyright infringements. The purpose of this piece is to explain the problem that the grey market has become in many industries and why you are right to be concerned about it, and to encourage your industry to continue working to keep it in check. This s especially critical because the dive business is so safety- and service-oriented, and its retailers create diving's customers. It's why maintaining the integrity of brands, products and pricing requires an especially strong commitment to stay within the proper distribution channels. PRESENCE OF GREY MARKET: Grey Market is present in many industries. Some of them are: * Automobiles * Cell phones * Computer games * Pharmaceuticals * Pianos * Photographic equipm ent * Broadcasting * With securities * IPO * Electronics * Textbooks

Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Good Argumentative Research Essay Topics Is Wrong and What You Should Know

Why Almost Everything You've Learned About Good Argumentative Research Essay Topics Is Wrong and What You Should Know Finding Good Argumentative Research Essay Topics Online You won't even notice the way the hours of research pass, as you'll be too absorbed with the new intriguing facts that you locate in the procedure. Perhaps, you believe that now you must sit and create the ideal essay topics all on your own, which may take a great deal of time and energy. Nonetheless, the procedure will certainly help you gather your thoughts, and you'll eventually find something worthy of writing on. If you feel you will need assistance with your written assignments it is preferable to request skilled help from online writing service. Thus, the maturation of your argumentative thinking won't only award you with a tall grade for your paper but also help you to be successful in the actual world when working on the resolution of the actual problems. Morality has a collection of unsolved problems, the solution on which usually presents a decision. You should think about a task to locate a theme not an issue but an opportunity and even a benefit. Print and other benefits and society essaystechnology impacts the topic. The primary goal of topic choice for a proposal essay is to demonstrate the idea can be put into place in practice. A conclusion is, undoubtedly, the most crucial portion of the argumentative essay because you can either support the very good impression or destroy it entirely. The major goal is to evoke the discussion and persuade the upcoming reader your position is undoubtedly correct and your arguments are invincible. There are a lot of things to argue when it regards the law. Try out another topic and do the exact same 5-minute writing test till you locate a topic you know it is simple to write on. If you get to select your own topic, that's fantastic. You will obviously not have the capacity to predict the precise topic that will come up. Quite frequently, the very best topic is one which you truly care about, but you also will need to get ready to research it. The topic has to be interesting, the topic has to be essential and finally the topic has to be informative. If it's necessary to compose your whole essay in 1 day, do your very best to give yourself breaks so you don't burn out. Remember you can make funny argumentative essays if you do a few things. When it has to do with writing an argumentative essay, the most essential point to do is to select a topic and an argument that you could really get behind. You don't need to find super technical with legal argumentative essays, but be certain to do your homework on what the recent laws about your favorite topic actually say. The more research you can do in order to secure better at your upcoming profession, the better. Choose a law and explain why it's so important to you. There are many steps which you should take so as to write a great essay. Even if you're a specialist in a particular field, don't be afraid to use and cite external sources. In any case, direct and indirect quotes are necessary to support your understanding of academic writing style. Finding the most suitable arguments can help you prove your point and win. When you are requested to opt for a great topic for your argument, start with something you're familiarized with. Deciding on your topic isn't that easy. Position essays are extremely typical in high school. Moreover, in-text citations will present your awareness of the various papers formats. In the event you seek a web-based service to provide you the very best essay topics in English, we're here to be at your services.

The Disadvantages Of Using Qualitative Interviewing

Sewell discusses the disadvantages of using qualitative interviewing; these include that subjects may be responsive to personalities, moods, and interpersonal dynamics between the interviewer and the interviewee than methods such as surveys. Analysing and interpreting qualitative interviews is much more time-consuming than analysing and interpreting quantitative interviews, because they are more subjective than quantitative interviews as the researcher decides which quotes or specific examples to report (Sewell: 1998). The other research method being conducted in the form of case studies has the advantages that it does not rely on sampling, as it studies a social unite in entire perspectives. It is a useful method for forming a hypothesis for further study, furthermore it increases the knowledge of the researcher to have a higher analytical power (Farooq: 2013). They are also a beneficial choice of research method due to their flexibility, case studies can be conducted at any point of the research process. There are however drawbacks of this method, case studies are a subjective method rather than objective so bias could easily occur (Farooq: 2013). Murphy said that researchers sometimes fall into a trap of assuming case study data speaks for itself and they fail to explain their findings, this drawback would result in a less meaningful presentation of data if not done correctly (Murphy: 2014). This research paper decided against using the positivism paradigm methodologyShow MoreRelatedEssay on Marketing Research: Primary vs. Secondary Research1195 Words   |  5 PagesSecondary data is data that have been previously gathered for some other purpose.† (Burns Bush, 2006). This paper will explore the differences in primary and secondary research when using qualitative and quantitative approaches. 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