A custom-built vacuum induction melting (VIM) equipment is set to expand thermal processing for a manufacturer, whose operations already has two VIM solutions.
The furnace will be fabricated at the Buffalo headquarters of Retech, a SECO/WARWICK Group subsidiary, to capitalize on available schedule improvements. As custom equipment, the subsidiary’s furnaces are not dependent on assembly-line style construction, so they can be fabricated and assembled just in either location.
While this client prefers not to divulge this VIM’s application, Retech’s solution can handle casting a wide range of materials used in applications from automotive and consumer products to critical, high-value equiaxed, directionally solidified, or single-crystal aerospace parts. Almost every furnace Retech makes is modified to meet the specifications and associated applications of its clients.
VIM from the Retech Buffalo, NY location.
Source: SECO/WARWICK
Richard B. Conway Founder/Director/CTO DELTA H® Technologies, LLC Source: DELTA H
Multiple military facilities now operate more than 50 heat treat systems from a North American furnace and oven supplier. These facilities include Air National Guard bases, USAF bases stateside, Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii, Air Bases in Japan, Germany, United Kingdom – Royal Air Force, Middle East, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Army facilities.
The systems from DELTA H included either single, dual or triple chamber designs of both the heavy duty commercial aviation standard models DCAHT® / SCAHT® Series, the supplier’s Defender Series – developed for the armed forces, and aircraft composite walk-in ovens.
All systems are in full compliance to NAVAIR Tech Order 1-1A-9, and meet AMS2750 accountability standards for accuracy, temperature uniformity, calibration, and secure batch records.
Ellen Conway Merrill with USAF Metal Technology personnel Source: DELTA H TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Richard Conway, director & CTO of DELTA H®, shares: “It is a deep honor and humbling for the DELTA H team to support our armed forces. We take the utmost care to ensure the best of our craftsmanship and abilities are utilized to deliver the finest heat treating equipment for aircraft maintenance to our Warfighters.”
Military personnel are provided full operator and heat treating and maintenance training, as well as on-site qualifying assistance to meet and maintain the stringent pyrometry standards. Successful trainees receive Certificates of Training as qualified to use their DELTA H® furnace for heat treatment of aircraft parts.
This press release is available available upon request.
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Sudosilo S.A., a commercial heat treatment service provider in South America, is bringing premier nitriding to the Argentine industrial sector with the recent commissioning of turnkey heat treat installation. This newly operational nitriding system represents a significant milestone as the first of its kind in Argentina, offering third-party heat treatment services to the region.
Source: Nitrex
The integration of this system from NITREX — a global supplier of heat treat systems with North American locations — is set to establish a new benchmark for quality and precision in nitriding treatments. Particularly, it will help Sudosilo cater to various sectors, including aluminum injection, aluminum extrusion, forging, and oil applications.
Jerónimo Alberto Colazo Production Manager Sudosilo
Jerónimo Alberto Colazo, production manager at Sudosilo, highlighted, “The competitive edge of this installation lies in its meticulous control and automation capabilities, ensuring process stability and the ability to generate specialized processes and recipes tailored to unique requirements of each application. This high level of customization and precision guarantees superior quality, meeting the intricate demands of industries served by Sudosilo.”
This press release is available in its original form here.
Kittyhawk, Inc., backed by the Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital, has acquired Stack HIP, LLC from Stack Metallurgical Group (SMG). The acquisition represents a significant expansion of capacity and capabilities in hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for aerospace, space, defense, and medical applications.
Operating from its facility in Albany, OR, Stack HIP provides HIP services to aerospace, defense, and medical clients by operating the largest high-pressure HIP vessels in North America. This enables them to process large, complex castings and additively manufactured metallic parts. Post-closing, SMG will continue to operate its classical heat treatment and aluminum special processing facilities in Portland, OR, Spokane, WA, and Salt Lake City, UT.
Brandon Creason President Kittyhawk
“We’re excited to welcome Stack HIP customers, employees, and suppliers into the Kittyhawk family,” said BrandonCreason, president of Kittyhawk. “Stack HIP will allow Kittyhawk to service mission critical parts up to 63” in diameter, enabling us to process the full array of components for our customers. At Kittyhawk, we commit every day to providing the best service and quality to our customers, and we’re thrilled to now do that with the added capabilities and dedicated employees of Stack HIP.”
Doug Puerta CEO Stack Metallurgical Group
Doug Puerta, CEO of SMG commented, “We look forward to continued collaboration with Kittyhawk to deliver a differentiated level of service, quality, and value to our shared customers. This transaction will allow both companies to further drive capacity, quality, and capabilities in our respective services to best serve the PNW market.”
“This is an important step in growing the platform specialized in this highly-differentiated HIP capability. [Kittyhawk] continues to benefit from strong industry tailwinds, and we are excited to support our customers by investing in capacity,” said David Stinnett, partner at Trive.
This press release is available in its original form upon request.
In a move aimed at elevating its manufacturing capabilities, a leading jet engine manufacturer is gearing up to integrate two vapor phase aluminizing (VPA) coating furnaces during the first half of 2024.
These high-capacity, low-maintenance automated retort VPA furnaces from G-M Enterprises, a Nitrexcompany, are purposefully engineered with moving bases and a fixed heat chamber, enhancing operational efficiency. Each retort is sealed to the moving bases, allowing for concurrent handling of two loads, each containing three coating cans. The result is a streamlined process that runs two cycles back-to-back, completing the treatment in just over 24 hours. The automated furnace supports unattended start-ups, empowering operators to focus on preparing loads for the second system which facilitates concurrent operations for heightened productivity.
VPA furnace from G-M Enterprises, a Nitrex company
Source: Nitrex
Robert Huckins, national sales manager at G-M Enterprises, emphasized that the "VPA furnaces ensure seamless operations, providing our customer with a competitive edge in production capacity. This is crucial in meeting escalating demand while delivering high-performance and longer-lasting blades and vanes vital for high-temperature fired engines.”
A feature of the VPA design is the raised fixed heat chamber, effectively shielding operators and the furnace room against potential heat exposure. This innovation eliminates the need for cumbersome protective heat suits. The hot retort remains securely housed within the insulated furnace, prioritizing operator well-being. Furthermore, this safety measure confines the load base and retort/coating load within the SAR/VPA furnace housing until the retort temperature drops below 150°C (300°F).
This strategic investment not only underscores the manufacturer’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements but also solidifies a lasting partnership.
This press release is available in its original form here.
Sometimes our editors find items that are not exactly “heat treat” but do deal with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing.
To celebrate getting to the “fringe” of the weekend, Heat Treat Today presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday: an exciting development in metal 3D printing that one might even say is "out of this world."
Rob Postema Technical Officer ESA
Metal 3D printing will soon take place in orbit for the first time. A pioneering European-made metal 3D printer is on its way to the International Space Station on the Cygnus NG-20 resupply mission which launched January 30, 2024.
“This new 3D printer printing metal parts represents a world first, at a time of growing interest in in-space manufacturing,” explains ESA technical officer Rob Postema. “Polymer-based 3D printers have already been launched to, and used aboard the ISS, using plastic material that is heated at the printer’s head, then deposited to build up the desired object, one layer at a time.
“Metal 3D printing represents a greater technical challenge, involving much higher temperatures and metal being melted using a laser. With this, the safety of the crew and the Station itself have to be ensured – while maintenance possibilities are also very limited. If successful though, the strength, conductivity and rigidity of metal would take the potential of in-space 3D printing to new heights.”
Once arrived at the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will prepare and install the approximately 180 kg Metal 3D printer in the European Draw Rack Mark II in ESA’s Columbus module. After installation, the printer will be controlled and monitored from Earth, so the printing can take place without Andreas’s oversight.
Metal 3D printer in operation on Earth
Source: ESA
The Metal 3D Printer technology demonstrator has been developed by an industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space SAS – also co-funding the project – under contract to ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.
“This in-orbit demonstration is the result of close collaboration between ESA and Airbus' small, dynamic team of engineers,” comments Patrick Crescence, project manager at Airbus. “But this is not just a step into the future; it's a leap for innovation in space exploration. It paves the way for manufacturing more complex metallic structures in space. That is a key asset for securing exploration of Moon and Mars.”
The printer will be printing using a type of stainless-steel commonly used in medical implants and water treatment due to its good resistance to corrosion.
The stainless-steel wire is fed into the printing area, which is heated by a high-power laser, about a million times time more powerful than your average laser pointer. As the wire dips into the melt pool, the end of the wire melts and metal is then added to the print.
ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya from the ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, provided technical support to the project: “The melt pool of the print process is very small, in the order of a millimetre across, so that the liquid metal’s surface tension holds it securely in place in weightlessness. Even so, the melting point of stainless steel is about 1400 °C so the printer operates within a fully sealed box, preventing excess heat or fumes from reaching the crew of the Space Station. And before the print process begins the printer’s internal oxygen atmosphere has to be vented to space, replaced by nitrogen – the hot stainless steel would oxidise if it became exposed to the oxygen.”
Four interesting shapes have been chosen to test the performance of the Metal 3D printer. These first objects will be compared to the same shapes printed on ground, called reference prints, to see how the space environment affects the printing process. The four prints are all smaller than a soda can in size, weigh less than 250 g per print, and takes about two to four weeks to print. The scheduled print time is limited to four hours daily, due to noise regulations on the Space Station – the printer’s fans and motor of the printer are relatively noisy.
Once a shape has been printed, Andreas will remove it from the printer and pack it for safe travels back to Earth for processing and analysis, to understand the differences in printing quality and performance in space, as opposed to Earth.
Metal 3D printer test print
Source: ESA
One reference and 0xg print, which is a part of a dedicated tool, will go to the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. Another two will be headed to the technical heart of ESA, the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), where a team at the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory awaits the samples for macro and micro analysis of the printed parts. The final print will go to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), who proposed its shape, and will investigate its thermal properties in support of e.g. future antenna alignment.
“As a technology demonstration project, our aim is to prove the potential of metal 3D printing in space,” adds Rob. “We’ve already learned a lot getting to this point and hope to learn a lot more, on the way to making in-space manufacturing and assembly a practical proposition.”
One of ESA’s goals for future development is to create a circular space economy and recycle materials in orbit to allow for a better use of resources. One way would be to repurpose bits from old satellites into new tools or structures. The 3D printer would eliminate the need to send a tool up with a rocket and allow the astronauts to print the needed parts in orbit.
Tommaso Ghidini, head of the mechanical department at ESA, notes: “Metal 3D in space printing is a promising capability to support future exploration activities, but also beyond, to contribute to more sustainable space activities, through in-situ manufacturing, repair and perhaps recycling of space structures, for a wide range of applications. This includes in-orbit large infrastructure manufacturing and assembly as well as planetary long-term human settlement. These aspects are key focuses in ESA's upcoming technology cross-cutting initiatives.”
Thomas Rohr, overseeing ESA's Materials and Processes Section, adds: “This technology demonstration, showcasing the processing of metallic materials in microgravity, paves the way for future endeavours to manufacture infrastructure beyond the confines of Earth.”
This press release from The European Space Agency can be found in its original form here.
Norsk Titanium, a global additive manufacturing supplier for aerospace-grade structural titanium components, announces delivery of flight critical aircraft structure to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), a leading developer of unmanned aircraft systems and prime contractor to the US Department of Defense.
Under a development contract with GA-ASI’s Additive Design & Manufacturing Center of Excellence, Norsk Titanium has delivered RPD® final machined components for test and evaluation. GA-ASI will conduct destructive testing in support of specification and part development.
Said Nicholas Mayer, president of commercial at Norsk, “After an extensive collaborative qualification effort over the past few years with Norsk Titanium, GA-ASI plans to apply the qualified process to structural components within their next generation platforms currently under development, and is planning on their first flight of a critical, structurally loaded component, within the 2024-2025 timeframe.”
Norsk Titanium has recently announced qualification and production milestones in their core commercial aerospace titanium market.
This press release can be found in its original form here.
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Stephen Harris
Group Chief Executive
Bodycote
Source: LinkedIn
Bodycote has announced its acquisition of Lake City Heat Treating, based in Warsaw, Indiana, which was successfully completed on January 19, 2024. The midwestern heat treater is a leading medical market provider of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and vacuum heat treatment services, primarily supplying the orthopedic implant market as well as civil aerospace.
Stephen Harris, group chief executive of Bodycote plc, commented: "This acquisition is an excellent fit, and it allows us to better address the growth opportunities in the medical and aerospace markets." With this acquisition, the heat treater will increase their range of specialist thermal processing and heat treatment solutions available to these industries.
Lake City Heat Treating is forecast to have achieved 2023 full year revenues of around $14m (£11m). The business revenue grew 30% in 2023 and looking ahead is expected to continue to deliver good progress.
Their constant growth reflects the high-quality business that has successfully gained share among distinguished medical and aerospace OEMs. The acquisition fits with Bodycote’s strategy to grow its Specialist Technologies businesses.
This Bodycote press release can be found in its original form here.
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Effective November 30, 2023, Joe A. Powell has sold his remaining shares in Akron Steel Treating Company, his family’s commercial heat treating business for over 80 years in Akron, Ohio, USA, to a fourth generation of new “family” ownership.
The team at AST will continue to deliver ISO and Nadcap aerospace heat treating and related metallurgical services to part making customers.
Joe A. Powell, AST’s Chairman of the Board, will remain active in the heat treating and metallurgical services community as president ofIntegrated Heat Treating Solutions, LLC. (IHTS). IHTS is a “heat transfer” consulting company for product development teams to enable more sustainable heat treating equipment and practices to be integrated into their new product designs. IHTS and its team of part making consultants enable their part making clients to deliver more “total added value” from heat treating and forging per BTU expended in making their products for their end users; including the design of the associated heating and quench cooling equipment for "leaner + greener, more sustainable, manufacturing" and for greater recyclability of metal alloys.
Pictured in the image above: AST’s new shareholder team, and Joe A. Powell, Chairman of the Board, are pictured from left to right: Matt Moldvay, President; Steve Powell, Vice President of Quality, Christina Powell Somogye, Vice President of Administration; Joe A. Powell, Chairman; and Joe N. Powell, Vice President of Sales. (Source: AST)
A precision heat treatment company Vacu Braze recently partnered with a U.S. furnace manufacturer to procure new equipment to expand its processing capabilities.
The TM8 is the first high-pressure gas quenching furnace to be installed in Vacu Braze’s clean processing room. This high-purity furnace from TM Vacuum Productsexpands the heat treater’s high-pressure gas quenching capacity for large and small jobs, while offering increased processing cleanliness.
The TM8 is equipped with a molybdenum all-metal hot zone and a cryogenic pump capable of helping the furnace reach the 10-7 vacuum scale. With a qualified work zone of 12” x 12” x 24”, small batches of parts made from a wider array of materials can be processed more quickly than with traditional atmospheric methods.
The new furnace is fully compliant with AMS 2750 class 2 pyrometry and fit for processing critical parts for aerospace applications. As clean processing capabilities expand, Vacu Braze is proud to provide innovative solutions to industries requiring precision, purity, and cleanliness from their heat treatment provider.
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Norsk Titanium, a global additive manufacturing supplier for aerospace-grade structural titanium components, announces delivery of flight critical aircraft structure to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), a leading developer of unmanned aircraft systems and prime contractor to the US Department of Defense.
