Memory foam mattresses and pillows ease millions of restless sleepers through rough nights; perhaps tires made from shape-memory alloy will provide NASA’s Curiosity robot an easier ride across the rough terrain of Mars.
After years of research, NASA recently created a tire made of heat-treated nickel-titanium alloy that results in a woven-mesh metal which “remembers” and returns to its shape.
A definitive agreement to form an innovative 50-50 joint venture (JV) was recently reached between the world’s largest stainless steel producer and a global manufacturer of technically advanced specialty materials and complex components, with a target to manufacture and sell 60 inch-wide stainless sheet in North America.
Richard J. Harshman , Chairman, President and CEO of ATI
Allegheny & Tsingshan Stainless is the new entity formed between Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, based in western Pennsylvania, which produces components for the aerospace, defense, oil & gas, electrical energy, medical and automotive sectors, and an affiliate company of Tsingshan Group, a multi-national fully integrated stainless steel producer engaged in nickel ore mining, ferronickel and ferrochrome smelting, stainless steel making, hot rolling, and cold rolling with captive supportive power plants and ports. Formation of the JV is subject to customary regulatory and anti-trust clearances, which are expected by the first quarter 2018; first shipments are expected in early 2018.
“Our strategy is to first return our flat-rolled products (FRP) business to profitability and then position our FRP segment for sustainable profitability regardless of raw materials costs or trade policy,” said Rich Harshman, ATI’s Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. “Tsingshan’s capabilities to produce stainless steel slabs using its unparalleled vertically integrated mining, refining, and casting assets combined with ATI’s innovative, low-cost hot-rolling and processing facility (HRPF), and the JV’s unique direct roll anneal and pickle (DRAP) facility creates a cost competitive supplier of stainless sheet products for the North American market.
“For ATI, the conversion agreement volume will significantly increase the utilization of our HRPF and will utilize the previously idled DRAP finishing facility in Midland, PA, which will be owned and operated by the joint venture.”
Key points of the joint venture:
Allegheny & Tsingshan Stainless is the joint venture company’s name.
Tsingshan’s operation in Indonesia is vertically integrated from mining raw materials, including ferronickel and ferrochrome, through refining and casting. Tsingshan will supply the JV with redi-to-roll slabs with reduced raw material cost volatility.
The Tsingshan-supplied stainless slabs will be hot-rolled into coils on ATI’s HRPF under a conversion agreement between ATI FRP and the JV. The HRPF provides customers with the market’s most consistent quality and edge-to-edge, tip-to-tail gauge control.
The hot-rolled coils will be finished into stainless sheet using the JV’s DRAP line, which is ATI’s major investment in the joint venture. The Midlandoperations’ assets were impaired in 2015 and the DRAP finishing line was idled in early 2016.
The JV is expected to add approximately 100 manufacturing jobs in western PA.
Lightweight metals engineering and manufacturing firm Arconic Inc. announced last week plans to install a new horizontal heat treat furnace at its Davenport Works facility in Iowa, part of a significant capital investment to extend its processing capacity for aerospace and industrial applications.
Tim Myers, president of Global Rolled Products and Transportation, and Construction Solutions, Arconic, Inc
This new furnace will enable Arconic to heat treat longer and thicker plate, including material for the company’s recently installed thick plate stretcher which meets a global need for thick aluminum plate, particularly as aerospace demand for composite wings, made with monolithic thick-plate wing ribs, increases.
“This investment will help meet both existing and future customer demand,” said Tim Myers, President, Global Rolled Products and Transportation and Construction Solutions. “With this new capability, we will meet increasing demand for plate used for aircraft wing ribs, skins, and other structural components, particularly in single-aisle builds. It also opens the door to growth in other markets, such as semi-conductors for consumer electronics and injection molding for automotive applications.”
Construction on the project is expected to begin late this year with commercial production expected to start in 2019.
Aerospace engineering company Kanfit Ltd announced recently that it has successfully completed its Nadcap audit for composites as well as a renewed certificate for heat treatment.
Shai Fine, Founder and General Manager of Kanfit
Successful accreditations include core processing (CP) and liquid resin processing (LRP). In addition, Kanfit received recertification for prepreg/adhesive bonding/resin film infusion and process control testing. Accreditations for LRP authorizes Kanfit’s resin transfer mold (RTM) process according to the requirements of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
“We are extremely proud of our Composites and QA teams for bringing the company to the next level of Nadcap certification,” said Shai Fine, general manager of Kanfit. “Obtaining such a prestigious certification demonstrates our continued commitment to achieving our goal of providing top quality innovative solutions so that our customers continue to trust and depend on our products and services.”
Additionally, Kanfit reports that the new RTM process and specification for complex aerospace products that it created and developed has been adopted without changes by a prominent aerospace industry leader and has already been incorporated into its process specification library.
The company recently added 3D additive manufacturing to its autoclave manufacturing capabilities, and it is also developing other production technologies, including automated fiber placement (AFP) and robotic filament winding of closed frames.
Kobe Steel, Ltd, will earmark roughly 10 billion yen ($88 million) for capital improvements starting in 2018 aimed at ensuring that its manipulation of product quality data cannot be repeated. The beleaguered Japanese steelmaker, whose facilities were found in October to be falsifying data regarding strength and durability of metals during and after an internal investigation, will put into place automation protocol for the recording of inspection data, and for processes that cannot be automated, multiple employees will record data to ensure accuracy.
The most powerful U.S. rocket engine fired in two decades is also reusable and could become a leading rocket engine for commercial and military launches. It was also launched by an unlikely source, the founder and CEO of a company which is more broadly known for its presence as a major online retailer.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos launched his space tourism and commercial rocket company Blue Origin in September 2000. Roughly 17 years later, the company fired the BE-4 engine. Fueled by a liquid oxygen and liquid methane mix that generates 550,000 pounds of thrust, the BE-4 could be used in multiple rockets, including Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket.
Bob Hill, Pres. Solar Atmospheres of Western PA. Photo: www.solaratm.com
The first FAA-certified, structural additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4V parts produced by Norsk Titanium AS have been processed successfully by a commercial heat treater located in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. The components, vacuum stress reliefs compliant with stringent AMS 2801 and other OEM specifications, are destined for installation on a Boeing airplane. Norsk Titanium AS is the world’s pioneering supplier of aerospace-grade, additive manufactured, structural titanium components.
Norsk Titanium’s printing technology of these aft galley supports, along with other flight critical components, signals the ancillary cost benefits that customers may realize with additive manufacturing: lead time reduction, lower inventory requirements, and future spare parts continuity assurances. Solar Atmospheres processed the initial production components for Norsk in March.
Norsk’s U.S. facility in Plattsburgh, New York, will produce multiple 3-D printed components for commercial aircraft OEMs. The company is also exploring other applications in the defense sector including the next generation aircraft, naval vessels, and land-based vehicles.
“We are extremely proud to partner with innovative additive manufacturing companies such as Norsk Titanium,” said Bob Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA. “Today, we can clearly see how this revolutionary manufacturing process has departed from the hype realm and is entering into everyday reality.”
Steve Prout, President, Solar Atmospheres, Greenville, South Carolina
Boeing has granted an approved scope of processing to a South Carolina heat treat processing plant to include the processing of precipitation hardening, corrosion resistant, and maraging steel parts to the requirements of Aerospace Material Specification AMS 2759/3.
Solar Atmospheres recently announced the expansion to its current scope of Boeing approval at its Greenville, South Carolina, facility, which now includes the following specifications:
BAC 5613 – Heat Treatment of Titanium and Titanium Alloys
BAC 5616 – Heat Treatment of Nickel-Base and Cobalt-Base Alloys
BAC 5619 – Heat Treatment of Corrosion Resistant Steel
AMS 2759/3 – Heat Treatment of Precipitation-Hardening, Corrosion Resistant, and Maraging Steel Parts
“We are proud to be able to expand upon our process offerings in support of Boeing and its many suppliers,” said Steve Prout, President of Solar Atmospheres’ Greenville facility. “This step allows us to once again provide the U.S. Southeast with another regional option for aerospace thermal processes.”
The facility handles small lots and development cycles to a 6-1/2 foot diameter by 24 foot long vacuum chamber capable of processing up to 50,000 lb loads with a maximum temperature of 2400°F. Solar Atmospheres has previously been awarded AS9100 and Nadcap accreditation.
Airbus recently released an update on their progress on five new Airbus BelugaXL super transporters, anticipating the first of the five to be ready to join the Airbus Beluga fleet by 2019. Current work is on the power-on process–systems, mechanical, and electrical integration–to be followed by adding on the tail section.
An Indiana-based coil coater and manufacturer of proprietary coating chemistries has recently introduced a new type of corrosion protection for galvanized steel that utilizes covalent bonds and enhances the effectiveness of zinc.
Standard practice to protect metal from corrosion for approximately the last 70 years has been to coat it with zinc. Heavier zinc coatings have normally been applied to provide longer protection. In order to meet industry demand for corrosion-retardant galvanized steel, Chemcoaters, Inc, of Gary, Indiana, has developed InterCoat®ChemGuard, which forms a permanent, covalent bond on the surface of the metal. After application to a light layer of zinc, the product reacts with the zinc to dramatically improve its corrosion protection properties. The bond which is formed at the molecular level cannot be washed or worn off. This process allows bending, stamping, post-painting and even shearing, while providing self-healing characteristics that help protect newly exposed zinc that naturally occurs during secondary processing.
InterCoat®ChemGuard is RoHS compliant and continues to protect during stamping, roll forming, shearing and is weldable, enhancing these processes due to a low coefficient of friction. It eliminates the need for temporary corrosion protection coatings, often used in shipping and materials storage, including hexavalent chrome, a known carcinogen, making it more environmentally friendly for all building, architectural, transportation and consumer appliance applications. It is applicable to many industries, including automotive, aerospace, construction, electrical conduit, wall studs, furniture, fixtures, appliances, outdoor and highway railing, agricultural, lawn and garden and other products using galvanize.
