A North American manufacturer of powder metal products recently announced plans to expand its Pennsylvania facility, adding new production capabilities to support additive manufacturing and other technologies.
Photo: Daily American
North American Höganäs High Alloys, founded in 1896 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, will construct a 24,000-square-foot building this location and purchase new machinery to support the global demand for high alloy products, which include stainless steel powders, iron alloy powders, nickel alloy powders, electrolytic iron powders and chips, manganese and silicon powders, and the proprietary GLIDCOP dispersion strengthened copper products.
Linda R. Thomson, president and CEO of the non-profit economic development organization JARI
“Pennsylvania’s powder metals industry is a major contributor to our manufacturing sector,” said Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. “Höganäs’ decision to expand here is great news for Pennsylvania manufacturing, and will provide at least 25 reliable, family-sustaining jobs for Cambria County workers.”
“JARI is pleased to provide support to Höganäs as the company expands their operations in the City of Johnstown,” said Linda R. Thomson, president and CEO of the non-profit economic development organization JARI. “Höganäs is a world-class, internationally recognized company with state-of-the-art products that is meeting the demands of the new manufacturing age. We appreciate the continuation of the proud Cambria County tradition of leading the way for innovation and we thank the Wolf Administration for their continuous support.”
“This exciting investment, with the greatly appreciated support from the Governor’s Action Team and JARI, will help Höganäs continue to grow in Pennsylvania and provide innovative products for our customers in several quickly developing market areas,” said Dean Howard, President Americas Continent.
This article continues the ongoing discussion on Equipment Selection for Induction Hardening by Dr. Valery Rudnev, FASM, IFHTSE Fellow. Six previous installments in Dr. Rudnev’s series on equipment selection addressed selected aspects of scan hardening and continuous/progressive hardening systems. This post continues a discussion on equipment selection for induction hardening focusing on single-shot hardening systems.
The first part on equipment selection for continuous and progressive hardening is here. The second part in this series on equipment selection for single-shot hardening is here; the third part is here. To see the earlier articles in the Induction Hardening series at Heat TreatTodayas well as other news about Dr. Rudnev, click here. This installment continues a discussion on equipment selection for continuous and progressive hardening applications.
Why Single-Shot Hardening?
With the single-shot method, neither the workpiece (cylinder shaft, for example) nor the coil moves linearly relative to each other; the part typically rotates instead.¹ The entire region that is to be hardened is heated all at once rather than only a short distance, as is done with scan hardening.
With conventional scan hardening of cylindrical parts, induced eddy currents flow circumferentially. In contrast, a single-shot inductor induces eddy currents that primarily flow along the length of the part. An exception to this rule would be the half-moon regions (also called the crossover or bridge sections) of a single-shot inductor, where eddy current flow is circumferential.
Normally the single-shot method is better suited for hardening stepped parts where a relatively short (1.5–2 in. [38–50mm] long heated area is commonly minimum) or moderate length area is to be heat treated. This method is also better suited to cylindrical parts having axial symmetry and complex geometry including various diameters.
When scanning these types of parts, improper austenitization of certain areas may occur due to localized electromagnetic field distortion, for example. Insufficient quenching due to the deflection of quench flow not allowing it to properly impinge on the surface in various diameter regions may also occur. Both factors are considered undesirable and can cause low hardness, spotted hardness, or even cracking. For example, the use of scan hardening on stepped shafts with large shoulders, multiple and sizable diameter changes, and other geometrical irregularities and discontinuities (including fillets, flanges, undercuts, grooves, etc.) may produce severely non-uniform hardened patterns. In cases like this, a scan hardening inductor or progressive/continuous hardening system would be designed around the largest diameter that would have sufficient clearance for safe part processing.¹ However, variations in the shaft’s diameter, to a significant extent, will result in a corresponding substantial deviation in the workpiece-to-coil coupling in different sections of the shaft, potentially causing irregular austenization.
Besides that, sharp corners have a distinct tendency to overheat owing to the buildup of eddy currents, in particular when medium and high frequencies are used. The electromagnetic end and edge effects may also cause the shoulders to severely overheat while the smaller-diameter area near the shoulder (including undercuts and fillets) may have noticeable heat deficit. These factors may produce a hardness pattern that might grossly exceed the required minimum and maximum case depth range, making it unacceptable. Single-shot hardening is usually a better choice in such applications. As an example, Figure 1 shows some examples of components for which single-shot hardening would be a preferable method of heat treating.
Examples of components for which a single-shot hardening would be a preferable method of heat treating. (Courtesy of Inductoheat Inc., an Inductotherm Group company)
In some not so frequent cases, when hardening larger parts, there are advantages to the single-shot method over the scanning method, such as the reduction of shape/size distortion, enhanced metallurgical quality, and increased production rate.
Single-shot hardening may also be the preferred choice when shorter heat times/high production rates are desired. For example, in some applications, the time of heating for single-shot hardening can be as short as 2 s, though 4 to 8 s is more typical.
However, the single-shot method has some limitations as well. One of them is cost. Single-shot inductors are typically more expensive to fabricate compared to the coils used for scanning. This is because the single-shot inductor, to some degree, must follow the contour of the entire region required to be heated. Additionally, a single-shot inductor is usually able to harden only one specific part configuration, whereas a coil used for scanning may be able to harden a family of parts.
Besides that, in some case hardening applications using a scanning method, it is possible to apply certain pre-programmed pressure/force on a workpiece during heat treating. This allows distortion to be controlled. Single-shot hardening might also permit applying this technique but there might be some limitations.
Design Features of Single-Shot Inductors
Single-shot inductors are made of tubing, either 3-D printed or CNC-machined from solid copper to conform to the area of the part to be heated. This type of inductor requires the most care in fabrication because it usually has an intricate design and operates at high power densities, and the workpiece’s positioning is critical with respect to the coil copper profiling. Figure 2 shows several examples of induction heating of different components using single-shot inductors.
Several examples of induction heating of different components using single-shot inductors. (Courtesy of Inductoheat Inc., an Inductotherm Group company)
In order to provide the required temperature distribution before quenching, heat is sometimes applied in several short bursts (pulse heating) with a timed delay/soaking between them to allow for thermal conduction toward the areas that might be difficult to heat.
Single-shot inductors typically require higher power levels than used in scan hardening because the entire area of the workpiece that needs to be hardened is austenitized at once. This is the reason why single-shot hardening normally requires having a noticeably larger power supply compared to scan hardening, resulting in increased capital cost of power source. Additionally, the increased power usage and power densities combined with complex geometry can reduce the life of the inductor. For this reason, single-shot inductors often have shorter lives than scan inductors.
It is always important to keep in mind that, electrically speaking, the inductor is typically considered the weakest link in an induction system. For this reason, most single-shot inductors have separate coil-cooling and part-quenching circuits. The inductor will fail if power is increased to the point at which the water cannot adequately cool it. Additional cooling passages may be needed with high-power density, single-shot inductors. A high-pressure booster pump is also frequently required.
The next several installments of Dr. Valery Rudnev on . . . will continue the discussion on design features of single-shot inductors and equipment selection.
A fifth-generation furnace manufacturer supporting the metals processing industry recently entered into a strategic partnership with a Florida-based furnace equipment supplier.
Gillespie & Powers Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, will continue to offer Remelt Technologies’ homogenizing furnaces, DC casting machines, and DC casting automation to the North American aluminum industry.
“Gillespie & Powers Inc. is proud that Gary Bowden, president of Remelt Technologies, has entrusted them to continue providing equipment and services that will continue this legacy,” said Jack Gillespie, vice president of Gillespie & Powers.
Remelt Technologies, founded and owned by Bowden, has a 26-year history of supplying quality equipment and is involved in the design, manufacture, and installation of homogenizing furnaces and DC casting machines for secondary aluminum extrusion cast houses.
Gillespie & Powers is a 5th Generation family owned design, build, supplier of specialized furnaces supporting the metals processing industry. The company has over 80 years of experience in the design, supply, and installation of furnace equipment.
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Roger Ross has been appointed the president of StandardAero‘s Airlines & Fleets division. He will be located at the company’s Scottsdale, Arizona, headquarters office and be responsible for the largest division of StandardAero, with multiple sites in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, and Australia.
An automotive wheel manufacturer based in Paris, Kentucky, announced the groundbreaking on its facility expansion to support plans to increase the production capacity of aluminum wheels. These expansions will introduce “cutting-edge technology and realization of high-level on-site capabilities” at Central Motor Wheel of America‘s manufacturing operations.
Greg Jennings has been appointed to the position of President and CEO at Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), a global manufacturer of thermal processing equipment. Jennings has held the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at TPS since 2013. During his time as CFO, he was instrumental during the acquisition of Wisconsin Oven Corporation and Baker Furnace.
Work is now underway to expand the heat treatment capacity at Saar-Blankstahl to expand the annealing capacity of its subsidiary, Saarstahl AG is responding to an expected increase in worldwide demand for heat-treated bar material and higher-quality steels.
Equipment Chatter
Six Gruenberg cleanroom ovens were shipped to the medical industry from Thermal Product Solutions.
An electrically heated top flow conveyor oven was sold by Wisconsin Oven Corporation to a global manufacturer in the machinery industry. The furnace will be used for curing “CPIG” material on plastic housings for electronic components.
An innovative contract manufacturer recently invested in a new aluminum extrusion press. Alexandria Industries will be able to increase its aluminum extrusion capabilities, extrude more complex product features, and hold tighter tolerances, while utilizing a variety of alloys. The press is made by Presezzi Extrusion Group (Vimercate, MB-Italy). Alexandria Industries will gain an extra 30 percent in extrusion capacity.
Kudos Chatter
Dr. Rod Martin, vice president of technology at Element, has been awarded the 2019 Leslie Holliday Prize from the British Composites Society (BCS). The prize is in recognition of Dr. Martin’s significant contribution to the field of composite materials.
BEAMIT SpA, Fornovo di Taro, Italy, has successfully passed a Nadcap audit for heat treating, receiving Nadcap accreditation as a result. The Additive Manufacturing bureau provides services for the AM of both metal and ceramic parts, and as of January 2018 had installed two high vacuum furnaces conforming to standard AMS2750.
Thinker Ventures recently completed a new website for Diablo Furnaces at diablofurnaces.com. The new site features a mobile-friendly responsive design that adapts for viewing on desktops, smartphones, and tablets. Diablo Furnaces is a heat treating solution provider that is able to complete custom furnace design.
Heat TreatTodayis pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com
As part of a second expansion to their facility, a North American steel company plans to install a second electric arc furnace with the assistance of a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry.
North American steel producer Big River Steel (BRS) recently commissioned SMS Group with the expansion of its steel plant in Osceola, Arkansas. SMS Group will supply BRS with additional mechanical equipment, electrical and automation systems, and digitalization, which the group reports will increase the plant’s annual output.
David Stickler, CEO of Big River Steel
“I have purchased several technologically advanced steel production facilities from SMS over the past twenty years and I am fully confident that SMS group will again deliver a high-quality mill that sets the standard in terms of product capability, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability,” commented David Stickler, CEO of Big River Steel.
Following this second expansion of their facility, the steel plant will house two electric arc furnaces and two twin-ladle furnaces. In addition, Big River Steel commissioned Systems Spray Cooled for the installation of furnace cooling equipment at Big River’s Osceola facility, including furnace sidewall, roof, elbow, and off-gas duct work. SMS reports that installing an additional gas cleaning system will ensure compliance with environmental legislation. A second strand, a second tunnel furnace, and a further downcoiler will also be added to the Big River Steel’s CSP® plant, which reportedly produces coils up to 1,930 millimeters wide.
Big River Steel produces high-quality steels, including tube grade sheet for pipeline construction, silicon steels for a wide variety of energy and electric motor applications, and advanced high-strength steels for the U.S. automotive industry.
The hot coils produced in the CSP® plant are processed into high-grade cold strip in the downstream coupled pickling line/tandem cold mill. The continuous galvanizing line (CGL) will receive an additional coiler. For all the newly installed plants, SMS group is going to supply the mechanical equipment and the X-Pact® electrical and automation systems, including level 3.
Big River Steel
Also in the second construction stage, the PQA® (Product Quality Analyzer) system developed by SMS group company MET/Con will be a central module of the process automation system. By capturing and evaluating all relevant production data on a continuous basis, PQA® monitors, documents and assures the product quality down to the finished cold strip along the complete production process. The system uses stored rules defined on the basis of expert knowledge to assess the coil quality in a semi-automatic procedure and, based on these assessments, takes “ship” or “block” decisions for the downstream processing of the strip or its dispatch.
This system then sends instructions for action to the operators while production continues in order to make them aware of any onset of irregularities within the production process and suggest countermeasures to be taken. This allows the operators to predictively intervene in the process before an incident becomes a problem, reducing the occurrence of failures along the production process which otherwise might have resulted in poor quality and downtimes. Over time, the system is intended to provide higher yield while increasing product quality.
Burkhard Dahmen, Chairman of the Managing Board of SMS Group
“Working closely with the management and staff of Big River Steel, we have succeeded in digitalizing a highly complex steel plant in a way that meets the targets of stable and resource-saving production,” said Burkhard Dahmen, Chairman of the Managing Board of SMS group. “We are very pleased about Big River Steel’s decision to also award us the order for the next expansion stage of the steel plant and to continue on the proven successful way with SMS group as their partner.”
In order to maintain the cleanliness of workpieces and baskets or fixtures in the vacuum heat treating or brazing process, it is helpful to establish a pre-treating cleaning practice. Vapor degreasing has emerged as a cleaning process with the acting principle that the solvents will dissolve the contaminants on the workpiece and remove them by dripping off the part. In this week’s Technical Tuesday article, a Best of the Web feature, we bring you an article from VAC AERO International addressing the development of the process, the steps involved in vapor degreasing, and comparisons with other cleaning methods.
Cleaning in a solvent offers a level of simplicity and forgiveness not seen in aqueous methods. At one time, solvent cleaning was considered mandatory for successful vacuum processing but environmental concerns (VOC and other emissions) and improvements to aqueous systems including drying technology has seen the industry shift to aqueous cleaning as the norm. Today, however, with the advent of vacuum technology, vacuum vapor degreasing has emerged as a viable alternative to aqueous processing.”
A preview:
Vacuum vapor degreaser schematic with operational sequence steps. (“Removal of Entrained Moisture from Powdered Metal Parts Using High-Temperature Solvent and Vacuum” PM2TEC 2003, via VAC AERO International)Main image photo credit/caption: Vacuum Processing Systems LLC (via VAC AERO International) / Typical vacuum vapor degreaser
A vacuum heat treatment provider recently installed an all-metal hot zone vacuum furnace at their Souderton, Pennsylvania, location.
Solar Atmospheres
Solar Atmospheres added a third all-metal hot zone furnace for its climate-controlled room at its facility in Souderton, Pennsylvania. The additional furnace increases Solar’s capacity for processing sensitive materials such as PH stainless, nickel-chrome based superalloys, titanium, and ferritic and austenitic stainless steels.
Vacuum levels lower than 5 x 10-6 Torr can produce clean, bright results without contamination. Solar reports that the unique placement of isolation valves, an all-metal moly/stainless steel hot zone, and a stainless steel chamber in its new furnace allow it to attain the level of cleanliness mandated by aerospace and medical markets. The furnace also incorporates Solar Manufacturing’s latest SolarVac Polaris HMI control system for complete process automation.
Jamie Jones, President, Solar Atmospheres in Eastern PA
“The increasing demands for cleanliness levels in critical aerospace and medical applications, and the growth in these markets paved the way for Solar Atmospheres to add capacity through this investment,” said Jamie Jones, President of Solar Atmospheres in Eastern PA.
The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) released its 12-page monthly Executive Economic Summary which contains an analysis of 11 key heat treat industry economic indicators. The organization has been providing this monthly report as a service to its members for several years, and it is a valuable source of economic data and analysis for companies supplying equipment, components, or consumables to the heat treating industry.
This month’s report was nearly evenly split between the eleven indices, with five moving upward and six moving downward.
According to IHEA economist, Chris Kuehl of the Armada Corporate Intelligence, the underlying concerns about tariffs and trade wars seems to be the primary inhibitor of greater economic growth. While nearly all of the indices are in the “growth” range of their curves, more of them are getting closer to the “contraction” range and could easily slip into contraction with additional dampening economic news.
IHEA CapEx 2019 05
Three of the five gainers were housing starts, capital investment, and PMI new orders, each showing modest gains.
Among the sliders, new automobile and light truck sales, steel consumption, and capacity utilization.
Generally, downward movements were stronger than upward movements this month, contributing to longer-term concern about a possible slow down in the economy.
Anne Goyer, Executive Director of IHEA
To receive a copy of the full, 12-page report, contact Anne Goyer, executive director of IHEA by clicking here.
A heat treat and metallurgical services company recently unveiled plans to expand two of their four facilities this summer to better process applications in the aerospace, gears, and firearms industries, among others.
AHT Burton
Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) announced building expansions for their Monroe, Michigan, and Waterloo, Iowa locations. Michigan AHT plans to increase the size of their pit to accommodate two larger nitriding units, while AHT Burton intends to add square footage for new equipment and related services, such as two recently acquired induction units.
AHT has not expanded the Michigan and Burton facilities since 2006 and 2007, respectively, and hopes to complete the projects by mid-summer. The company also recently increased the shop floor at a third facility which serves as company headquarters in Waterloo, Iowa.
Mike Woods, President, AHT
“We’re very excited about the growth AHT has seen
AHT Michigan
over the past few years,” said AHT President Mike Woods. “Because of this, we felt it was necessary to expand our facilities and invest in additional equipment to better serve our customers and capture more of the market.”
Heat TreatToday has launched Automotive Heat Treating special edition in print and digital form, the third print magazine and the second in a series of industry-specific quarterlies.
The print edition of Automotive Heat Treating entered the mail stream onJune 24 and landed in the mailboxes of6,000 automotive manufacturing suppliers andOEMs with more being distributed at Thermprocess 2019. The digital edition is available byclicking hereoron the image to the right.
In this special magazine, Heat TreatToday delivers quality content both new and original as well as a round up of past automotive-related news, technical articles, and tips, including:
“Making Sense of Trade Wars” / Understand the different types of tariffs, where they are coming from, and what effect they may have on the heat treating world.
“Heat TreatBrain Trust on Industry Innovations That Have Enhanced Automotive Heat Treating in Recent Years” /Recent, innovative, or helpful enhancements that have advanced the automotive heat treat industry.
“Nitrocarburizing for Automotive and Large-Volume Production” / Advantages and disadvantages of batch vs. continuous processing for automotive nitrocarburized parts.
“Continuous and Progressive Hardening: Frequency Selection” / Frequency selection for induction hardening equipment.
“How to Join Industry 4.0” /An edited transcript from a recent Heat TreatRadio interview unpacks how manufacturers with in-house heat treating can take their first steps into Industry 4.0.
“Carburizing Trends in the Automotive Heat Treating World” / Where we have been, where we are now, and what we can expect in the future in automotive carburizing.
“Thermomechanical Processing for Creating Bi-Metal Bearing Bushings” / The potential for creating and heat treating bi-metal bearing bushings consisting of steel 20MnCr5 and aluminum AA-6082 by closed-die-forging.
In October,Heat TreatToday will be publishing another special edition, featuring reader favorites, the 40 Under 40 Class of 2019 and 101 Heat Treat Tips. It will be sent to6,000+ industrycontacts. If you haverelated editorial content or if you would like to have your promotional message in this issue, please emaildoug@heattreattoday.comoreditor@heattreattoday.comas soon as possible.
If you haven’t done so already, you might want to join Heat TreatToday’s “Leaders in Automotive Heat Treat” LinkedIn Group.Click hereoron the image to the left to be taken there. You’ll need to sign in to LinkedIn before you can join the group.
