A Polish manufacturer of high-quality matrix forgings, construction connectors, and manual tools manufactured with their own forgings recently commissioned a multipurpose sealed quench chamber furnace to expand their current line of equipment.
Jarosław Talerzak, VP, Thermal Heat Treatment Furnace Systems at SECO/WARWICK
SECO/WARWICK will deliver the fully-automated furnace, a CaseMaster AFS, which is capable of a wide variety of processes but particularly carbonizing, gas carbonitriding and pure hardening, to KUŹNIA Sułkowicie S.A.. The equipment is intended for thermal and thermo-chemical treatment in a controlled endothermic atmosphere.
“We have been cooperating with SECO/WARWICK for more than 10 years. A decade ago, we purchased and implemented a process line for thermal and thermo-chemical treatment with a chamber furnace type CaseMaster AFS 10E,” said Marcin Szafrański, MSc. Ing., Commercial Director at “Kuźnia” Sułkowice S.A. The main customers for the products of KUŹNIA Sułkowice S.A. are the leading European and Polish manufacturers operating in the construction, automotive, power engineering, machinery, and mining industries.
“The appropriately selected production process guarantees the quality of forgings. Thanks to many years of experience in the production of heat treatment equipment, we perfectly understand our customers’ needs, which enables us to propose and help in selecting the most optimum solutions that meet market expectations,” said Jarosław Talerzak, VP, Thermal Heat Treatment Furnace Systems at SECO/WARWICK.
Welcome to another episode of Heat Treat Radio, a periodic podcast where Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, discusses cutting-edge topics with industry-leading personalities. Below, you can either listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or you can read an edited version of the transcript. To see a complete list of other Heat Treat Radio episodes, click here.
In this conversation, Doug Glenn, publisher of Heat Treat Today and host of Heat Treat Radio, interviews Anne Goyer from IHEA, Eva Rowe from Messe Dusseldorf North America, and Peter Sherwin from Eurthorm by Schneider Electric to discuss the International Thermprocess Summit 2018 and Thermprocess 2019.
Click the play button below to listen.
If you’re looking for that ONE place where you can invest your time and know that you’ll walk away happy, then today’s Heat Treat Radioepisode is one you’ll want to hear. In this podcast, Anne Goyer from IHEA, Eva Rowe from Messe Dusseldorf North America, and Peter Sherwin from Eurthorm by Schneider Electric join Heat Treat Radio host Doug Glenn to discuss the two most important international heat treating events – one in North America and one in Europe — the International Thermprocess Summit 2018 (ITPS) and Thermprocess 2019.
Anne Goyer, IHEA
Peter Sherwin Eurotherm by Schneider Electric
Eva Rowe, Messe Dusseldorf North America
Doug’s three guests review the talks and news from the North American event, ITPS, which was held earlier this year, July 30-August 1, in Atlanta, Georgia. Peter Sherwin describes the talks that impressed or stood out to him the most. Anne Goyer addresses the floor talk from attendees and vendors regarding future shows. Eva Rowe reveals what participants can expect at Thermprocess 2019, which will be a quartet of shows which they’ve called the “Bright World of Metals.” The four events that are combined into this “Bright World of Metals” are Metec, Thermprocess, GIFA, and Newcast. All will take place in Dusseldorf, Germany, next June 25-29, 2019.
And don’t forget that here in North America, the two leading heat treating trade shows are Furnaces North America in the even-numbered years, and ASM’s Heat Treat Show in the odd-numbered years. To find out more about any North American heat treating event, visit www.heattreattoday.com and take a look at our calendar of events under the Resources Tab on our home page.
If you’d like to get in touch with any of the people from today’s Heat Treat Radio podcast, please feel free to contact me by email at doug@heattreattoday.com. And don’t forget to check out Thermprocess 2019 by going to www.thermprocess-online.com. Start making your plans to attend now. June 25-29, 2019 is just around the corner.
To find out more about the potential International Thermprocess Summit 2020, stay connected to Heat Treat Today or visit the Industrial Heating Equipment Association’s website at www.ihea.org. Both sites will post any future dates and locations for a 2020 event if or when the decision is made.
For more Heat Treat Radio, Google “heat treat radio” or look under the Resources Tab on www.heattreattoday.com.
Special thanks goes to Dry Coolers for their support of Heat Treat Radio. Dry Coolers, cooling systems for industry … on the web at www.drycoolers.com.
This episode, as with all episodes of Heat Treat Radio, are the sole property of Heat Treat Today and may not be reproduced in part or in whole without express written consent from Heat Treat Today.
If you have a topic you’d like covered on Heat Treat Radio, please contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.
This episode was produced and mixed by Jonathan Lloyd, Butler, Pennsylvania.
Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Today publisher and Heat Treat Radio host.
To find other Heat Treat Radio episodes, go to www.heattreattoday.com/radio and look in the list of Heat Treat Radio episodes listed.
A global manufacturer of technically advanced specialty materials and complex components recently signed an agreement with a leading steel company to provide carbon steel hot-rolling conversion services.
Bob Wetherbee, ATI’s CEO-Designate and current Executive Vice President, Flat-Rolled Products Group
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated will perform these services for NLMK USA at its world-class Hot-Rolling and Processing Facility, or HRPF, in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania. Slab shipments to ATI will begin immediately and increase to anticipated production levels in the first quarter of 2019. This agreement covers conversion services through December 2019.
“We are pleased to announce this agreement with an innovative partner like NLMK USA. They truly understand the value proposition provided by our HRPF and the benefits that it can bring to their end customers,” said Bob Wetherbee, ATI’s CEO-Designate and current Executive Vice President, Flat-Rolled Products Group. “This agreement provides ATI with guaranteed fee-per-ton volumes and significantly increases the asset utilization at our world-class HRPF. This incremental volume benefits all HRPF-produced products. We look forward to working with NLMK on additional growth opportunities.”
Bob Miller, Chief Executive Officer, NLMK USA
“NLMK USA is pleased to enter into this agreement with ATI. It expands our ability to supply the high-quality materials that US manufacturers demand. Due to its immense power and unique capabilities, ATI’s HRPF enables us to increase the breadth of our product portfolio to better complement the products produced at our Sharon, Pennsylvania, and Portage, Indiana, facilities,” stated Bob Miller, Chief Executive Officer, NLMK USA. “We were attracted to the HRPF’s capabilities and its close proximity to many of our strategic customers. ATI and NLMK were able to structure a win-win agreement that will ultimately benefit NLMK’s end customers by providing high-quality and distinctive carbon flat-rolled products at competitive prices.”
Heat treaters know that the heart of a vacuum furnace system is the pumping system. As broad as the variety of furnaces is, so is the selection of pump types.
A roots blower, which also goes by the name “booster pump” and “intermediate stage vacuum pump,” is a dry, gas transfer pump that boosts the performance of the primary pump, providing an increase in pumping speed and pressure. This article from VAC AERO International’s Vacuum Pump Technology: Education and Training page provides an exhaustive analysis of the heart of a vacuum furnace system: the pump.
“Roots blowers have the reputation of being virtually indestructible and run for years seemingly unattended while the primary (mechanical) and high vacuum (diffusion pumps seem to receive all the attention. While they need little day-to-day maintenance, monitoring of the oil level in the pump is required. The main function of these booster pumps is to improve pump-down rates and ultimate vacuum levels.” ~ VAC AERO International
A U.K. heat treatment specialist recently went operational with a new in-house mechanical testing facility, certified by UKAS, at its Cambridge plant.
Andy Fox, operations director at Wallwork Cambridge.
With the new testing equipment, Wallwork, based in Bury, England, has the capability to run tensile, compression, and hardness tests on materials and components prior to and post heat treatment, boosting customer order turn-around times.
“Destructive testing is mainly specified by customers in aerospace, however, it is becoming increasingly common in motorsport, medical devices, and other industries where there can be no compromise in product integrity. The new facility gives us much quicker results than going out to an external testing lab,” said Andy Fox, operations director at Cambridge.
In addition to Rockwell hardness and shadowgraph is the new Z100 testing rig from ZwickRoell, which allows Wallwork to quickly identify any material or processing issues that could impact quality as well as data to refine existing metal heat treatment processes, component design and more. Wallwork operates vacuum brazing units at Manchester and Cambridge where the new Z100 has the potential to confirm joint strength between vacuum brazed materials.
“Faster turnaround of testing results is necessary for us to meet customer manufacturing targets and it also makes much easier the internal management of important accreditations,” said Fox.
15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
AFC-Holcroft has announced the addition of Daniel Hill as the newest member of their sales team. Hill will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Wixom, Michigan, focusing on key account management as well as new lead generation. Hill will report to Tracy Dougherty, Sales Manager at AFC-Holcroft.
Solar Atmospheres’ CEO, Roger A. Jones, was awarded the distinguished honor of ASM Fellow (FASM) at the ASM Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. According to ASM, “The honor of Fellow represents recognition of distinguished contributions in the field of materials science and engineering, and develops a broadly based forum for technical and professional leaders to serve as advisors to the Society.” Roger’s citation reads: “For advancing production vacuum thermal processes and procedures for large and heavy assemblies utilizing state of the art vacuum furnaces, for the enhancement of the overall heat treating industry.”
A company that specializes in automated manufacturing solutions for automotive manufacturers among other industries, Innovative Automation, has acquired Tridan International, which supplies machinery for the production of heat exchangers, evaporators and condensers commonly used in manufacturing. This acquisition includes all ongoing operations of the company from their 88,000 square foot facility in Danville, IL.
StandardAero, the world’s largest independent Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) with Distribution rights, has recently inducted the first five PT6A-68 engines at its Summerside facility on Prince Edward Island, Canada. StandardAero has provided full-service support for the PT6A-68 since 2013 but is now in the process of transferring its support of the engine model to its Summerside facility, as part of the company’s Center of Excellence (COE) activity, announced in May 2018.
Caterpillar, Inc, has announced that a closed South Carolina casting facility will house its new $13.5 million, 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges where it will produce specialty castings for various engines and transmissions in Caterpillar’s line of products.
Schenck Process, which engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of applied measuring and process technology, announced the acquisition of Process Components Ltd, a UK based designer and manufacturer of powder processing and handling equipment, components and spare parts, and its subsidiaries.
Braidy Industries and its subsidiary Veloxint recently announced five new executive appointments. Julio Ramirez will take on the position of Chief Financial Officer at Braidy. At Veloxint, Major General Kevin McNeely (Ret.) joins as Chief Operations Officer; Dr. Phoebe Kwan will take on the role of Chief Commercial Officer; Dr. Judson “Jud” Marte will be Vice President of Product Development; and John Gaspervich joins Veloxint as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing.
AFC-Holcroft adds Daniel Hill to their sales team.
Roger Jones awarded with ASM fellowship.
StandardAero inducts PT6A-68 engines/
Caterpillar expands with 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges, SC.
Equipment Chatter
A forced air recirculating oven was supplied by Lucifer Furnaces to a manufacturer of medical & aerospace parts and will be used to heat treat 17-4 stainless steel.
A tool and die manufacturer recently expanded its in-house heat treat capabilities with a Vector® furnace, one of the SECO/VACUUM (a SECO/WARWICK Group company) flagship vacuum furnaces. The purchase process included validation tests of tooling dies in a similar nearby furnace with positive results. The furnace being delivered is a horizontal, front-loading Vector furnace with a capacity of 2,650 lbs.
A leading provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions recently announced that a prominent Southeast Asian aerospace parts manufacturer has purchased a dual-purpose Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) and EB Welding System. Sciaky, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), provided the one-of-a-kind hybrid machine to be customized with special controls to switch from 3D printing to welding in a quick and easy process. The manufacturer will utilize the system to 3D print metal structures, as well as weld dissimilar materials and refractory alloys for these structures and other aerospace parts.
Four Gruenberg explosion resistant Class “A” truck-in-ovens were shipped to the pharmaceutical industry by Thermal Product Solutions. The pharmaceutical ovens are rated for Class A operation to handle processing solvents per the NFPA 86 specifications.
A continuous mesh belt conveyor furnace was shipped by Lindberg/MPH to the computer market. This conveyor furnace is configured for soldering process applications, provides a heating and cooling process environment under a nitrogen/hydrogen blended atmosphere, and will be heated to the customer’s specified temperature (maximum of 1000°C).
A leading supplier of the automobile industry received shipment of a natural gas-fired two zone conveyor oven from Wisconsin Oven Corporation. The conveyor oven will be used for stress relieving automotive springs and has the design capacity to heat approximately 11,000 pounds of springs per hour. The overall work chamber dimensions of this stress relieving oven are 11’3” wide x 24’3” long x 14’0” high. The maximum operating temperature is 650°C (1202° F) with guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±5°C at set points of 520°C (968° F) and 570° C (1058° F) to ensure the conveyor oven meets the CQI-9, 3rd edition process Table E for stress relieving/annealing.
Lucifer Furnaces supplies forced air recirculating oven
SECO/VACUUM installs a Vector® furnace.
Sciaky Inc delivers dual-purpose EBAM® and EB Welding System.
Thermal Product Solutions ships four Gruenberg Explosion Resistant Class “A” truck-in-ovens
Lindberg/MPH ships continuous mesh belt conveyor furnace
Wisconsin Oven Corporation delivers natural gas-fired two zone conveyor oven from
Kudos Chatter
In 2019, AGMA will expand upon the legacy and success of Gear Expo, launching the Motion + Power Technology Expo (MPT Expo). The new show will continue its focus on gears and mechanical power transmission while adding fluid power and electric drive exhibitors to provide all power transmission options to our attendees
eldec LLC recently unveiled a new website for manufacturing professionals who use induction heating, brazing, shrink fitting, pre-heating for laser welding, or annealing in their manufacturing processes. The new site provides updates on company and product information, trade shows, and manufacturing and equipment maintenance tips. It can be accessed at www.inductionheatingexperts.com.
Heat Treat Todayis 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.
A global leader in materials manufacturing, headquartered in Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom, has recently shortened lead time for its braze alloy service in the U.S., specifically in support of mission critical components used in aerospace, medical and industrial applications.
Morgan Advanced Materials, which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics, and composites, announced that its Braze Alloys business has enhanced service for customers using its braze alloy solutions. The FTSE 250 company can provide precious and non-precious braze alloys, pre-sintered preforms (PSPs), and braze inhibitors like Stopyt, that prevent the unwanted flow of molten brazing filler metals.
Braze Alloys manufactures braze alloys in configurations that are specific to customers’ requirements. A large number of assemblies that are made using Morgan materials are designed to tight specifications, while the alloys themselves can be developed to suit requirements. Many applications of braze alloys are used in research and development projects and information and data are needed quickly for small-run orders. To facilitate this urgency from contract braze houses, Morgan has created a dedicated resource to handle these inquiries, while reducing lead times on commonly used alloys.
Adam Ebert, Business Development Manager at Morgan’s Braze Alloys Business
“One of Morgan’s strongest competencies is its superior materials research and development. This is a key reason for why our braze alloys are so popular and trusted,” said Adam Ebert, Business Development Manager at Morgan’s Braze Alloys Business. “We’re keen to continue delivering our knowledge and our braze alloys in as quick a timeframe as possible. This has seen us reduce our lead times on some of the most common braze alloy products, including our popular Nioro alloys, as well as gold-copper alloys and copper-silver alloys. We’re now aiming for a three-day turnaround on any product across the whole of the US.”
Morgan launched its Metals and Joining Center of Excellence (CoE), located in Hayward, California, in October 2017 to deliver new material science and process solutions.
A leading provider of engine and airframe services based in Scottsdale, Arizona, recently signed an exclusive, long-term engine maintenance agreement with a Phoenix-based air carrier for its CF34-8E5 engines powering a fleet of 42 Embraer 175 regional aircraft.
Mike Lotz, president and Chief Financial Officer of Mesa Air Group
StandardAero worked out this deal with Mesa Airlines, which provides scheduled passenger service to 110 cities in 39 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and The Bahamas.
“StandardAero’s operational performance, exceptional customer service and program flexibility are some of the key traits that form the foundation of our long and trusted partnership making entering into this new MRO agreement an easy decision,” said Mike Lotz, president and Chief Financial Officer of Mesa Air Group, the commercial aviation holding company of Mesa Airlines.
“We are delighted in the confidence placed in StandardAero with this exciting new engine maintenance agreement to support Mesa Airlines CF34-8E5 engines,” said Todd Sywake, Vice President – Business Development and Strategy for StandardAero’s Airlines and Fleet Division. “StandardAero focuses on creating a world-class, hassle-free customer experience while developing custom tailored MRO solutions to help lower our partners’ operating costs.”
A Chicago-area automotive part supplier encountered frequent cracking of variable valve timing plates that were sent to a third party for heat treatment. The problem resulted in the company spending lots of time and money on part testing as well as wasting lots of steel. After a thorough examination of the manufacture and heat treatment of the parts, Paulo metallurgists identified the cause of the cracking and recommended a custom solution to keep it from happening in the future. The following is a case study on the part failure investigation and resolution by Rob Simons.
Case study of a part failure investigation and resolution
Being an integral part of customers’ success means more than just regularly receiving parts and treating them according to spec.
Sometimes a customer approaches a heat treater in search of answers to a problem they can’t quite grasp.
In this case, a Chicago-area supplier of automotive components needed to know why parts it sent off for heat treating kept coming back cracked. They were spending too much time and resources on tests and throwing out too many failed parts.
Persistent cracks in variable timing plates
Our customer produces variable valve timing plates for domestic automobile models. Variable valve timing (VVT) plates are part of a system designed to optimize engine performance by changing the lift, duration, and timing of valve lift events.
Variable Valve Timing Plates (Photo credit: Underhood Service http://www.underhoodservice.com/variable-valve-timing/)
In this case, the life cycle of these parts began in a steel mill, where coils of AISI 1045 carbon steel were produced. The parts were then annealed in preparation for fine blanking at our customer’s facility. Then, the parts would be through hardened and sent to the automotive manufacturer.
But our customer noticed that many of the parts came back cracked. This was the source of two big problems:
The customer had to perform inspections on every part that was returned from the heat treater, which came at significant expense of time and resources.
To satisfy the terms of its contract with the automotive manufacturer, our customer had to make far more parts than it would have ordinarily needed to on the assumption that many of the parts would not be acceptable. It cost too much money, and too much steel was wasted.
The customer approached metallurgists at Paulo to figure out what was wrong and what could be done to make it right.
Forensic heat treatment analysis
Our first task was to figure out what the customer’s heat treater was doing to the parts.
Upon our inspection, we noticed the parts were quite brittle. A closer look at the microstructure of the parts’ surfaces revealed they had been carbonitrided.
Meanwhile, we consulted with personnel at the mill and steel processor where the steel originated. We learned that the coils of 1045 steel were annealed in a nitrogen environment. Annealing is an important process that spheroidizes carbides in the steel which aids in fine blanking. In the case of our customer, the VVT plates could not be formed to the specified tolerance if they weren’t first annealed.
But the nitrogen present in the anneal was a problem. 1045 steel includes aluminum as a grain refining element. When aluminum and nitrogen combine during annealing, aluminum nitrides form. Aluminum nitrides create a much finer grain on the part surface, which prevents the full hardening of the material. We suspected our customer’s heat treater attempted to overcome the defect by carbonitriding. But instead of hardening, the parts just got brittle. That’s because 1045 steel lacks the hardenability that would be required to overcome the fine grain size that resulted from the presence of aluminum nitrides.
To confirm our suspicion, we ordered the same material from the customer’s mill and then carbonitrided the parts as we believed the previous heat treater had. Our post-treatment analysis of the parts shows the successful recreation of the failure mode.
A custom-developed solution
We believed the most direct way to solve the problem was to eliminate the factors that caused it at the start. We again approached the mill, this time to see if they could anneal the steel in a different environment. They said they could not.
The next best thing would be to “spike” the 1045 steel with another alloying element that would add hardenability despite the fine grain sizes that result when nitrogen and aluminum interact during annealing. We pinpointed chromium as the ideal alloy, and after some trial and error, we identified a formula for the chromium spike that would result in fully-hardened parts without cracks after through hardening.
Today, the customer’s mill still produces the 1045 steel with our recommended chromium spike. And as of mid-2018, we’ve treated 25 million variable valve timing plates for this customer.
This case study illustrates the importance of a few key lessons suppliers should keep in mind. First, stay in touch with what’s going on further up the supply chain. You may be able to react to problems more quickly or stop them altogether.
Second, have a working knowledge of part materials and the chemistry at play during any manufacturing process. Armed with this knowledge, you can ask key questions as you vet potential heat treatment partners. It could end up saving you time and expense in the long run.
Finally, know where to get a second opinion, and have a backup heat treater ready in case your primary partner can’t do what you need them to do.
Rob Simons is a metallurgical engineer specializing in ferrous heat treatments with 35 years of experience in the industry. He earned a degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Missouri – Rolla in 1982 and most recently was a featured presenter at the ASM Heat Treat 2017 conference. He has been at Paulo for over 30 years.
A leading supplier of monolithic refractory products recently partnered with a company that provides safety equipment for foundries to install four 166 sq ft emergency collection pits with 64 sq ft breakout inlets at a new foundry site in Warner Township, Michigan.
Allied Mineral Products is the U.S. representative for Silmeta Systems, which has installed over 500 emergency collection pits (ECP) worldwide, and the two companies collaborated in the integration of ECPs at the new facility under construction for EJ Americas, which provides metal fabrication products for manhole covers and frames, junction boxes cleanout, monument boxes, and other related products.
During EJ’s review of the prospective suppliers for the foundry project, the team saw photos of an of an emergency collection pit (ECP). Since EPCs are new to the US market and most foundry teams have not seen them, the EJ staff was curious and wanted to know more. An ECP completely separates molten metal from any water present, eliminating the possibility of a steam explosion. The elimination of explosion risk coupled with the sizing of the pits to contain the full contents of the furnace results in no injuries or significant property damage due to furnace breakouts. After researching emergency collection pits, the leadership team decided to integrate ECPs into their new facility and contracted with Silmeta Systems, which is the only supplier of these type systems which had already installed ECPs in the US.
Allied serves as the one-stop shop in the U.S. for Silmeta ECPs, through their management of marketing, sales, and technical support in addition to producing the castables and managing construction.
