Engineering giant Rolls-Royce has entered into a 15-year contract with a UK-based thermal processing services specialist to secure specialized vacuum heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to support its civil aerospace production.
Bodycote, which provides heat treatment services that protect and improve the properties of metals and alloys, extending their operational life and making them safer, will work with Rolls-Royce’s turbine blade casting facilities in Derby and Rotherham.
The agreement, which is expected to be worth over £160 million ($227.3 million US) in incremental revenues over the 15-year period, ensures the provision of specialist thermal processing capacity utilizing Bodycote’s high performance, quality-focused approach to support the growth of Rolls-Royce’s large civil engine programs, including the Trent XWB, Trent 1000, Trent 7000, Trent 700 and Trent 900.
A Cleveland-based iron ore mining company recently broke ground on its first hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production facility in the Toledo area.
Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs hosted company officials and state and local representatives to launch construction on the plant, which is expected to produce 1.6 million metric tons per year of customized, high-quality HBI. This will make Cleveland-Cliffs the sole producer of high-quality customized feedstock for the domestic electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers located in the Great Lakes region.
“Today we are launching a new era for the iron and steel industry in the United States,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs of the $700 million investment. “As Cleveland-Cliffs begins the construction of the first hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production plant in the Great Lakes region, we are taking the initial steps to enable EAF steelmakers to produce the specs associated with high margin steels for sophisticated end markets, such as automotive and others.”
“For several decades, Cleveland-Cliffs has been supplying the American steelmakers in the Great Lakes with customized pellets to feed their blast furnaces,” Goncalves added. “With the growth in participation of EAFs, it was just a matter of time for Cliffs to become a supplier of these important steelmakers. Our HBI will be for the EAFs the same great feedstock our taconite pellets are, and will continue to be, for our blast furnace clients.”
“This facility is an important step for economic development in heavy industry right here in the heart of America,” said Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.
Founded in 1847, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the United States, supplying iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. Additionally, Cleveland-Cliffs operates an iron ore mining complex in Western Australia.
Pictured L-R: Clifford Smith, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; Dean Monske, President and CEO, Regional Growth Partnership; Paul Toth, President and CEO, Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority; Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, U.S. House of Representatives (OH-09); Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President & CEO, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz – City of Toledo; Peter Ujvagi, Toledo City Councilman; and Alex Johnson, CEO & President, Midwest Terminals. (Photo: Business Wire)
Heat treating plays a critical role in the making of a mold base, notes an Austrian manufacturer of standard parts for mould bases and die sets in a recent process profile in ETMM-online.
An excerpt:
"Heat-treat[ing] all steel plates for stress relief . . . at approximately 580°C [1076°F] for 24 hours . . . creates optimal conditions for low-deformation processing of parts. . . . With stress-relieving heat treatment, the tension in the material is minimized without changes to the microstructure or strength. This is a great advantage during subsequent machining. If there was still tension in the material, it would, for example, cause deformation during sawing or milling. During stress-relieving, it is important to heat the plates slowly and consistently and then maintain this temperature for six hours."
A new continuous annealing line for steel sheet will be installed at a major Japanese steel manufacturer, the direct result of the growing demand from the automotive industry for ultra high-strength sheet (UHSS), according to the company.
Kobe Steel Ltd, headquartered in Chūō-ku, Kobe, recently reported that it will invest close to $470 million (50 billion Yen) in the installation of heat treatment facilities and cutting-edge equipment at its Kakogawa works, with an estimated production capacity of 240,000 metric tons per year, in response to automakers’ efforts to meet stricter regulations for fuel efficiency and collision safety by producing lighter car bodies with higher strength.
A new facility will combine a continuous annealing line with hot-dipped galvanizing and galvannealing equipment. The new production line and associated equipment will produce both cold rolled steel and hot-dipped galvanized/galvannealed steel, enabling the production of UHSS with high formability to meet customer needs. The passing process changes depending on the type of product being produced, either cold rolled steel or hot-dipped galvanized/galvannealed steel. When cold rolled steel is made, the steel undergoes heat treatment at the continuous annealing line. When hot-dipped galvanized/galvannealed steel is made, the steel first undergoes annealing and then galvanizing treatment by the galvanizing equipment.
Ultra high-strength steel (UHSS) has a tensile strength of 780 MPa or higher.
Together with the construction of the new line, which is expected to start up in February 2021, Kobe Steel will also increase the production capacity of its existing pickling and tandem cold mill and material handling equipment.
Henry Canady of Aviation Week interviews Mark Meyer of GEAdditive to gain insight on how additive metal manufacturing will disrupt the manufacturing landscape, particularly the aerospace sector, as techniques are refined for metal additive. Meyer speculates that additive will compete with metal forging and further enhance forging processes.
An excerpt:
“Just as taxi service often improves when Uber and Lyft move into town, metal casting is being enhanced as additive competes with casting.”
With the recent reopening of its drawing mill in Hallstahammar, Sweden, a leading supplier of industrial heating technology and resistance materials expects to meet an increased global demand for heating, resistance and thermocouple wire.
Nicklas Nilsson, president at Kanthal
Kanthal, which is part of the Sandvik Group, recently expanded its capacity by reopening its drawing mill, which includes a new production line designed in a flexible way to secure a sustainable and cost-effective wire drawing.
“We want to support our customers to grow and stay competitive. To be able to do this, we must ramp up our production of Kanthal® wire to secure short and reliable lead times,” said Christoffer Saarnio, global supply chain manager (shown above). “With the new production line, we will be able to meet increased demand for many years to come.”
“We have produced Kanthal wire in Hallstahammar since 1931, except for the past five years,” said Nicklas Nilsson, president at Kanthal. “It’s great to close the circle and once again see the drawing mill up and running.”
A gas nitriding system configured for treating various sized flat and hollow dies used in the production of aluminum extruded profiles for the construction and transportation markets was installed in January 2018 for a Qatar-based company that manufactures and supplies mill finished and powder coated aluminum extruded products.
Qatar Aluminum Extrusion Company (Qalex) awarded a contract to Nitrex Metals, a nitrding/nitrocarburizing technologies and solutions supplier based in Québec, for the supply and installation of an NX-1015 potential-controlled gas nitriding system which Qalex sought to adopt new technological innovations in nitriding when equipment and die quality requirements could not be met with the existing fluidized bed nitrider.
The NX-1015 furnace has a load capacity of 4400 lbs (2000 kg), and while this is slightly larger than current production needs, the additional capacity will accommodate future growth, when Qalex adds a second extrusion press. The precise interaction between the furnace and advanced control system allows the atmosphere to be adjusted automatically, according to the recipe and parameters entered. Integral to the system operation, Nitreg® technology is customized and pre-tested for extrusion dies to ensure optimum results of the nitrided layer, as well as to obtain repeatable results and higher throughput per die.
Induction heat treaters know that proper coil design is crucial to increasing longevity, improving production quality, and cutting costs. The authors of this paper on Coil Design Techniques (C. Yakey, V. Nemkov, R. Goldstein, J. Jackowski) draw on an extensive library of published case histories in induction coil design and performance evaluations and provide their own case study of an automotive CVJ stem hardening coil in order to demonstrate how the elimination of failure points and application of improved design guidelines can result in increased coil lifetimes, even in an inductor that in some circumstances can have a short lifetime.
An excerpt:
“The quality of an induction coil is a major determinant of the cost to produce induction heat treated components. Oftentimes, the difference between a well designed and manufactured inductor and a poor performing inductor is not readily apparent. However, a high-quality induction coil can lead to substantially lower component manufacturing costs and higher profitability for the induction heat treater.”
A commercial heat treater specializing in low-pressure vacuum carburizing recently expanded its processing capacity with a 12-bar gas quenching vacuum furnace.
Midwest Thermal-Vac (MTV), based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which provides conventional heat treating, as well as solution, isothermal, spherodized or full annealing, homogenizing, normalizing, austenitizing, tool steel tempering and cryogenic treatments for the aerospace, defense, and general commercial industries, purchased the furnace to facilitate processing for companies needing to meet Nadcap and medical industry requirements such as MedAccred.
MTV’s capabilities will expand with a TITAN® vacuum furnace with 12-bar gas quenching from Ipsen USA. This furnace features a diffusion pump for high-vacuum levels and an all-metal hot zone to ensure part cleanliness, and an all-metal hot zone measuring 18″ x 24″ x 18″ (455 mm x 610 mm x 455 mm), with a 1,000-pound (450 kg) load capacity. It is capable of operating at temperatures ranging from 900 °F to 2,400 °F (482 °C to 1,316 °C) with ± 10 °F (±6 °C) temperature uniformity.
Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
The Grieve Corporation mourns the loss of its longtime president, P.J. “Pat” Calabrese, who died on February 17, 2018, in Lake Forest, Illinois, at the age of 90. Pat was president of Grieve from 1958 until his retirement in 2008, having worked closely with the company’s founder, Price Grieve. Pat was born in Chicago, graduated in 1949 from the University of Illinois with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and was awarded that school’s prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001. He also held a number of positions with various industrial, business, and Catholic charitable organizations. Pat began his career at Grieve in 1958 as National Sales Manager, becoming President in 1968 and finally Chairman in 2006, following the death of Mr. Grieve. During his tenure as President, the company grew steadily to become a global supplier of heat processing equipment for virtually every industry in every industrialized country in the world.
Advanced Heat Treat Corp (AHT), recently announced the appointment of Chad Clark as plant manager of the Monroe, Michigan, facility. He is well-versed in many aspects of AHT’s business, having been with the company for 15 years. Clark will lead all Monroe, Michigan, operations and guide the strategic direction of the plant. He will also be actively communicating with customers and leading the facility’s project management.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) announced that Devinder Ahuja, senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO), Novelis Inc., has been named to the NAM Board of Directors. Founded in 1895, the NAM is the largest industrial trade association in the United States with 14,000 members. “I am honored to join the NAM Board to advocate policies that will ensure our continued growth and success as manufacturers,” said Ahuja. “Policymakers need to understand how their actions affect the more than 12 million men and women employed in manufacturing.”
Pat Calabrese, president of Grieve, 2/17/18
Chad Clark, plant manager, Advanced Heat Treat Corp.
Devinder Ahuja, of Novelis, has been named to National Association of Manufacturers board of directors
Equipment Chatter
An inert atmosphere floor furnace was recently built to specifications by The Grieve Corporation. The No. 854 is a special high-temperature, 2200°F electrically-heated, inert atmosphere floor furnace being used for various heat treating applications at the customer’s facility. Workspace dimensions measure 24” wide x 48” deep x 24” high. Special inert atmosphere construction on No. 854 includes a continuously welded outer shell, high-temperature door gasket, sealed heater terminal boxes, inert atmosphere inlet, outlet, and flowmeter.
An India-based conglomerate recently awarded a contract to Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited to design, manufacture, install, and commission an aluminum automotive casting heat treatment system for their new green field North American expansion in South Carolina, chosen largely due to specific demands of the company’s new line of die-cast, lightweight aluminum automotive components.
An auto parts manufacturer has ordered a continuous controlled atmosphere brazing line for battery coolers from SECO/WARWICK. This is RAAL S.C.’s third line purchased from western Pennsylvania-based vacuum furnace supplier. RAAL is a manufacturer of complete cooling systems and brazed heat exchangers made of aluminum alloys and stainless steel: radiators, oil coolers, air coolers, condensers and evaporators, designed for agricultural, construction, industrial equipment and automotive applications.
An American commercial heat treating plant recently purchased a horizontal, high-pressure vacuum furnace from REMIX of Poland. P&L Heat Treating, Inc., of Youngstown, Ohio, began production with the furnace, enhancing the company’s capabilities in the heat treatment of aluminum extrusion dies used in the automotive industry, as well as parts for aviation, nuclear, and other industries. A unique design feature of the REMIX Vacuum is its four-zone system of cooling nozzles which facilitates precise control of cooling gases into the work zone. and allows optimized positive pressure quenching of all load sizes.
A general purpose box furnace was recently delivered to a manufacturer of precision metal stampings in the U.S. Midwest. Model HL7-M24, built and sold by Lucifer Furnaces, has chamber dimensions of 12”H x 18”W x 24”D and heats to 2300°F. The furnace, which is part of Lucifer’s standard, general purpose, Series 7000 box furnace lines, will be used to heat treat D2 and A2 steel under air atmosphere.
A Greek aluminum producer recently ordered a four-stand aluminum tandem hot finishing mill for its plant near Athens. ElvalHalcor S.A., the newly merged business of Elval Hellenic Aluminium Industry S.A. and Halcor Metal Works S.A., will boost its output of prime aluminum flat-rolled products at its Oinofyta facility with the new line from SMS Group. This investment allows for the increase of ElvalHalcor’s supply for industrial, transportation and architectural applications and sets the base for expansion in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Start of production of the new hot rolling line will be in 2020.
Inert atmosphere floor furnace, The Grieve Corporation
Casting heat treatment system, Can-Eng Furnaces, International
Deltech Furnaces, Inc. recently announced that it has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for the quality management system implemented at its Denver, Colo., location. The scope of Deltech’s certification includes the “design and manufacture of electric laboratory and production scale furnaces and related control systems.
Heat Treat Today is 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.
