FORGING NEWS

Matrix Forgings Manufacturer Commissions Sealed Quench Chamber Furnace

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.

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Gyro Stabilizer Finished with Heat Treating at Texas Forge

Seakeeper Gyro Stabilizer

A closed die forging company, headquartered in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, recently launched a new marine product line for a gyro stabilizer designed to improve the boating experience by eliminating boat roll, the rocking motion that causes seasickness, fatigue, and anxiety.

The Ellwood Closed Die Group introduced the line for the gyro stabilizer developed by Maryland-based Seakeeper, which also includes several finish-machined flywheels that are assembled into the gyro stabilizers. From start to finish, Ellwood Texas Forge Navasota (ETFN), located in southeast Texas near its sister company, Ellwood Texas Forge (Houston), utilizes the entire Ellwood Group supply chain to manufacture the flywheels. Raw material melted at Ellwood Quality Steel (EQS) and procured from Ellwood City Forge (ECF) is heated and forged on various pieces of equipment within the ETFN facility to produce the near net shaped forgings. After heat treatment and processing, the forging is then rough machined, non-destructively tested for part quality and finish machined to extremely tight tolerances.

Both Texas-based forge facilities provide in-house heat treatment, along with die sinking, cutting, testing and machining capabilities to serve the aerospace, construction, defense, general industrial, marine, mining, oil & gas, and power generation markets.

Seakeeper is based in California, Maryland, with locations in Europe and Asia.

Photo caption: “How It Works: Inside a vacuum encapsulation, a flywheel spins at speeds of up to 9,700 rpm. When the boat rolls, the gyro tilts fore and aft (processes), producing a powerful gyroscopic torque to port and starboard that counteracts the boat roll.”

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Specialty Materials Invests in Aerospace Iso-Thermal Forging, Heat Treat Capacity

A global manufacturer of technically advanced specialty materials and complex components recently announced investment toward its iso-thermal forging and heat treating capacities to satisfy growing demand from the aerospace jet engine market.

CEO of Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI), Rich Harshman, CEO of Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI), announcing the expansion of ATI’s iso-thermal forging and heat treating capacities to satisfy growing demand from the aerospace jet engine market.  Photo credit: Tony Bettack, WTMJ, Twitter

Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will self-fund approximately $95 million, representing two projects: a fourth iso-thermal press and expansion of heat treat capacity. Both will take place at the company’s iso-thermal forging center in Cudahy, Wisconsin. ATI expects the projects to be completed in 2020 and fully qualify for aerospace-related production.

“We continue to invest in our advanced forging capabilities in support of our aerospace customer’s ramp-up of next-generation jet engine production. Once completed and fully qualified, this critical growth project will enable us to meet the increasing production requirements for existing long-term agreements with our engine OEM partners,” said Rich Harshman, ATI’s chairman, president, and CEO. “Iso-thermal is the most technologically advanced forging method available today and ATI’s ongoing leadership in this area is further solidified by this significant investment.”

“This investment, along with our recent nickel-based superalloy powder expansion in Monroe, NC, will enable the High-Performance Materials and Components (HPMC) segment to meet its longer-term financial goals by increasing our capacity to produce technologically advanced powder-to-iso-thermally-forged jet engine components,” said John Sims, Executive Vice President, HPMC Segment.

 

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Rebuilt Rotary Furnace Increases Capacity for Canton Forge

An Ohio-based forge which specializes in precise and durable forgings for aerospace, energy, and transportation markets recently commenced production with a rebuilt rotary furnace designed to service and increase heating capacity for some of its largest hammers.

The furnace was rebuilt in-house at Canton Drop Forge (CDF) in Canton, Ohio, and has North American high-velocity tempest burners. Another furnace will be rebuilt in 2018 to increase the heating capacity for its oilfield forging cell.

CDF’s unique ability to rebuild furnaces in-house advances heating capacity and efficiency, producing forgings used in critical applications with zero tolerance for failure. Home to some of the industry’s largest drop forging hammers in its 241,000 square foot manufacturing facility, the company operates 13 forging hammers and can produce forged parts up to 3500 lbs.

In February, Canton Drop Forge was acquired by Park Ohio, an international supply chain management outsourcing company based in Cleveland.

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Ellwood Forge Heat Treat Location to Expand Office Facilities

 

Source: EllwoodCity.org

 

Ellwood City Forge (ECF), a steel and heavy metals manufacturing group in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, with heat treating facilities in multiple locations, recently launched construction on the renovation and expansion of its office facilities at the same location on Second Street where the company broke ground and has been in operation since 1910.

The project will include renovation of ECF’s existing building and construction of a new, adjoining building and continue to house the offices of parent company Ellwood Group, adjacent to manufacturing operations, including bloom processing. Heat treating, forging, and machining operations are located at two of ECF’s other six plants — New Castle, Pennsylvania, and Corry, Pennsylvania.

Ellwood City Forge supplies open-die forgings for a broad range of applications, including oil & gas, power generation, mining, industrial machinery, metal processing, power transmission and gearing, aerospace, infrastructure and construction, defense, and shipbuilding.

Read more: “Groundbreaking — New ECF Office”

Left to Right: Evan Fennell, Engineer and Project Manager, ECF; Ray Santillo, Executive Director, EC Chamber of Commerce; Steve Paxton, Architect, Franus Architectural Associates; Denny Boariu, Product Specialist, Ellwood City Forge/Chamber of Commerce Representative; Tony Court, Mayor, Ellwood City; Anna Barensfeld, Shareholder, Ellwood Group; Bill Nardone, VP of Operations, Ellwood City Forge; Dan Franus, Architect, Franus Architectural Associates; Phil DiMarco, Principal, DiMarco Construction

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Ellwood Group Acquires Gulfco Forge Company

  Source:  ForgingMagazine.com

Gulf Coast Machine and Supply Company (Gulfco) utilizes forging equipment including a 3,500-ton open-die press, a 2,000-ton press, 10,000-lb. hammer, and several ring mills.  It also has heat-treating, finish machining, and product testing capabilities. The Ellwood Group has purchased Gulfco and will operate it under EGI.

Read more: Ellwood Group Acquires Gulfco Forge by Robert Brooks

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MTI Achieves Production Readiness on New Hi-Tech Forging Line

Metal Technology (MTI) announced that it has achieved production readiness on a new state-of-the-art forging line at its manufacturing facility located in Albany, Oregon.

“Our entire team at Metal Technology is fully committed to being the best in the world at forging Molybdenum, Tantalum, Niobium, Copper, and other reactive and specialty metals.” said Pat Coffey, Vice President – Operations. “By coupling our computer controlled (CNC) 1200 ton hydraulic press with our new multi station digital rotary hearth  furnace we are able to achieve some of the highest quality and repeatability levels in the industry. We are able to tune our process by adjusting heat, tonnage, speed, and travel, programmatically allowing us to create a recipe that will yield the ideal microstructure for each application. This was an absolute must given the unique demands of the defense, scientific, and space exploration customer base we serve.”

“Our new forging capability combined with our precision machine shop further strengthens MTI’s competitive position by allowing us to provide fully comprehensive end-to-end solutions for our customers. We are now able to forge components to near net shape with superior grain structure saving time and material due to our controlled forging process. We can then machine those components in house to final geometry and back it up with AS9100 level inspection using the most sophisticated precision measuring equipment in the industry to assure the highest quality standards.” said Gary Cosmer, Chief Executive Officer.

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Melting Line, Casting Line and Two Forging Presses to be Installed

Production of aluminum forged suspension products will be expanded by Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products, LLC, to meet the rising demand in North America.

Based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, KAAP decided in November 2015 to install a melting and casting line and two forging presses. Mass production is scheduled to begin in summer 2017. When this capital investment is completed, KAAP will have three melting and casting lines and eight forging presses. Production capacity will increase from the current 540,000 pieces per month to 750,000 pieces per month.

In the latest expansion plan announced today, KAAP plans to invest approximately US$53 million (about 5.8 billion yen) to install an additional melting and casting line and two forging presses. Startup is to begin in stages starting from autumn 2018, with completion slated for early 2019. KAAP anticipates hiring 100 more people.

When the latest capital investment is completed, KAAP will have a total of four melting and casting lines and 10 forging presses. Production capacity will increase to 970,000 pieces per month, and employees are anticipated to total 600 people.

KAAP was established in 2003 as a joint venture by Kobe Steel, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Toyota Tsusho Corporation to produce aluminum forged suspension products in the United States. Ever since it began production in 2005, KAAP has maintained the top share of the North American market for aluminum forged suspension products.

The United States is the world’s second-largest automobile market, and car production is anticipated to continue growing. Production of approximately 17.5 million cars in 2016 is projected to increase to 19 million cars in 2020.

Owing to their light weight, aluminum forged suspensions contribute to improving the fuel economy of cars. Demand has been rising due to the increasing need to reduce the weight of car bodies in response to environmental regulations.

KAAP began by supplying mainly Japanese automakers in the United States. It now supplies U.S. automakers, too. KAAP anticipates that in the future automakers will use aluminum forged suspension products in a wider range of vehicles.

This latest expansion will further contribute to solidifying KAAP’s position in the North American market for aluminum forged suspension products.

Outline of Seventh Expansion

Extension of building:  About 13,000 sq m (140,000 sq ft)

Equipment:  1 melting and casting line, 2 forging presses, auxiliary equipment

Investment amount:  About $53 million

No. of employees to be hired:  About 100 (when in full operation)

Start-up of equipment:  To be in stages from autumn 2018

 

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Aerospace Supplier Orders Titanium Rotary Hearth Forging Furnace

A leading North American aerospace supplier ordered a 36 ft. diameter pancake style rotary hearth furnace for the production of large fixed wing aircraft titanium and nickel based alloy closed-die structural forgings. The open hearth configuration furnace system which allows for more flexible loading and uniform heating, was supplied by Can-Eng International Ltd. and features an advanced low NOx combustion system designed to meet the most stringent environmental and temperature uniformity requirements. Special dual-door design provides the customer with significant flexibility for forging to press manipulation within in their existing plant layout. The system is capable of processing up to 250,000 pound load capacity in a 24/7 production environment.  The furnace system complies with thermal performance requirements laid out in AMS2750E, integrates a low shrinkage ceramic fiber lining, unique rotating hearth drive and sealing system. The system is scheduled to be commissioned to the United States in the third quarter of 2017.

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Bharat Forge Expands in U.S. with Tennessee Acquisition

  Source:  Forging

Directors of Bharat Forge Ltd., in Pune, India, approved the company’s acquisition of 100% of the shares of Walker Forge Tennessee LLC (WFT), in Surgoinsville, TN, making it a subsidiary of its Bharat Forge America holding.

Read More:  Bharat Forge Expands in U.S. with Tennessee Acquisition

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