A provider in the power solutions industry has enhanced its operations with a heat treat drop-bottom furnace for the solution heat treatment of aluminum castings. This installation will increase the company’s production capabilities, with the furnace having a load setting of 48 in (123 cm) wide x 36 in (91 cm) high x 141 in (358 cm) long.
The furnace, the fifth designed and manufactured by NUTEC Bickley, has a single temperature control zone, typically operating at 1000°F (573°C), with a maximum of 1075°F (580°C). The load setting will accommodate up to three baskets, equivalent to around 3600 lb (1635 kg) of aluminum parts per cycle. The furnace has been customized to be indirect gas-fired using radiant tube burners. Additionally, the project incorporates a motorized quench tank, rails, movement system, and load/unload platform with elevator device.
Arturo Arechavaleta Vice President, Metal Furnaces NUTEC Bickley
“Efficient and effective solution heat treatment is a vital part of the aluminum casting process,” said Arturo Arechavaleta, vice-president of Metal Furnaces at NUTEC Bickley. “Without the sort of advanced system that we have custom-designed, volume production of high-quality aluminum parts is not feasible. We’re proud to have played an important role in this technology partnership.”
The indirect gas firing is via single centrifugal recirculation that produces a vertical flow pattern. Heating is achieved with four radiant tube burners that have individual flame safety devices. The burner system incorporates a motorized control butterfly valve, and the gas flow is controlled by proportional ratio regulators. This design, with its baffle arrangement, delivers an even flow pattern, providing excellent temperature distribution and control in the furnace’s load chamber and high-efficiency heat recirculation (convection) horizontally across the aluminum castings. Excellent temperature uniformity was always considered an important parameter, and this has been shown to be ±5.4°F (±3°C) under full test in the provider’s manufacturing facility.
In order to maintain excellent thermal efficiency in operation, the furnace walls are fully lined using ultra large proprietary ceramic fiber modules. Their configuration and fixing provide for excellent insulation and long life coupled with low maintenance. The insulation layer is 6 in (150 mm) thick and has a density of 12 lb/ft3 (192 kg/m3).
The installation will see the drop-bottom furnace itself stationary — in a fixed elevated position — with the quench tank and loading car moving to accommodate baskets at the selected position. The furnace has a single, pneumatically operated horizontal slide door. For these particular aluminum castings, the company will employ a motorized water quench system provided by NUTEC Bickley, as well as its rails included leveling and installation. The tank has been designed to accept a full load of pieces within the work basket when the furnace is positioned vertically above it.
Press releases are available in their original form here.
Are you looking to expand in-house heat treat operations on a brownfield industrial site? These sites can bring complications due to a more restrictive footprint combined with other fixed process conditions. In today’s Technical Tuesday installment, the authors of this case study reveal how to consider available footprint and conveyance mechanism options in a continuous steel reheat furnace, as well as the key design variables for industrial furnaces.
On the research team are the following: Michael K. Klauck, P.Eng., President; Robin D. Young, P.Eng., Vice President — Mechanical Engineering; Gerard Stroeder, P.Eng., Manager — Sr. Technology Specialist; and Jesse Marcil, E.I.E., Project Manager — Mechanical Engineering, all from CAN-ENG Furnaces International.
A manufacturer with in-house heat treating had the need to develop a custom furnace for a critical step in the forging process. Specifically, this furnace would be for reheating bottom poured ingots and/or continuously cast round blooms to forging temperatures.
Like all industrial furnaces, the design for such a furnace takes into consideration many factors, including but not limited to:
Production throughput/capacity
Product configuration/condition
Material composition
Target product temperature uniformity
Soak time
Cycle time
Serviceability
Upstream and downstream process integration
Automation
Continuous reheat furnaces that supply steel rolling mills (slabs, blooms) are often designed for very large capacities up to 500 TPH (tons per hour). However, this client’s site was in the 15–30 TPH capacity range. For an open die forging application, this would be considered a low to medium capacity range.
Another consideration was that this was a location with already existing buildings. “Greenfield” sites are undeveloped areas free from prior industrial use; thus, they impose very few restrictions on the layout of the reheating furnace and overall forging cell. In this case, the manufacturer was developing on a “brownfield,” a place with evidence of prior industrial production. Places like these often have the blessing and curse of existing, vacant structures. So, in addition to the design considerations listed above, the physical limitations of a brownfield places constraints on what technology can meet the key performance deliverables.
In this article, we will review how this manufacturer with in-house heat treat was able to customize their furnace to successfully adapt it to the constraints of a brownfield location. The key: An appropriate conveyance mechanism.
Figure 1. Traditional gantry style loader/unloader
Continuous Furnace Design for Cylindrical Round Reheating
The client’s product was a cylindrical “as cast” (continuous casting or static cast) round of approximate weight 1.5–2 tons with required reheating at 2300°F. With a design production capacity of 15–30 TPH, batch reheating was not a viable option; the main choices for continuous furnace reheating are either a walking hearth or rotary hearth furnace (“ring furnace”).
The scope of plant equipment that had to be installed in custom forging cells consists of the following:
Incoming raw material preparation and cutting
Reheat prior to forging
Forging
Post-forging operations — trimming, shearing, and heat treatment (normalizing, tempering)
Machining and finished goods
For a recent reference site, the incoming raw material preparation, the cutting facility consumed approximately 30% of the overall floor space and the forging machine consumed 35% of the footprint, leaving approximately 35% of the available area for the reheating furnace. A comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the walking hearth technology and rotary hearth technology was made and presented to the end user.
Some of the advantages of the rotary hearth design included the following:
A smaller overall footprint/lower consumption of building length
Non-water-cooled hearth
Positive product positioning with low risk for movement during conveyance
No complicated pits/foundations
Less complicated drive system
Figure 2. Wrought round bar discharge via a single door system
For this reason, the end user opted for the rotary hearth furnace design over the walking hearth system. A traditional rotary hearth furnace design incorporates two gantry style units, one for loading and one for unloading (see Figure 1). There is a “dead zone” of 10–20° between the charge and discharge which does not contribute to the overall effective heated length.
Alternatively, the CAN-ENG design employs a single door vestibule for both charging and discharging. Instead of dedicated mechanical systems with limited degrees of freedom, this design uses a pedestal-mounted, purpose-built furnace tending robot with a 270° axis slew (see lead article image). The result of these design changes is a more effective utilization of the building width for reheating with no dead zone combined with a robot that has considerable freedom when transferring products from furnace elevation to discharge conveyor elevation.
The robotic feature is particularly important when considering pass line differences for various pieces of equipment in a production cell. Some installations cannot have pits due to high water table considerations, and so the flexibility of robot reach combined with the 270° of axis slew yields fewer restrictions for the end user.
Figure 3. Plan view product layout showing inner and outer charge positions
This rotary hearth furnace can be configured for loading a single long piece or two shorter pieces, one charged towards the furnace inner ring, and one charged to the furnace outer ring, with a suitable gap between the pieces and the refractory walls. This provides considerable flexibility for piece size which is accommodated by the furnace tending robot. Had gantry style loaders/unloaders been used for the charging/discharging functions, the requirement for charging an inner and outer ring of the furnace would have been significantly more challenging.
The overall diameter of a typical steel rotary furnace for 15–30 TPH of production capacity is in the 55’–65’ diameter range (outside of steel service platform). This is dependent on the soak time specified by the end user and the heat up time for the cast or wrought steel product that is charged.
There are many aspects of industrial furnace design that are not covered in this article, and they would include at a minimum:
Refractory — hearth, wall, roof and flue areas
Flue design
Burner type — heat-up zones (both above and below auto-ignition), holding zones (i.e. soak zones
Physical zone separation vs. soft zoning
Drive configuration/drive synchronization
MES or Level II automation and controls
Incoming raw material cutting — carbide-blade, band saw and torch
A full article could be dedicated to each of these subjects. Many details are considered confidential design aspects of the furnace builder.
To speak just on support pieces (piers/bunks), nearly all refractory pier compositions are subject to interaction between the scale that is formed during heating (Fe2O3/Fe3O4) and silicates in the refractory matrix, particularly at reheating temperatures of 2300°F or higher.
Under the conditions of pressure and extremely high temperatures, a low melting point liquid compound of fayalite (iron silicates) is formed at the contact point between the workpiece and refractory pier. This is very undesirable and severely limits the overall pier life. Nickel- and cobalt based super alloys have been used successfully at temperatures up to 2450°F, but these materials can be cost prohibitive, especially considering that 70 or more product locations/pier placements may be required. Unless the product requires very restrictive uniformity in reheating (i.e., titanium ingots), consideration of nickel- or cobalt-based work support pieces is not economically feasible.
Figure 4. 3D rendering of a CAN-ENG single door rotary hearth furnace
The most important consideration for the forging cell downstream of the reheating furnace is the uniformity of the bar, ingot, bloom or mult as delivered for forging. Accurate determination of the temperature uniformity is often misleading by infrared radiation (IR) methods since primary scale is removed in the breakdown passes and secondary scale reforms in its place. Workpiece thermocouple measurements at defined locations in predrilled test pieces under full load conditions yield the best results for determining product uniformity prior to furnace discharge.
Conclusion
The modern rotary hearth ring furnace at low to medium production capacities of 15–30 TPH offers a compact footprint that has many advantages compared to water cooled beam walking hearth type reheating furnaces. This is particularly important to brownfield sites which need to adapt the existing industrial layout to current production needs. When combined with automated saw cutting and forging cells, an integrated manufacturing solution results in very low man-hour/ton of labor input. As seen in this article, recent reference sites where material handling conveyors, robots, descale units, vision systems and Level II MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) were supplied have allowed U.S.-based end users to achieve the lowest total production costs, allowing them to be competitive with India and China.
Michael K. Klauck, P.Eng., has nearly 40 years of working in the foundry, steel, commercial heat treating and industrial furnace businesses. He started at CAN-ENG in the year 2000 and has been president since 2012.
Robin D. Young, P.Eng., joined CAN-ENG in the year 2000 and has held progressive positions with the company since then. In his current role, he is responsible for departmental oversight of all aspects of Mechanical Furnace Design as well as the Field Service Team.
Gerard Stroeder, P.Eng., joined CAN-ENG METAL TREATING in 1984, a commercial heat treater, moving over to CAN-ENG FURNACES in 1991. With four decades of process and industrial furnace knowledge, Gerard has expert knowledge of industrial furnace costing and ERP business systems.
Jesse Marcil, E.I.E., is a mechanical engineer working on his Professional Engineer Certification (P.Eng.). Prior to joining CAN-ENG in 2021, he worked in the Engineer, Design — Build of Commercial and Industrial buildings. In his four years with the company, he has now completed several large custom ETO (Engineered To Order) furnace projects.
As U.S. election results were announced last week, several steel industry players are in the midst of acquisitions that could mean changes for in-house heat treat operators in North America.
Cleveland-Cliffs Expands North American Presence
Lourenco Goncalves Chairman, President, CEO Cliffs Source: Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (“Cliffs”) today announced that it has successfully completed its acquisition of Stelco Holdings Inc.(“Stelco”). The addition of Stelco enhances Cliffs’ position as the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America, diversifies Cliffs’ end-markets and expands its geographical presence in Canada. Stelco will continue operations as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cliffs, preserving the name and iconic Canadian legacy of the business.
Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cliffs, stated: “Today marks a transformative step forward for Cleveland-Cliffs. By bringing Stelco into the Cliffs family, we are building on our commitment to integrated steelmaking and good paying union jobs in North America. This acquisition allows us to further diversify our customer base and lower our cost structure. We are excited about the opportunities this acquisition brings and appreciate the warm welcome we have received from all government officials in Canada. We take our permission to operate very seriously and aim to continue the Stelco legacy with dedication and purpose.”
Nothing New: Questions for Nippon-U. S. Steel Acquisition
Takahiro Mori Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Nippon Steel Source: Nippon Steel
At this time, the U. S. Committee on Foreign Investment has the proposed acquisition under review until late December 2024.
If the deal is approved before the January 2025 inauguration, that does not guarantee that Trump would not overturn the results. However, “The previous Trump administration said it would attract foreign investment and create new jobs,” commented Nippon Steel Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori. “This (acquisition) is extremely in line with such a policy.” He still aims to see the deal close before the end of the calendar year.
The press release for the Cliff’s story is available in its original form here.
Furniss & White has partnered with a stainless steel technology company to produce its castings at its heat treatment facility using a new series of high-performance alloys. The foundry, which specializes in high-integrity stainless steel castings, fabrications, and precision machining, has signed a long-term agreement to manufacture its cast products using the high-performance alloys.
The castings are solution heat treated at approximately 1100°C (2012°F) and above and then water quenched by the company’s lift-off cover-type furnace with a load capacity of 5.3 tons (11,684.5 lbs). The N’GENIUS SeriesTM was developed by N’GENIUS Materials Technology and represents the total reinvention of conventional austenitic stainless steels, commonly known as the 300 Series.
Furniss & White will continue to produce its castings now using high-performance alloys under the N’GENIUS Series license for engineering products made using these advanced materials to its clients, serving the pump, valve, filter and engineering industries with castings from approximately 0.5kg to 2,600kg finished weight in a range of materials including carbon and low alloy steels, stainless steels, and nickel alloys. The firm manufactures an extensive selection of cast products for wide application in sectors including oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, mining, marine, defense, and power generation.
Dr. Ces Roscoe CEO of N’GENIUS Materials Technology Source: LinkedIn
“For more than 44 years we have built a strong reputation as a high-quality British manufacturer of high integrity castings made in our modern foundry in the UK,” said Sam Scholes, managing director at Furniss & White. “Now, as an approved licensed N’GENIUS manufacturer, we are writing an exciting new chapter in our history and to be the first foundry in the world to have this capability makes us extremely proud. We expect these game-changing N’GENIUS materials will be extremely popular with our existing customers and help open up new opportunities in other markets including the U.S. and Canada and in clean energy industries such as hydrogen.”
“Furniss & White is a company that shares our own passion and drive for innovation, and we are absolutely delighted to be collaborating with them on what is destined to be an industry changing technology,” said Dr. Ces Roscoe, CEO of N’GENIUS Materials Technology and inventor of the N’GENIUS Series. “With a long history of steelmaking, Sheffield is widely regarded as the birthplace of stainless steel and it seems befitting that it will essentially be ‘reborn’ in the same city more than a century later.”
Furniss & White has successfully completed a range of Manufacturing Procedure Qualification Tests at its facilities in various grades from the N’GENIUS Series.
Main image: Furniss & White casting an N’GENIUS grade alloy.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, a major supplier of steel to the automotive industry with heat treat capabilities, has announced its acquisition of Stelco Holdings Inc, an integrated steelmaker with two operational sites in the province of Ontario. The $2.5B (USD) transaction will bring 1,800 workers into the Cleveland-based steelmaker’s current workforce of 18,000 employed across its facilities in the United States and Canada.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (Cliffs) recently released its definitive agreement to acquire Stelco Holdings Inc, increasing its steelmaking footprint and doubling the company’s exposure to the flat-rolled spot market, which includes raw materials, energy, and healthcare. Stelco adds capabilities that complement Cliffs’ existing operations, confirming the Cleveland-based steelmaker’s commitment and leadership in integrated steel production in North America.
Lourenco Goncalves Chairman, President and CEO Cleveland Cliffs
Stelco’s facilities consist of Lake Erie Works, a new integrated steelmaking facility in North America, and Hamilton Works, a downstream finishing and cokemaking facility, adding capabilities that complement Cliffs’ existing operations and product portfolio, while diversifying its market industries. Upon completion of the transaction, Cliffs shareholders will own approximately 95% and Stelco shareholders will own approximately 5% of the combined company, on a fully diluted basis.
“We did this deal the way it should be done, reaching a respectful agreement between the two parties that keeps national interests at the forefront and recognizes the importance of the workforce,” said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cliffs. “The enterprise value of this transaction is significantly lower than the cost of building an equivalent replacement mill in the United States, and the cost structure is lower than what a new U.S. mill would provide us. Stelco is a company that respects the Union, treats their employees well, and leans into their cost advantages. With that, they are a perfect fit for Cleveland-Cliffs and our culture. We look forward to proving that our ownership of Stelco will be a net benefit for Canada, the province of Ontario, and the cities of Nanticoke and Hamilton.”
Alan Kestenbaum Executive Chairman & CEO Stelco Holdings
“I am proud of what we have accomplished over the past seven years, and the value we have generated,” said Alan Kestenbaum, executive chairman and CEO of Stelco. “Most importantly, we have revitalized Stelco and restored it to its iconic status in Canada. I know thac Cliffs will continue to build upon the excellent work and life environment we have created for all of our employees and continue to be a reliable supplier to our valued customers, while maintaining Stelco’s stature and reputation in Canada and maintaining our Canadian national interests. One of the important drivers for this transaction was receiving a meaningful portion of the consideration in Cliffs shares. I have strong belief and optimism in the North American steel market. I believe that Lourenco and his team have created a winning platform, and I intend to remain an investor in Cliffs for a long time to come as he and his team continue to build out their platform and business.”
Pictured in featured image: Lourenco Goncalves
The press release is available in its original form here.
Today’s News from Abroad installment investigates the influence AI is bearing on the global field of heat treating, as well as a 2023 sustainability report and a future-looking question about the German foundry model amid transformations and a shortage of skilled workers.
Heat TreatTodaypartners with two international publications to deliver the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat. heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbH publication, serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, and Furnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication, primarily serves the English-speaking globe.
AI News No.1: Smart Manufacturing Proves Its Value
Viking Analytics and Bharat Forge sign a three-year contract
“A new agreement has been signed between Viking Analytics and Bharat Forge Kilsta (BFK) from Karlskoga. The agreement, which is for three years, provides BFK with the AI-based optimization tool ‘Smartforge’ after a 10-month implementation phase. Smartforge optimizes the forging process, primarily in the critical heat keeping process where the problems with scrap are greatest. The goal is to reduce discarded products by 50% and contribute to energy savings and a more environmentally friendly production.”
AI News No. 2: Global Industry Goes “All In” With AI
Digital transformation and the concept of a sustainable economy go hand in hand with energy and environmental challenges.
“According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), nearly 80 percent of companies around the world consider innovation to be one of their three main priorities this year, and 66% of them plan to increase spending for this purpose, of which 42% are ready to invest up to 10% more than before. Innovation is one of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s values, embedded in its DNA. Industry 4.0 is the guiding principle in the Group’s mentality and strategic direction, which identifies AI, automation and digitization as a priority.”
A Sustainability Commitment to a Greener, Equal Future Shows Results
Tenova’s 2023 Sustainability Report illustrates the company’s ESG-guided sustainability framework, including energy efficiency initiatives, circular economy solutions, and sustainable innovation.
“Tenova has announced the launch of its new Sustainability Report, which tracks the progress the company has made against its sustainability agenda over the past year. The Report illustrates the company’s ESG-guided sustainability framework, including energy efficiency initiatives, circular economy solutions, and sustainable innovation. . . . Tenova’s flagship technologies–Direct Reduction Iron (DRI), Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs), and the Silicon Steel ones–are essential in driving the decarbonization of both the metals industry and the planet. This is demonstrated by its major international projects, which are set to make a substantial impact on sustainability in Europe, China, and other parts of the world.”
At its third “Zukunftstag“ (Future Day), the German Foundry Association (BDG) discussed: Do we still need casting from Germany? And why is the industry currently facing such difficulties?
“At its third ‘Zukunftstag’ (Future Day), the German Foundry Association (BDG) posed a rhetorical question to stakeholders and the industry: Do we still need casting from Germany? And why is the industry currently facing such difficulties? The Federal Association of the German Foundry Industry launched the ‘Future Day’ format in 2020 in order to visualize and establish generally applicable topics from corporate management and framework conditions in open discourse with experts from outside the industry, in addition to the industry’s technically focused conferences. In addition to economic policy framework conditions, the program revolved around skilled workers in the afternoon. The German foundry industry, part of the energy-intensive SME sector, is struggling amid transformations and a shortage of skilled workers.”
David Burritt president and CEO U.S. Steel Source: U.S. Steel
Access to technology and expertise in integrated mills are among the advantages that will accompany the U. S. Steel–Nippon Steel merger, according to David Burritt, U. S. Steel’s CEO. Heat treatment processes are an element in integrated mill operations within both companies’ profiles.
On December 18, 2023, it was announced that Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel (NSC) would acquire Pittsburgh–based U. S. Steel. Under the deal, Nippon Steel would acquire the company for $14.1 billion, which totals to $14.9 billion when including the assumption of U.S. Steel’s debt. As part of the deal, Nippon Steel will invest $1.4 billion in U. S. Steel’s assets and will share technical knowledge, stated Burritt during his keynote address to the 2024 Global Steel Dynamics Forum.
“They’re experts in integrated mills, and they want to invest here,” he said.
In April, Nippon Steel released a statement that the merger will include U. S. Steel having access to Nippon’s technologies and R&D advancements, “help[ing] U. S. Steel produce more advanced and environmentally sustainable steel for domestic customers.”
Today’s News from Abroad installment brings us news of casting equipment supplied in China, heat treat supplier joint venture forged in Austria, and big standardization plans in Germany — where doing LESS is more.
Heat Treat Today partners with two international publications to deliver the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat. heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbHpublication, serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, andFurnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication, primarily serves the English-speaking globe.
High-Performance Continuous Caster on Order
Representatives from Primetals Technologies and Wuyang Iron and Steel at the signing ceremony Source: Primetals Technologies
“Wuyang Iron and Steel has awarded Primetals Technologies an order for a 1-strand continuous caster with several record-breaking features. The continuous casting plant will be put into operation at the Wuyang plant in Wugang, Henan Province, and is expected to be the most powerful of its kind in the world. It will also produce the thickest slabs in the world, up to 460 millimeters thick. Thanks to the new facilities, Wuyang will be able to produce sheet metal for heavy-duty applications such as shipbuilding and the wind power sector. The annual capacity will be one million tonnes of high-quality slabs.”
Left to right, 1. row: Christian Grosspointner, CEO Aichelin Group; Mehmet Özdeşlik, CEO Sistem Teknik; 2. row: Wolfgang Brosche, Erwin Strauszberger, Beril Özdeşlik, Beste Özdeşlik, Gökhan Lale, Levent Sindel. Source: Aichelin
“The Aichelin Group and Sistem Teknik have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Austria. This joint venture will produce and distribute industrial vacuum heat treatment technologies and services in Europe. The Aichelin Group is thus adding a promising segment to its existing product portfolio.”
Two steelmaker groups, GMH (Georgsmarienhütte) Gruppe and Swiss Steel, have issued notes of approval for the proposal from German steel federation for a standard for low-emission steel (LESS). Source: worldsteel
Dec“Two steelmaker groups, GMH (Georgsmarienhütte) Gruppe and Swiss Steel, have issued notes of approval for the proposal from German steel federation for a standard for low-emission steel (LESS). Both mills happen to be makers of special bar qualities, and the word of Swiss Steel may have some international weight, given it has melt shops in Germany, Switzerland and France. WV Stahl announced on Monday that it has set a cornerstone for prime markets for climate-friendly streel with a standard its members developed together with the German economy and climate protection ministry. The Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS), as it is called, is the first standard that makes the main customary production routes, blast furnace and EAF, comparable in terms of their efforts to decarbonise. Its centrepiece is a labelling system for the classification of low-CO2 steels.”
Today’s News from Abroad installment highlights more carbon-cutting trends from the steel industry, ranging from robots in the cast house to recycling best practices.
Heat Treat Today partners with two international publications to deliver the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat. heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbHpublication, serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, andFurnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication, primarily serves the English-speaking globe.
Robots Bring Safety to Casting
Primetals Technologies’ new customized LiquiRob robotics system in operation at Siam Yamato Steel’s Map Ta Phut plant
Source: Primetals Technologies
“Thai steel producer Siam Yamato Steel has implemented a new robot concept from Primetals Technologies, including LiquiRob, at its steelworks in Map Ta Phut . . .. Thanks to the robotics solution, safety and occupational health in the steelworks have significantly improved. Previously, workers who manually operated the shadow tube had to stand directly next to the distributor and the stream of steel flowing out of the ladle. In the case of a so-called ‘frozen pan.’”
CELES EcoTransFlux™ brings green high heating abilities to the induction heating technology.
Source: Furnaces International
“Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corporation and Sojitz Group met with our induction team at Fives headquarters in Paris for a detailed design review of the transverse flux induction heating system. CELES EcoTransFlux™ is an induction heating technology with very high heating rates at extremely high temperatures, and a compact footprint. It also has a minimal environmental footprint, making it beneficial for steelmakers to improve their carbon, stainless or electrical steel production.”
EAGP members signed an agreement to engage in a standardisation project for beverage cans.
Source: Anrita1705/Pixabay
“Four leading flat-rolled aluminium manufacturers and members of the European Aluminium Packaging Group (EAPG), Constellium, Elval, Novelis and Speira, have signed an agreement to engage in a standardisation project to maximise the recycled content levels of the beverage can and thus substantially lower carbon emissions, focused on increased recyclability of the can end.”
Mini-Mill Investment Transforms Future for Swedish Metal Manufacturer
Fossil-free mini-mill
Source: Furnaces International
“SSAB’s Board of Directors have taken the decision to proceed with the next step in SSABs transition, building a state-of-the-art fossil-free mini-mill in Luleå, Sweden. When completed SSAB will close the current blast furnace-based production system. This will reduce Sweden’s CO2 emissions with 7% in addition to the 3% from the Oxelösund mill conversion.”
A custom-built vacuum induction melting (VIM) equipment is set to expand thermal processing for a manufacturer, whose operations already has two VIM solutions.
The furnace will be fabricated at the Buffalo headquarters of Retech, a SECO/WARWICK Group subsidiary, to capitalize on available schedule improvements. As custom equipment, the subsidiary’s furnaces are not dependent on assembly-line style construction, so they can be fabricated and assembled just in either location.
While this client prefers not to divulge this VIM’s application, Retech’s solution can handle casting a wide range of materials used in applications from automotive and consumer products to critical, high-value equiaxed, directionally solidified, or single-crystal aerospace parts. Almost every furnace Retech makes is modified to meet the specifications and associated applications of its clients.
VIM from the Retech Buffalo, NY location.
Source: SECO/WARWICK
