Sławomir Tomaszewski Vacuum Melting Team Director SECO/WARWICK Source: LinkedIn
One of the world’s largest producers of jet engines has modernized their casting furnace, which was last updated two decades ago.
This company has two casting units supplied two decades ago by RETECH, a North America-based company belonging to the SECO/WARWICK Group. The modernization project was for the VIM EQ furnace - a system for the production of castings in equiaxed crystallization. It will involve replacing almost all the furnace components except the power supply, melting chambers and mold. The platforms will also remain unchanged. The remaining components will be replaced with more modern, ergonomic, and user-friendly parts and assemblies.
Says Sławomir Tomaszewski, vacuum melting team director at SECO/WARWICK, “This order includes the complete elimination of hydraulic components by replacing them with electrical components such as an elevator drive or crucible rotation drive. In addition, two old feeders: one for loading crucibles, the other for removing disposable crucibles, will be replaced with a modern system that can perform both activities."
He added, "An additional advantage of the operation will be the fact that the furnace operator will not have to come into physical contact with hot used crucibles, because they will be removed automatically without human intervention."
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Heat Treat Today is partnering with two international publications: heat processing, a Vulkan-Verlag GmbH publication that serves mostly the European and Asian heat treat markets, and Furnaces International, a Quartz Business Media publication that primarily serves the English-speaking globe. Through these partnerships, we are sharing the latest news, tech tips, and cutting-edge articles that will serve our audience — manufacturers with in-house heat treat.
In this article, international companies scale up their equipment and scale down their carbon emission.
German Steelmaker Dillinger Completes Slab Pusher Furnace in Rolling Mill
"The stock corporation of Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Dillinger) has successfully converted its slab pusher furnace 2 in the rolling mill." (Source: Furnaces International)
"For the customer, this means that the availability of large, heavy sheets increases. With these, weld seams can be saved and, thanks to more efficient production, more offshore foundations can ultimately be produced and installed. The modernization of the slab impact furnace, as well as the new edge milling machine for the delivery of “fabricated” offshore wind sheets, is one of a number of investments in the offshore wind market that are currently being planned and implemented at Dillinger."
Global Steel Producers Partner To Cut Carbon Emissions
Heat transfer supplier Alfa Laval has created a partnership with Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu to cut carbon emissions. (Source: Furnaces International)
“Most of the Alfa Laval steel purchased from Outokumpu, a global steel manufacturer, will now be the low carbon stainless steel variety. This change applies to heat exchangers used in the energy transition towards a more sustainable energy supply, including energy efficiency, waste heat recovery, and heat pumps. These heat exchangers are currently produced in large quantities with the potential for future growth, says Alfa Laval.”
Japanese Steelmaker JFE Steel Plans To Build New EAF To Replace Blast Furnace
JFE's plans for an electric arc furnace will be used for the automotive industry and will reduce carbon emissions. (Source: heat processing)
“The steelmaker is considering building an EAF that can produce 2Mt of high-grade steel when the No.2 unit is due for refurbishment, JFE president Yoshihisa Kitano said. He added that the EAF would reduce CO2 emissions by 2.6Mt/yr from current levels emitted by the blast furnace."
Indian Manufacturer Refratechnik Group Opens New Factory for Metals Industry
"The Refratechnik Group opens its new factory in India." (Source: heat processing)
"The state-of-the-art greenfield factory was built to produce MgO-C refractory products, high-alumina bricks, as well as monolithic products for the steel, cement and non-ferrous metal industries. The plant will employ more than 300 people in the short term and more than 400 people in the long term."
A tinplate company will receive a new order for a tinplate coating line (TCL) and tinplate double reduction mill (TDRM) from a company with North American locations specialized in sustainable thermal processing solutions for the metals and mining industries.
Giuseppe Zanzi
Chief Representative Officer of South East Asia and Oceania
Tenova
Source: Tenova
The TCL includes an independent pre-tinning section with sulfuric acid for iron control in the electrolyte solution and an advance tinplate coating control close loop to achieve the best strip coating quality and stability. The IGBT AFE rectifier technology allows for efficiency in tinplate coating which moreover allows for low electrical consumption.
The TDRM plays a key role in obtaining a combination of ultra-light strip gauge and required hardness. This mill is equipped with automatic gauge control (AGC) cylinders, an automatic flatness control (AFC) system, a roughness control system, and a dedicated reduction control for double reduced (DR) tin plate.
Giuseppe Zanzi, chief representative officer of South East Asia and Oceania at Tenova, commented, “We are very proud to have been selected as the main technological partner for Tata Group tinplate expansion. Thanks to our solutions, Tata will be able to achieve a sustainable production based on low electrical consumption and very large production capacity.”
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A 122-year-old cast-iron pipe maker started operating its $460-million ferrous foundry in North Carolina, and celebrated its role in “revitalizing manufacturing in the U.S.”
Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, a maker of cast iron and plastic pipe and fittings for plumbing applications, held its grand opening of a new $460 million foundry in Oakboro, North Carolina. Charlotte Pipe’s new foundry is situated on 700 acres in Stanly County, about 35 miles east of the cast iron foundry it operated in Uptown Charlotte for more than 100 years.
“The move to Oakboro will spur growth of other businesses, including vendors who supply and support the plant, opening a new window of economic growth for Stanly County,” said Hooper Hardison, CEO of Charlotte Pipe. “Even better, the region is already home to many of the Company’s associates who will benefit from reduced commute times and increased amenities within their work environment.”
Charlotte Pipe’s Oakboro Foundry, which became fully operational on September 5, 2023, employs more than 530 associates, and according to Hardison, up to another 500 construction workers were on the Oakboro jobsite each day over three years, working more than 1.2 million hours to open the new plant. All construction materials and supplies for the new foundry were 100% Made in the USA, as are all Charlotte Pipe products.
In addition, Charlotte Pipe added a rail spur to connect the new plant to the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, a short-line railroad that crosses central North Carolina. The Aberdeen line connects to the Norfolk Southern Railway, giving the Oakboro Foundry rail access to move recycled materials to and from the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest.
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GKN Aerospace has expanded its capabilities with additive manufacturing (AM) machines, accelerating its industrialization of sustainable aero engine solutions. This new technology will offer more reliable and sustainable alternatives to traditional castings and forgings.
The supplier of these machines is Nikon SLM Solutions, whose NXG XII 600's printing area and 12 lasers align with GKN Aerospace's vision to produce large parts with high productivity. Two systems have been ordered, one to be used with In718 and another for Ti64.
In the words of Martin Thordén, VP of Permanova, the newly formed business unit for material solutions within GKN Aerospace, "Partnering with Nikon SLM Solutions is a key milestone in our journey to create better, more sustainable aerospace products. . . . This collaboration provides us access to cutting-edge additive manufacturing capabilities necessary to propel us towards our net zero ambition."
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A multinational aluminum producer ordered a new 100,000 lb. capacity tilt melting aluminum furnace for one of their regional aluminum extrusion plants. Fabricated in PA, the furnace will incorporate several features to meet the manufacturer’s efficiency, production, and capacity requirements, as well as options to accelerate melting and transfer flow.
SECO/WARWICK USA will fabricate this aluminum reverb furnace. “Most of the damage to a furnace like this is from loading it with a forklift,” comments Marcus Lord, managing director at SECO/WARWICK USA. “Either bumping into the refractory around the door or being a bit clumsy with large awkward chunks of aluminum. It means the door is open a lot, and when it is closed, it might not have the best seal because the sills, jams and lentils are all beaten up. This furnace has a separate loading mechanism, so the door doesn’t need to open nearly as often. It really extends the life of the refractory, but it’s a huge efficiency boost too.”
This furnace will be fabricated with additional features, including capabilities to allow for a magnetic stirrer (supplied by the client) to be mounted under the furnace, saving more energy by increasing the melt rate by up to 10%. It will be capable of completely one full batch cycle in under 6 hours, for four batches a day, yielding a total of 340,000 to 400,000 lbs. per day. These combined factors will result in a fuel economy when the burners are firing in the regenerative mode of less than 1200 BTU per pound during the melt cycle.
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Rick Bucher President and CEO at Victaulic Source: LinkedIn
On March 30, 2023, Victaulic, a manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining, fire protection and flow control solutions, acquired Horizon Metals Inc., a foundry with heat treatment capabilities, located in Nephi, Utah. The acquisition supports growth in the infrastructure and waterworks market by increasing capacity for large-diameter piping solutions made in the U.S.
Horizon Metals, Inc. has been a family-owned and operated iron and steel foundry with heat treating capabilities including: austenitizing, normalizing, water/air quench, tempering, stress relieving, and solution annealing. "Horizon Metals represents Victaulic’s fifth foundry in North America and our fourth foundry located in the United States.” commented Rick Bucher, president and chief executive officer of Victaulic.
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North American Stainless (NAS), a stainless steel producer in the United States, will proceed with a $244 million expansion to its Ghent, Kentucky facility in Carroll County. This expansion adds 70 new jobs to the plant.
For its 13th expansion since 1990, NAS will build a new cold rolling mill, roll grinders, an extensive upgrade of its annealing and pickling lines to support the new rolling mill, a new temper mill and the expansion of the Melt Shop Building to include a 400-metric ton crane. The new expansion will grow NAS’ 4.4 million-square-foot facility in Carroll County. NAS offers a full range of stainless flat and long products. All of NAS’ production lines are located onsite at its 1,600-acre headquarters.
Andy Beshear Governor of Kentucky
"Our latest expansion will bring more clean, sustainable and American-made stainless to consumers and directly compete with the subsidized imports of stainless,” said Cristobal Fuentes, CEO at NAS. “Our parent company Acerinox was eager to further invest in Kentucky to demonstrate its commitment to our customers and the U.S. market.”
“I’m excited to announce more growth in Kentucky’s metals industry with this latest investment from North American Stainless,” said Andy Beshear, Governor of Kentucky.
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Dr.-Ing. Joachim G. Wünning President WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH
thyssenkrupp Steel, a steel manufacturer with North American locations, recently inaugurated its newest hot-dip galvanizing line 10 (FBA 10) in Dortmund, Germany. The plant has a total of three vertical strip-processing lines and is a location for annealing and surface finishing of steel strip.
thyssenkrupp Steel, by using modern regenerative burners from WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH (with Ohio, U.S., and Renningen, Germany locations) in double-P radiant tubes, will save between 15% and 30% fuel as compared with conventionally heated furnaces. The patented FLOX® combustion process helps achieve low NOx emission values. The heating system is set for a later switch to green fuels such as hydrogen.
"All continuously operated strip lines are . . . suited for a future with green combustion gases," says Dr.-Ing. Wünning, President of WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH.
Sometimes our editors find items that are not exactly "heat treat" but do deal with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing. To celebrate getting to the “fringe” of the weekend, Heat TreatToday presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday press release: an agreement for the supply of a direct reduction system for ArcelorMittal Dofasco, in North America.
ArcelorMittal Dofasco chooses Tenova for the supply of a hydrogen-ready 2,500,000 tons/year ENERGIRON® direct reduction system, to be located in Hamilton, Canada. This system will be incorporated in the decarbonization plan through a direct reduced iron (DRI) program.
Ron Bedard President & CEO ArcelorMittal Source: LinkedIn
"While [the project] involves installing new technology and equipment, the investment is really about people and planet," explains Ron Bedard, president and CEO of ArcelorMittal. "It will help our customers lower their carbon footprint, ensuring they deliver low carbon products to consumers. It will create and protect green careers in advanced manufacturing here at Dofasco. It will improve the work environment for our operations, maintenance, and technology teams. And it will significantly reduce the environmental impact of steelmaking in Hamilton.”
The manufacturer will transition away from the blast furnace (basic oxygen furnace steelmaking production route) to the DRI-electric arc furnace production route. The technology has the capability to capture and use CO2, reducing overall CO2 emissions and providing an additional revenue stream for the system operations. The system will produce hot DRI pellets that will be processed via the proven HYTEMP, a pneumatic transport system, to a new EAF mill to be located next to the ENERGIRON® system.
Stefano Maggiolino President & CEO Tenova HYL Source: LinkedIn
“This innovative direct reduction plant will help ArcelorMittal to reach its target of reducing carbon emission and Tenova is very proud to be part of this journey.” said Stefano Maggiolino, president and CEO at Tenova HYL.
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