A global steelmaker based in Sweden has turned to a French industrial engineering group to modernize the thermal part of its continuous annealing line at its Borlänge plant.
Fives will update the SSAB facility with the goal to increase the efficiency and capacity of the existing CAL in order to produce advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) with a view to meeting increasing demand from the automotive industry. Once complete, the line will have the capacity to produce 650 000 tons per year, up from the current production rate of 500 000 tons per year.
Fives was contracted to modernize the thermal part of the CAL by replacing the jet preheating furnace and installing inductors in cascade to increase efficiency. Fives will install a new Stein jet preheating furnace to recover the heat from the radiant tube furnace and four CELES MP inductors.
The optimized design of the preheating furnace blowing boxes and tightness of the new seal is expected to result in the recovery of more power will be recovered, allowing the strip to be preheated to higher temperatures. CELES MP inductors, a proven technology, will then increase the strip temperature before the strip entries into the radiant tube furnace.
In total, 16 MW of power will be installed as part of this project. The modernization of the thermal part will be implemented very quickly and will be completed by November 2019.
A British-owned international metals and industrial group, specializing in commodities, metals recycling, manufacture of steel, aluminum and engineering products recently announced a conditional agreement to purchase four European steel plants.
The Liberty Group, which is part of the GFG Alliance will acquire ArcelorMittal’s major integrated works at Galati in Romania and Ostrava in the Czech Republic, along with rolling mills at Skopje in Macedonia and Piombino in Italy.
Jay Hambro, chief investment officer of the GFG Alliance
Adding these major steel hubs more than doubles Liberty’s global metal manufacturing capacity in the U.K. as a steel and aluminum supplier to the automotive, aviation and specialist engineering sectors and in Australia supplying steel for building and infrastructure. The Group also makes steel in the USA for the automotive and other sectors.
The four sites in the package have a combined rolling capacity of around 8m tonnes a year and would give Liberty the ability to supply a full range of finished steels, including plate, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil, galvanized sheet, tin plate, bar, wire rod, and rail. The plants serve domestic and wider European markets, including automotive, construction, industrial machinery, and oil and gas sectors.
“Following relevant approvals for this transaction, the GFG Alliance will have a number of new global hubs in Europe,” said Jay Hambro, chief investment officer of the GFG Alliance. “These steel operations are high-performing, profitable assets with modern equipment, excellent transport connections to key markets and high-skilled workforces. There is huge potential for expansion, further modernization and the application of GFG’s GREENSTEEL strategy.
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.”
A German automaker entered into a joint venture with a Canton, Michigan-based, provider of metalforming technologies and products to build a press shop of the future.
Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG
Porsche AG and Schuler, Inc, have agreed to create a so-called Smart Press Shop as part of a networked Industry 4.0 approach. The new press shop’s pioneering technologies will enable the highly flexible production of complex car body parts, whereby the focus will be on aluminum body panels and small batch production.
“Porsche wants to use the joint venture to lay the foundations for the future of sports car manufacturing,” said Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG. “We plan to exploit future technologies and innovations in order to make our processes even more efficient. By dovetailing design, development, car body planning, toolmaking, and production within the Porsche Group, we can significantly influence the quality of our sports cars.”
“Porsche and Schuler will be using a press shop that sets new standards in two respects – in terms of manufacturing performance, as well as the digital networking and readability of data streams along the entire production process,” said Domenico Iacovelli, Schuler CEO. “Not only Porsche will benefit from this major step forward, but ultimately other manufacturers as well.”
Domenico Iacovelli, Schuler CEO
The systematic further development of process know-how in the field of metalforming will be achieved in part by the end-to-end networking of production data and the use of machine learning. Porsche and Schuler aim to set new standards in the field of predictive maintenance and intelligent production control.
The joint venture will operate as an independent company (GmbH & Co. KG) held in equal proportions by Schuler AG and Porsche. Each of the two companies will invest a double-digit million euro amount in the joint venture. The location of the new company has not been finally decided yet.
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.
The leading manufacturer of rolled aluminum products recently broke ground on the expansion of its automotive aluminum manufacturing facility in Changzhou, China, where the facility will double its capacity of heat-treated aluminum sheet.
Satish Pai, Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, the parent company of Novelis Inc.
Novelis, Inc., hosted members of the community, customers and government officials in the groundbreaking ceremony launching the $180 million investment to increase capacity by 100,000 metric tons in order to better meet the growing demand for automotive aluminum in Asia. The facility will be equipped with a high-speed slitter and a fully automated packaging line. The project is scheduled to be complete in 2020 in order to align with key customer’s vehicle-launch plans.
“As market demand for lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles continues to grow, Novelis will play a critical role in supporting the next generation of automotive innovation and design,” said Satish Pai, Managing Director of Hindalco Industries, the parent company of Novelis Inc. “This expansion reinforces our steadfast commitment to our customers and communities, and reaffirms our continued confidence in this ever-growing market.”
The largest commercial aluminum heat treater in the United States was recently acquired by a leading provider of metal heat treating services.
Steve Wyatt, President of PTS
Al-Fe Heat Treating has been purchased by Premier Thermal Solutions (PTS), which provides commercial metal processing services to a variety of industries, including automotive, energy, and aviation, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Atmosphere Annealing and NitroSteel. PTS maintains five facilities in four locations across the Midwest.
“With the acquisition of Al-Fe, PTS has expanded its service offerings to include both ferrous and aluminum heat treating services. This is an important diversification of our portfolio as we expect to see substantial growth in the use of aluminum in the automotive industry as well as in a variety of other industries that we serve,” said Steve Wyatt, President of PTS. “In addition to its aluminum processing capabilities, Al-Fe is Nadcap certified which will allow PTS to enhance its service offerings in other end-markets such as aerospace and defense.”
Rahul Sawhney, Senior Managing Director of Z Capital
Al-Fe Heat Treating, which has plants in Defiance, Ohio;Saginaw, Michigan;Wadsworth, Indiana; and Wabash, Indiana, provides demanding heat treat applications including continuous or drop-bottom processing, precision air quench for distortion control, and hyperquench for aerospace specifications or testing/inspection services.
“We are thrilled to have closed this transaction and expect to announce incremental acquisitions over the next 12 months,” said Rahul Sawhney, Senior Managing Director of Z Capital. Premier Thermal Solutions was acquired by Z Capital Partners, LLC in 2017. “Not only does Al-Fe add incremental heat treating capabilities, but also further strengthens the collective talent at PTS, which will be instrumental in continuing to provide superior customer service.”
An Ohio-based metal processing plant recently announced plans to expand its Warren County facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the company processes, stores and delivers steel and aluminum to multiple industries, including automotive.
Precision Strip Inc. will increase its footprint by 80,000 square feet — doubling in size — in this $16.2 million expansion.
“After having been operational for only a year at our Bowling Green facility, it became clear that the south-central Kentucky region was continuing to see healthy growth and investment in the markets we serve,” said Joe Wolf, president of Precision Strip. “As a result, we feel the addition of a state-of-the-art slitting line will help us continue to best serve our customers who need metals toll processing. We greatly appreciate the ongoing support we receive from the Chamber and the Commonwealth of Kentucky on these projects that fuel economic growth.”
Akitsohi Fujikawa, president of Miyake Forging North America Corporation
A Japanese bearing manufacturer which incorporates heat treating into its processing recently celebrated the opening of its new 48,000-sq-ft plant in Phipps Bend Industrial Park in Surgoinsville, Tennessee.
This is Miyake Forging’s first expansion into North America. The company currently operates in Japan and Thailand, producing bearings and components for bearing assemblies for the automotive industry. Bearing the name Miyake Forging North America, the facility was built to adapt to growth and allow for expansion.
“I have a great feeling about opening our new facility in Hawkins County. At Miyake, we are very happy to expand our business in the United States of America. We are extremely thankful to all of the people who helped make this happen.” ~ Akitsohi Fujikawa, president of Miyake Forging North America Corporation
Photo credit and caption: The Rogersville Review, Miyake Forging North America company officials and representatives after the ribbon-cutting.
A U.K. technology company with a solid-state process to produce valuable alloy powders is powering up the world’s first commercial plant at its Materials Manufacturing Centre in Wath upon Dearne, South Yorkshire, U.K.
Since Metalysis’s mechanical completion of the Generation 4 (“Gen4”) project, it has undergone hot commissioning, trial runs, optimization and handover to operations. The handover signifies Metalysis’ transition into commercial production following more than a decade of phased technology development.
Dr. Dion Vaughan, chief executive officer, Metalysis
Gen4 is the first facility to take Metalysis’ solid-state, modular, electrochemical process to industrial scale and can produce tens-to-hundreds of tonnes per annum of high value, niche, and master alloys. It creates a new U.K. source of supply for global end-users in advanced manufacturing disciplines including aerospace, automotive, batteries, light-weighting, magnets, mining and 3D printing consumables.
Metalysis’ technology has multi-metal capability, which enables the company to produce a mix of titanium alloys — master alloy “recipes”, including Scandium-Aluminide, which continues to pose excellent launch product potential, as announced on 11 June 2018; compositionally complex alloys including High Entropy Alloys; magnet materials; high temperature materials; and Platinum Group Metal alloys.
“In powering up and operating our industrial plant, Metalysis is poised to achieve its target to generate significant profits from our new South Yorkshire production facility,” saidDr. Dion Vaughan, chief executive officer. “Ours is a true British success story with international implications. Metalysis has grown from the ‘lightbulb moment’ at Cambridge University in the late-1990s, relocated to South Yorkshire to benefit from regional excellence in operational skillsets in the early-2000s, and now onwards towards a bright commercial future.”
