MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

Refractory Products Manufacturer Expands with Purchase of Southern Supplier

A producer of monolithic refractory products, an employee-owned company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has expanded its manufacturing presence in the southeast through the recent acquisition of an Alabama refractory products supplier.

Jon Tabor, Chairman and CEO, Allied Mineral Products. Photo credit: Janet Adams/BizJournals

Allied Mineral Products, Inc., with twelve manufacturing facilities in eight countries, three precast shapes facilities, and two research and technology centers, has purchased family-owned and -operated Riverside Refractories, Inc, adding taphole clay to its line of industry-leading refractory products and extending a reach into the steel industry, including international operations. The sale includes Riverside’s Pell City, Alabama, manufacturing operation, monolithic and pre-cast refractory shapes products, refractory coatings and mortars and high-alumina and anhydrous taphole clay products.

“Riverside is a natural to join the Allied family,” said Jon R. Tabor, chairman and CEO of Allied. “They have outstanding products, expertise in the manufacture of taphole clays, a skilled workforce, and an employee-driven culture that is a perfect fit with Allied’s. After our recent acquisition of Pryor Giggey Co., which included a facility in Anniston, Alabama, Allied is poised for a significant manufacturing presence in the Southeast.”

John Morris, President of Riverside

“As the marketplace continues to be more competitive, [Riverside] realized we needed to align with a strong company to ensure we could continue to serve our customers and provide security for our employees,” said John Morris, president of Riverside. “With this sale, we know our customers and employees will benefit and that was very important to us. We are excited that Allied’s global manufacturing network and worldwide sales presence will provide a platform to market the Riverside product lines internationally. We could not be in better hands.”

“The Morris family has been a force in the refractory industry for over 60 years,” added Tabor. “We have great respect for what they have achieved at Riverside. There is great value in the brand and in the name, and we look forward to carrying on their tradition of great products and customer service.”

Riverside’s production facility in Pell City, Alabama, joins Allied’s existing U.S. manufacturing operations in Columbus, Ohio; Brownsville, Texas; Chehalis, Washington; and Anniston, Alabama.

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Aerospace, Auto, AM Industries Expand Heat Treat Capabilities

Fourteen vacuum furnaces have recently been shipped to various clients in the additive manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and commercial heat treating industries, distributed across seven states as well as Indonesia and Japan.
Ipsen USA delivered the following during the third quarter 2017:
  • A vertical (bottom-loading) MetalMaster® vacuum furnace with an 84″ (2,100 mm) diameter work zone and 8,000-pound (3,600 kg) load capacity;
  • four standard TITAN® vacuum furnaces with options ranging from spare parts kits and a thermocouple upgrade to the PdMetrics® predictive maintenance software platform;
  • three HIQ (horizontal internal quench) and HEQ (horizontal external quench) furnaces from the VFS® product line that will process parts for aerospace and commercial heat treating industries;
  • several custom-built, horizontal MetalMaster® and TurboTreater® vacuum furnaces.

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University Purchases 1500°C Box Furnace

A 1500°C box furnace was recently shipped to a university, designed for testing, research and development, and laboratory applications and with capability for ease of mobility within the facility.

The heavy-duty furnace, supplied by Lindberg/MPH, is suited for multiple applications such as annealing, ashing, carbon firing, ceramic firing, hardening, sintering, solution treating, and stress relieving, and has locking casters to allow it to be moved to different locations.

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Kazakhstan Steel Producer Orders 290-Ton Ladle Furnace

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal recently ordered a 290-ton ladle furnace to control chemical composition and temperature of liquid steel and slag for its integrated steel plant in Temirtau, Kazakhstan.

The furnace will be supplied by SMS Group, and commissioning will include the engineering, mechanical and electrical equipment, and supervision of erection, and commissioning of the new ladle furnace, gas cleaning plant, additives handling system and water treatment plant. ArcelorMittal’s Kazakhstan facility has an annual capacity of 4 million tons of crude steel and produces hot and cold rolled steel, tin plates, galvanized steel and polymer-coated coils, welded pipes, coke, and chemical by-products. plant

Commissioning is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

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Firearms Parts Manufacturer Utilizes Precision Heat Treating for .308 Match Bolt Assembly

A U.S.-based aerospace and firearms parts company, which has been manufacturing bolt carrier groups for the AR-15 and M16 rifles since 1991, offers precision manufacturing of the .223/5.56 bolts and bolt carriers to buyers of a high quality .308 bolt carrier assembly for the AR-10 rifle.

The .308 bolt, made by Young Manufacturing from SAE 9310 steel, is precision ground in three critical areas after heat treating to military specifications (mil-spec). This removes the distortion that occurs during heat treat and provides the most accurate fit possible on the center support ring and the bolt tail. Grinding the back of the lugs true to the bolt face produces a bolt that locks up true and square to the center of the bore. Bolts are magnetic particle inspected to detect any stress fractures that might occur during the heat treat process.

.308 carriers follow the same strict process as the .223 bolt assembly components, starting with 8620 steel heat treated to mil-spec, followed by precision grinding the inside bores and outside diameter to ensure they run concentric to each other and again remove the distortion from heat treat. The manufacturer adds additional surface or contact area near the front of the carrier for a tighter fit and support when the carrier is in the battery.

 

 

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Fastener Manufacturer Expands Heat Treatment in Response to Growth

Global industrial fastener manufacturer Trifast PLC has announced the expansion of its heat treatment capabilities as part of the company’s response to positive gains in the first half of 2017.

“This substantial expansion allows us to access further the growth market sectors within Europe,” stated the company in a recent release, pointing to the installation of a £1 million new heat treatment plant at their TR Vic location in Italy. In addition, more complex value-add components will be supported by new automated inspection and packing machines at the production facility.

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New Isofrax® 1400 Fiber Launched for Higher Temp Processes

Enhanced fiberization techniques combined with proprietary processing technology is behind the manufacturing of a recently unveiled low bio-persistent (LBP) fiber that provides high-temperature performance up to 1400°C, higher than other LBP fibers currently available in the market.

Unifrax, a leading global supplier of specialty products used in industrial, filtration, automotive and fire protection applications, and headquartered in Tonawanda, New York, recently launched Isofrax® 1400, a low bio-persistent (LBP) fiber to provide customers with improved thermal and physical characteristics. The high-temperature LBP technology was first introduced by Unifrax 18 years ago and offers thermal conductivity, thermal shock resistance, and low h, at storage, as well as ease of cutting and fabrication in the worldwide ferrous/non-ferrous metals, chemical processing, and ceramics industries.

In addition to higher temperature resistance, Isofrax 1400 fiber has high solubility in simulated body fluids and hence carries no hazard classification, meeting stringent European regulatory requirements. Isofrax® 1400 fiber are exonerated from classification as hazardous (tested according to Note Q Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008).

“The enhanced Isofrax 1400 fiber exhibits a higher melting point and reduced shrinkage at high temperatures demonstrating superior thermal performance,” said Jayne Webb, Unifrax Product Manager, USA.

 

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More Accessible Design-to-Launch Services Unveiled with IT, AM Technologies Partnership

Sudip Singh, Global Head, Engineering Service at Infosys Ltd

An end-to-end product development service using metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology was announced last month by two leading companies partnering to help customers accelerate their deployment of AM, also known as 3D printing, for volume production of end-use metal components.

Engineering and IT services company Infosys will apply its engineering processes and design for AM knowledge to manage product development projects from concept through to launch. Renishaw, a leader in metrology and additive manufacturing technologies, will support Infosys through its global network of Additive Manufacturing Solutions Centres, which provide access to Renishaw’s metal AM technology, which is used in series production of high-performance parts for aerospace, medical, automotive, oil and gas, mould and die, and consumer products.

“Additive manufacturing enables us to design and make innovative products with spectacular gains in performance and efficiency,” said Sudip Singh, Global Head, Engineering Service at Infosys Ltd. “Infosys has developed a rich knowledge base of AM design best practices, coupled with powerful design tools to analyze and optimise product designs, so that we can take full advantage of the flexibility that AM offers.”

Marc Saunders, Director – Global Solutions Centres at Renishaw

“Whilst additive manufacturing can create complex geometries in a single process step, some level of finishing is generally required to produce functional products,” said Marc Saunders, Director – Global Solutions Centres at Renishaw. “Renishaw’s knowledge of metrology, machining and finishing processes can help customers to develop an integrated manufacturing solution for their innovative new product.”

The two companies are currently working together on projects for customers located in Europe, Asia, and North America.

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Sophisticated All-Metal Hot Zone Delivered

A uniquely engineered, high-temperature refractory metal hot zone has been delivered by the furnace division of an international supplier of refractory technology metals and technical ceramics to one of its furnace customers. The engineering team of the German manufacturing firm H.C. Starck fabricated a 1600°C hot zone designed to operate in a vacuum, with certain inert gases or in a reducing atmosphere. By simulating the temperature of each layer, it was ensured that the proper materials were applied throughout the hot zone.

 ”H.C. Starck is excited to deliver the first of its kind refractory metal hot zone,” said Andreas Mader, President and CEO of the Fabricated Products Division. Supplying growth industrial sectors such as the electronics sector, the chemical industry, medical technology, aviation and aerospace, energy and environmental technology, and machine and tool building from its own production locations in Europe, America, and Asia, the company employs 2,500 people in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, China, Japan and Thailand.

 

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U.S.-Produced Aluminum Cladding Adorns Façade of South African Mall

 

Source: AlCircle

 

To achieve a distinctive look that can be seen from a distance, a shopping mall in the economically developing township of Waterfall City, located between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa, has turned to a U.S. manufacturer of flat-rolled aluminum products to cover the cladding of its parking garage with a façade made of sheets of aluminum measuring 1,437 x 3,880 mm (4.7 x 12.7 ft.), each treated with weather-resistant coating and classified for fire protection. The unique wave-look of the façade was achieved by laying aluminum plates horizontally.

Read more: “Novelis Does Cladding for South Africa Mall with Its ff2 Pre-Painted Aluminum Facade”

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