MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

Increased HIP on the Horizon: Kittyhawk Expands with Stack HIP Acquisition

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, HIPING NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

Kittyhawk, Inc., backed by the Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital, has acquired Stack HIP, LLC from Stack Metallurgical Group (SMG). The acquisition represents a significant expansion of capacity and capabilities in hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for aerospace, space, defense, and medical applications.

Operating from its facility in Albany, OR, Stack HIP provides HIP services to aerospace, defense, and medical clients by operating the largest high-pressure HIP vessels in North America. This enables them to process large, complex castings and additively manufactured metallic parts. Post-closing, SMG will continue to operate its classical heat treatment and aluminum special processing facilities in Portland, OR, Spokane, WA, and Salt Lake City, UT.

Brandon Creason
President
Kittyhawk

“We’re excited to welcome Stack HIP customers, employees, and suppliers into the Kittyhawk family,” said Brandon Creason, president of Kittyhawk. “Stack HIP will allow Kittyhawk to service mission critical parts up to 63” in diameter, enabling us to process the full array of components for our customers. At Kittyhawk, we commit every day to providing the best service and quality to our customers, and we’re thrilled to now do that with the added capabilities and dedicated employees of Stack HIP.”

Doug Puerta
CEO
Stack Metallurgical Group

Doug Puerta, CEO of SMG commented, “We look forward to continued collaboration with Kittyhawk to deliver a differentiated level of service, quality, and value to our shared customers. This transaction will allow both companies to further drive capacity, quality, and capabilities in our respective services to best serve the PNW market.”

“This is an important step in growing the platform specialized in this highly-differentiated HIP capability. [Kittyhawk] continues to benefit from strong industry tailwinds, and we are excited to support our customers by investing in capacity,” said David Stinnett, partner at Trive.

This press release is available in its original form upon request.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

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Bodycote Expands Medical Market Reach with Lake City Heat Treating

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, HIPING NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS
Stephen Harris
Group Chief Executive
Bodycote
Source: LinkedIn
HTD Size-PR Logo

Bodycote has announced its acquisition of Lake City Heat Treating, based in Warsaw, Indiana, which was successfully completed on January 19, 2024. The midwestern heat treater is a leading medical market provider of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and vacuum heat treatment services, primarily supplying the orthopedic implant market as well as civil aerospace.

Stephen Harris, group chief executive of Bodycote plc, commented: "This acquisition is an excellent fit, and it allows us to better address the growth opportunities in the medical and aerospace markets." With this acquisition, the heat treater will increase their range of specialist thermal processing and heat treatment solutions available to these industries.

Lake City Heat Treating is forecast to have achieved 2023 full year revenues of around $14m (£11m). The business revenue grew 30% in 2023 and looking ahead is expected to continue to deliver good progress.

Their constant growth reflects the high-quality business that has successfully gained share among distinguished medical and aerospace OEMs. The acquisition fits with Bodycote’s strategy to grow its Specialist Technologies businesses.

This Bodycote press release can be found in its original form here.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

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How Medical Device Alloys Are Heat Treated

/ FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, TITANIUM PROCESSING TECHNICAL CONTENT, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Roger Jones, FASM–CEO Emeritus, Solar Atmospheres (source: Solar Atmospheres)

Heat Treat Today’s Medical and Heat Treating December 2019 issue featured an article on medical alloys.  Heat Treat Today asked Roger Jones, CEO Emeritus of Solar Atmospheres, Inc., to comment on how specialty medical metals are heat treated. These include titanium, niobium, tantalum, nitinol, and copper, to name a few, which in turn are used to create such standard medical devices and equipment as diagnostic guide wires, miniscule screws for implants, complex surgical tools that are operated robotically, and more. Read to see how Roger describes the hot zone and conditions under which medical device alloys are heat treated.

To read the full article to which Roger Jones’ comments pertain, go to Medical Alloys Their Uses and Heat Treatments

 

Vacuum furnace chambers processing titanium, niobium, chrome cobalt, and other medical device alloys are typically constructed from stainless steel. The hot zones are comprised entirely of metal (moly); graphite materials are never used in the construction of the hot zone or in fixturing parts. These furnaces process medical device alloys exclusively to avoid cross-contamination of the hot zone or the medical parts being treated.

Ultimate vacuum levels should be 1 X 10-6 Torr or better, with leak rates no greater than 2 microns Hg per hour. Gas system isolation valves aid in achieving tight vacuum, as they eliminate constant pumping on the quench system. Vacuum furnace leak up procedures are performed weekly, as well as a bake out at 2400 °F for one hour.

Horizontal, front-loading vacuum furnace with all-metal hot zone in a cleanroom setting typically used for heat treatment of medical alloys and devices (source: Solar Atmosphere)

Because of the alloys processed, cooling gases are mainly high purity argon from a liquid source. Very seldom is nitrogen used for cooling. Either type K or type N Inconel clad work thermocouples are imbedded in the loads for precise temperature readouts at +/- 10 °F or better. Processes include vacuum annealing, aging, stress relieving, solution treating, hardening, tempering, and other special processing. All furnaces are approved to the MedAccred quality standard, are surveyed to AMS 2750E, and comply with AS9100D in their processing parameters. Because the alloys are thermally treated, the vacuum furnaces operate in an air conditioned clean room with controlled temperatures and humidity levels.

 

 

To read the full article to which Roger Jones’ comments pertain, go to Medical Alloys Their Uses and Heat Treatments

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Three Batch Steam Treaters Shipped to Medical, Automotive Industries

/ AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

(source: Gasbarre Products, Inc.)

Three batch steam treaters were recently shipped to the medical and automotive industries. Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently received three separate orders for batch steam treating equipment. The batch steam treaters produce an oxide layer that promotes corrosion and wear resistance properties and provides an attractive surface finish. The three unique orders range in size from 18” to 30” in diameter and 12” to 48” deep. The gross load weight capacity ranges from 300lbs to 1800lbs with Gasbarre supplying the production tooling. The equipment is electrically heated and has a maximum operating temperature rating of 1400℉.

Steam treating processes are used in many different industries. As such, these orders will be shipped to companies that provide products to the medical, additive manufacturing, automotive and consumer products industries.

Stryker Hero JR Hip Replacement
Source: Stryker.com

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Medical Implant Components Manufacturer Receives Two Floor-Standing Furnaces

/ FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, TEMPERING NEWS

A furnace manufacturer based in Pennsylvania, USA, has shipped a floor standing forging furnace for use in hot forming of medical implant parts along with a floor standing tempering furnace to a manufacturer of medical implant components located in the Northeastern United States.

The FWE422 forging furnace

The forging furnace is a L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc. model FWE422 with working dimensions of 48” wide by 24” high by 24” deep and heats to a temperature of 1,800°F. The furnace features a vertical door with adjustable stops. These stops allow the door to be stopped at a predetermined location during the heating process for minimal heat loss.

The tempering furnace is model XLE3636 with a vertical door and 12” diameter, air-cooled convection fan and roller hearth. It has an effective work zone of 34” wide by 30” high by 32” deep. The furnace is used to temper hot formed parts and other thermal processing duties.

 

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OSU Scientists Develop Shape Shifting Material for Medical Applications

/ FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

A small magnetic rose sitting between two copper coils in an Ohio State laboratory gives a demonstration of a new shape-shifting magnetic material developed by Ohio State researchers that will be used in biomedical devices, antennas, artificial muscles and robotics. The material can squeeze and grab objects and change its shape and temperature when electromagnetic fields are applied, according to the research paper published in December in the journal Advanced Materials.

Ruike Zhao, an author of the paper and assistant professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department, said the researchers embedded two types of magnetic particles into a soft material called a shape-memory polymer. At room temperature, the soft material is rigid, like acrylic. But when it comes within a magnetic field, the iron oxide particles heat up, softening the material so it’s like rubber, through a process called induction heating — the same technology used in some home cooktops.

Riuke Zhao, Assistant Professor in Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University

Previous generations of soft materials needed a constant supply of energy, Zhao said.

“Once we deformed the [earlier] material, if we wanted to lock its deformed shape, we have to keep the external stimulation, which is not energy efficient.” She added that Ohio State’s new material is more efficient and can lift an object 1,000 times its own weight.

Liang Guo, Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, The Ohio State University

According to Liang Guo, an assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department, soft materials have existed for several decades. However, this new type of soft material with embedded magnetic particles is the first to be controlled wirelessly by magnetic fields. Guo stated that soft devices cause less stress on the surrounding skin and muscle tissues than similar mechanical devices. They also require less energy than similar mechanical devices.

Guo and Zhao previously worked together to create an insulin pump using soft materials that is one-third the size of current battery-powered pumps. The Ohio State team worked with researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop the polymer material.

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Inside GKN Powder Metallurgy’s Acquisition of Forecast 3D

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, SINTERING POWDER METAL NEWS

Picture two men sitting at a bar table watching a video on a smartphone. As they enthuse about how much they love it, a bystander might be tempted to think they’re just killing time goofing off. “It’s fantastic technology,” the man with the phone, Forecast 3D founder and CEO Corey Weber, says of the Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) process featured in the time-lapse video that shows a Californian facility in the dead of night illuminated only by the passing of a dozen lights flashing over a dozen powder beds through until the morning. As he pulls back his smartphone, he and Guido Degen, GKN Powder Metallurgy’s President of Additive Manufacturing, look pleased with both the technology and themselves.

Corey and Donovan Weber, Forecast 3D, and Guido Degen, GKN

GKN Powder Metallurgy’s acquisition of Forecast 3D appears to be natural synergy. Much of Forecast 3D’s expertise exists in polymer 3D printing, serving the aerospace and medical markets on the West Coast. GKN’s focus is metal parts, the bulk of which is for the automotive market in Central Europe and the Midwest of the United States. When GKN highlighted the contrasting technological expertise that exists in both companies, the figureheads at Forecast were on the same wavelength.

Corey and Donovan Weber, the two brothers who founded Forecast 3D, shown in 2017 at their 3D Manufacturing Facility in Carlsbad, California.

“We knew that the opportunity is much bigger than the size of our pockets,” Weber acknowledges. “We needed resources and our goal was to get someone that shared our vision. We found those with GKN. . . . And, honestly, it’s kind of a relief because now we can really focus on polymers and let them handle metals.”

To read more from the original article, click here: https://www.tctmagazine.com/3d-printing-news/gkn-powder-metallurgy-forecast-acquisition-deal/

 

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Titanium-Copper Alloy May Improve 3D Process for Medical, Aerospace Applications

/ ALLOY FABRICATIONS NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, TITANIUM PROCESSING TECHNICAL CONTENT

 

Source: Today’s Medical Developments

 

A new category of high-performance titanium-copper alloys for 3D printing is being considered for medical device, aerospace, and defense applications, and heat-treating may improve the process further.

In a collaborative project, leading researchers from RMIT University, CSIRO, the University of Queensland, and The Ohio State University studied the problem of titanium alloys being prone to cracking or distortion due to cooling and bonding together in column-shaped crystals during the 3D printing process. But a titanium-copper alloy developed by the research team seems to have solved this dilemma.

“Of particular note was its fully equiaxed grain structure,” said Professor Mark Easton from RMIT University’s School of Engineering in Today’s Medical Developments. “This means the crystal grains had grown equally in all directions to form a strong bond, instead of in columns, which can lead to weak points liable to cracking. Alloys with this microstructure can withstand much higher forces and will be much less likely to have defects, such as cracking or distortion, during manufacture.”

More from this Best of the Web:

CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist, Dr. Mark Gibson, says their findings also suggest similar metal systems could be treated in the same way to improve their properties.

“Titanium-copper alloys are one option, particularly if the use of other additional alloying elements or heat treatments can be employed to improve the properties further,” Gibson says. “But there are also a number of other alloying elements that are likely to have similar effects. These could all have applications in the aerospace and biomedical industries.”

 

Read more: “Adding Copper Strengthens 3D-Printed Titanium”

Main photo credit / caption: RMIT University / 3D-printed titanium-copper bars with titanium powder and copper powder.

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Heat Treat Today Launches Live Link to Digital Edition of 2019 Medical/Energy Heat Treat Issue

/ MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

Heat Treat Today has launched Medical & Energy Heat Treating special edition in print and digital form, the fifth print magazine and the third in a series of industry-specific quarterlies.

The print edition of Medical & Energy Heat Treating entered the mail stream mid-December and landed in the mailboxes of 6,000 medical and energy manufacturing suppliers and OEMs. The digital edition is available by clicking here.

In this special magazine, Heat Treat Today delivers quality content both new and original as well as a round-up of past medical- and energy-related news, technical articles, and tips, including:

  • “Medical Alloys: Their Uses & Heat Treatments” / Diagnostic guidewires, minuscule screws for implants, complex surgical tools operated robotically, and the sophisticated metals and alloys used in their development.
  • “Making Superalloys Even More Super for Energy Applications“
  • “Heat Treating Melanin for Modern Biotechnology Applications” / Developing an annealing process for eumelanin, an electrically conductive type of melanin.
  • “Temperature Control System Improves Precision, Efficiency on Heat Treat Equipment: A Case Study” / A century-old die-forgings producer’s journey of improving its temperature process control system.
  • “Megatrends with Gary Doyon” / During a wide-ranging conversation, Gary Doyon, president and CEO of the Inductotherm Group, discusses international heat treating megatrends, as well as cybersecurity, immigration, the impact of electric vehicles on the heat treat supply chain, and Brexit.

If you haven’t done so already, you might want to join one of Heat Treat Today’s LindedIn Groups: “Leaders in Medical Heat Treat” and “Leaders in Energy Heat Treat“.  You’ll need to sign in to LinkedIn before you can join the group.

Go here for the digital edition, or go to www.heattreattoday.com and click on the Resources tab to link to the Digital Edition.

 

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NY Med Device Outsourcer Acquires Assets of Maker of Complex Braided Biomedical Structures

/ MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS

A medical device outsource manufacturer based in Clarence, New York, which offers heat treating capabilities, recently announced its purchase of certain assets of a manufacturer of complex braided biomedical structures for disposable and implantable medical devices.

Integer Holdings Corporation’s acquisition of US BioDesign, located in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, will add differentiated capability for complex braided and formed biomedical structures to Integer’s broad portfolio.

Integer president and CEO Joe Dziedzic

Founded in 2011, US BioDesign serves the cardiovascular, neurovascular, and general surgery markets with nitinol, stainless steel, polymer, and other braided structures that are enabling the next generation of structural heart, peripheral vascular, neurovascular and electrophysiology products. They also provide product development, material testing, and post-processing services, including electropolishing and packaging.

“The acquisition of US BioDesign assets will allow us to partner with our customers to enhance patient lives in new ways,” said Integer president and CEO Joe Dziedzic. “US BioDesign has demonstrated engineering prowess in the area of complex braided and formed biomedical structures, which will set us apart from the competition as we partner with customers to develop life-saving medical devices.”

Tom Molz, currently president and CEO of US BioDesign

“We are excited to bring our complex braided biomedical structures and capabilities to the leader in medical device outsource manufacturing,” said Tom Molz, currently president and CEO of US BioDesign. “Our combined capabilities, engineering and innovation will allow us to accelerate our growth while better serving our customers and their patients worldwide.” Molz will continue to cultivate the complex braiding business while reporting to Payman Khales, president of Integer’s cardio and vascular business.

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