An aerospace and medical part manufacturer in Southeast USA recently purchased 5 vacuum furnaces. They will be used primarily to sinter and stress relieve stainless steel components.
Dan Insogna Southeast Regional Sales Manager Solar Manufacturing (photo source: solarmfg.com)
The furnaces were provided by Solar Manufacturing and are part of their Mentor® vacuum furnace series. The model HFL-2018-2IQ furnaces feature a graphite-insulated hot zone, a load weight capacity of up to 250 lbs, and maximum operating temperature of 2400° F.
“Our customer worked directly with our R&D team at our sister company, Solar Atmospheres,” states Dan Insogna, Southeast Regional Sales Manager for SolarManufacturing. “The customer received a line of brand new Mentor® furnaces with their custom recipe preloaded and ready to go.”
A leading, global manufacturer of metal injection molding (MIM) products is bolstering its manufacturing capacity with the addition of two large-size horizontal vacuum furnaces for sintering and debinding MIM products and components. The first of the two furnaces will be delivered this year and the second is scheduled for commissioning in March 2021.
The multimillion-dollar order from the global manufacturer was awarded to G-M Enterprises, a Nitrexcompany. The 2-Bar vacuum sintering furnaces will feature a work area of 36” wide x 30” high x 84” long (900 x 762 x 2100 mm), 4400 lb. weight capacity, a maximum operating temperature of 2600°F (1430°C), and uniformity of +/-10°F (+/-5.5°C).
Vacuum Furnace (Source: Nitrex.com)
Michel Frison, VP Global Sales, Nitrex and G-M Enterprises (Source: Nitrex.com)
Integral to the vacuum system configuration is a multistage debinder trap system designed to thermally extract binder from the parts. Sintering and debinding occur in a single cycle using a robust and unique system design that is optimized to handle the maximum load capacity the furnace is designed for. Consequently, there is never a need to operate below the rated load capacity to achieve the required part quality. The high-temperature sintering process also ensures a high-quality finished part surface in terms of density, porosity, mechanical resistance, and aesthetics.
“This latest order comes from a customer we have had a strong cooperation with," said Michel Frison, VP Global Sales, Nitrex and G-M Enterprise, "and which will be part of a series of multiple furnaces provided by G-M Enterprises over the past decades."
Dan Insogna Southeast Regional Sales Manager Solar Manufacturing (photo source: solarmfg.com)
A Southeast USA heat treater in the defense industry recently acquired a vacuum furnace. It will be used to age harden precipitation hardened stainless steels and beryllium copper.
The Mentor® vacuum furnace is a model HFL-2018-2IQ, built by Solar Manufacturing. It features a graphite-insulated hot zone, a load weight capacity of up to 250 lbs., and a maximum operating temperature of 2400°F.
"We provided a complete turnkey solution," states Dan Insogna, Southeast Regional Sales Manager for Solar Manufacturing. Along with the furnace, the heat treater received "a water system, and the recipes for the heat treat cycles their materials require."
The Mentor® vacuum furnace from Solar Manufacturing (photo source: Solar Manufacturing)
"The global dental 3D printing market is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period... Dental 3D printing is a form of modern dentistry and is considered to be wide-spreading in the dental industry. Dental 3D printing involves creating three dimensional solid dental models such as dentures, surgical guides, dental implants, crown, and bridges." From Market Research Future Report: Dental 3D Printing Market
For this Heat Treat TodayTechnical Tuesday, we are featuring a Best of the Web that highlights cutting edge applications of additive manufacturing (AM). For many in the world of heat treat, AM and 3D are things of the future, oftentimes foreign to the heat treater's processes. What this article reveals is that AM can be utilized in essential and beneficial ways within heat treating.
An excerpt: "...This research and development project managed to optimize the process of making a dental prosthesis using a vacuum furnace. The additive manufacturing allows to create shapes, weights and dimensions customized on different needs and with a precision that has no equal. Strengthened by these peculiarities, the research team worked to further refine and complete the process chain of dental prostheses. Let's see step by step how this process happened."
North American commercial heat treater installs their sixth all-metal hot zone furnace at their Souderton plant in Eastern PA. This is Solar Atmospheres' sixth all-metal hot zone furnace installation, and the fourth for their climate-controlled room.
The furnace is a new Mentor model, built by sister company Solar Manufacturing, has a working zone of 12” x 12” x 18”, and is the first of its kind. The additional furnace increases the heat treater's capacity for processing sensitive materials such as PH stainless, nickel-based superalloys, titanium, and ferritic/austenitic stainless steels, yet focuses on smaller lots and one-off items. The furnace makes it possible to reap the benefits of an all-metal furnace while minimizing the overall cost.
Nine furnaces were shipped to six states in America, Canada, and the United Kingdom this past July from an international supplier of heat treat equipment. This same supplier will be providing five vacuum furnaces to four customers within the aerospace, defense, and commercial heat-treating industries. The products are all uniquely designed to meet the customers' specific heat treating requirements.
The ability for the international supplier, Ipsen USA, to deliver these products reinforces their transition into the Vacuum Center of Excellence within Ipsen.
Ipsen Vacuum Furnace (photo source: ipsenusa.com)
"Ipsen has worked with international operations teams for decades," said Patrick McKenna, president and CEO of Ipsen USA, "shipping equipment from the US to countries all over the world[...] With the identification of Ipsen USA as the Vacuum Center of Excellence, we can continue servicing those companies with the level of quality they expect and deserve."
Super IQ® Gas Carburizing furnace from SECO/WARWICK Group
REX Heat Treat, a commercial heat treater specializing in the aerospace market, has bought and installed a hybrid model -- conventional and vacuum -- furnace system from a European supplier. This technology will allow the company to improve their through-hardening and carburizing capabilities alongside their legacy harden and temper furnaces, while using their existing loader, baskets and washing system.
REX Heat Treat has become the first company to install and commission this hybrid model called Super IQ® Gas Carburizing furnace from SECO/WARWICK Group. Designed to eliminate endogas, the furnace allows clean processing and can even achieve higher temperature carburizing to speed cycles and improve yields in certain steels in a clean and cool manner.
Jonathan Rex, General Manager, Rex Heat Treat (photo source: LinkedIn)
“The technological advances," says Johnathan Rex, general manager at REX Heat Treat, "allow us to run at higher temperatures, vacuum carburize, and clean harden with no decarburizing effects. The fact that our existing systems fit perfectly with this new addition helps to minimize the overall investment and accelerate successful integration. We expect the Super IQ to reduce operating costs, improve safety, and enable more environmentally friendly processing."
A North American based aerospace manufacturer will receive a continuous vacuum (CV) furnace with 10 bar pressure quench capabilities. The 4 position, 4 zone furnace is rated to 2400°F, and will work well in processing medium to high volume parts.
The supplier, Gasbarre Thermal Processing, shares that the independent load and quench modules allow the heat module to hold temperature and vacuum, creating a pure environment. The extended heating element coverage is conducive for thorough temperature uniformity, and then only the workload is cooled in the isolated cooling chamber. Quick transference from the heat module to the cool module as well as fast quench capabilities will aid processing of medium to high volume parts.
Bob Hill, President, Solar Atmospheres of Western PA
Vacuum oil quenching (VOQ) is adopted at Solar Atmospheres of Western PA(SAWPA). The latest VOQ quench line, including a hardening furnace, tempers, washer, and charge car, will be installed and fully operational by the end of 2020. To make room for this new technology, the company is continuing construction of its 15,000 square foot addition.
Amidst the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Solar views this period as an opportunity to set new paths of transformation and growth for the company, and thus came to decision to continue their planned expansion. “We have had to think on our feet," said Bob Hill, President of SAWPA, "find innovative solutions and pivot quickly, to change protocols to protect our employees and to safeguard our business."
SAWPA builds new Vacuum Furnance for VOQ line at their expanding site. (Photo source: SAWPA)
Patrick McKenna, President and CEO (source: Ipsen USA)
Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, Illinois, announced yesterday, July 29th, that it has been appointed as the Vacuum Technology Excellence Center for the global Ipsen organization. Ipsen USA, located west of Chicago near Rockford, Illinois, was one of the two Technology Excellence Centers announced yesterday. The other, Ipsen in Kleeve, Germany, will serve as the Atmosphere Technology Excellence Center.
According to the statement issued by Patrick McKenna, CEO of Ipsen USA, the focus on one field of technology (i.e. vacuum technologies), will enable faster-paced innovation and a sharper focus on equipment performance and quality. McKenna further noted that the global restructuring came after months of market analysis to understand the needs of the company’s customers. The resulting drivers for the organization’s global changes were a) increased customer demand for technical services, b) identical metallurgical outcomes worldwide, and c) solutions for processing newly developed materials. The establishment of these Technology Excellence Centers will allow the global organization to properly address market needs for current and future customers, as well as allow for faster response times supported by new advanced service products in all regions of the globe currently serviced by the company.
As a result of this change, new furnace equipment will be manufactured at fewer locations around the world, focusing instead on specialization. The US location will exclusively build all types of vacuum furnaces, while the Germany location will build the atmosphere batch and continuous systems. Additionally, Ipsen India will continue to build atmosphere furnaces for the India and Southeast Asia markets. The China and Japan locations will no longer manufacture new furnaces, but will continue to focus their energy on customer service and the sale of new equipment from the Excellence Centers.
The customer relationship with the company will remain unchanged as customer support will continue at all global locations. Sales, service, and support teams remain local in each region to guarantee speed of response. All plants remain open in all regions as the aftermarket support of customers is more than half of Ipsen’s annual business. Activities such as upgrades, local inventory of parts and service will continue to be fully supported on a local basis.
This consolidation of equipment manufacturing sites together with the uncertainty of the global pandemic does result in a reduction of staff, which is a regrettable but necessary outcome.
For more information, please contact Patrick McKenna, President & CEO Ipsen USA at Patrick.McKenna@IpsenUSA.com or +1 815-332-2591.
An aerospace and medical part manufacturer in Southeast USA recently purchased 5 vacuum furnaces. They will be used primarily to sinter and stress relieve stainless steel components.
