A machine tool manufacturer has decided to create their own “captive” heat treat department. The company has consequently invested in two different, yet complementary, vacuum heat treatment furnaces.
The CaseMaster Evolution® multi-chamber vacuum furnace (source: SECO/WARWICK)
As is often the case with companies thinking about how to gain better control of their production systems, one of the obvious bottlenecks for the customer was their offsite heat treatment arrangement. While quality from their existing suppliers was not an issue, it was clear that logistics could certainly be streamlined by eliminating the need to outsource parts to an external heat treater. The furnace manufacturer helped them weigh the pros and cons of moving their heat treatment processes into the plant. Ultimately, a decision was made to set up their own department, invest in new vacuum heat treat equipment, and train their production technicians to perform this critical function of the plant.
SECO/WARWICK received an order for a multi-chamber carburizing vacuum furnace with integral gas or oil quench, and a high pressure gas quench vacuum furnace capable of quench pressures up to 15-Bar.
The Vector® 15-Bar high pressure gas quench vacuum furnace (source: SECO/WARWICK)
“We knew the customer was already getting excellent quality from their supplier, so the question was ‘How can we make the process better?’” said Maciej Korecki, VP of Business Segment Vacuum Heat Treatment Furnaces at SECO/WARWICK. “Starting an in-house heat treat department requires some amount of risk tolerance by ownership, and they needed assurance that the return on production improvements would be worth the investment. [We have] the background to help make those determinations, and as a manufacturer of heat treat equipment, the company was able to offer real-world experience on performance that an independent consultant might not be able to provide.”
Welcome to the inaugural column of Heat Treat Today‘s first offering of This Week in Heat TreatSocial Media. As you know, there is so much content available on the web that it’s next to impossible to sift through all of the articles and posts that flood our inboxes and notifications on a daily basis. So, Heat Treat Todayis here to bring you the latest in compelling, inspiring, and entertaining heat treat news from the different social media venues that you’ve just got to see and read!
1. Entropic Time (Backwards Billy Joel Parody) by A Capella Science
Let’s start your Friday off with this energetic, fun, and educational video that Paul Mason of Thermo-Calc Software shared. (And, you’ll be singing the song all day! You’re welcome!)
2. COVID-19
We have all been affected by the COVID-19 virus. It has produced experiences that none of us has ever ventured through before in our lifetime.
Additionally, many of the heat treat companies have shared their statuses and plans for business via social media posts. Here are a few of them:
3. What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?
Check out Abbott Furnace Company’s collaboration with Saint Mary’s Area Middle School to introduce kids to the world of manufacturing.
4. Reading and Podcast Corner
You may have a bit more time to catch up on the reading and podcast listening you’ve been yearning to do. May we recommend two brief articles written by industry experts and an informative podcast.
Check out Gerry McWeeney’s article, “Pros and Cons of Remote Monitoring in Heat Treat”
For those of you interested in medical devices.
And, for your listening pleasure, be sure to download the latest Heat Treat Radio episode entitled, Women in Heat Treat, with Ellen Conway Merrill and Rosanne Brunello. They will inspire you!
5. Launch into Your Weekend with a Reading by Jackson
No additional caption needed! Happy Friday, everyone!
(Editor’s Note: Users of Firefox may have difficulty playing the below video. If so, please use another browser like Chrome.)
Welcome to another episode of Heat Treat Radio, a periodic podcast where Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, discusses cutting-edge topics with industry-leading personalities. Below, you can either listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or you can read an edited version of the transcript. To see a complete list of other Heat Treat Radioepisodes, click here.
Audio: Women in Heat Treat
In this conversation, Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, interviews the two founders of the LinkedIn group, Women in Heat Treat, Ellen Conway-Merrill, Vice President of DELTA H, and Roseanne Brunello, owner of manufacturing rep firm Mountain Rep. They will discuss their new group and plans for the future.
Click the play button below to listen.
Transcript: Women in Heat Treat
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
On March 8 of this year, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. At roughly the same time, two women from the heat treat industry gave birth to a new LinkedIn group called Women in Heat Treat. Today, we’re going to talk to these two trailblazing women about their new group and their plans for the future. Who are these two women? Let’s meet them now briefly, and then come back and talk with them about their plans.
Ellen Conway Merrill, VP at DELTA H
Ellen Conway-Merrill (EC): My name is Ellen. I am the Vice President of DELTA H.
Doug Glenn (DG): That’s Ellen Conway-Merrill, and her company, DELTA H, is located in Carroll, OH, which is close to Columbus, OH.
Next we’ll meet–
Roseanne Brunello (RB): This is Roseanne Brunello, and I have been in manufacturing for 37 years working as the owner of a manufacturing rep firm by the name of Mountain Rep.
DG: Roseanne Brunello is also from Ohio, near Cleveland. So we’re here today with Ellen Conway-Merrill from DELTA H. Ellen, if you don’t mind, spend a minute telling us about who you are, and also a bit about DELTA H.
EC: I am the Vice President of DELTA H, and it is a family business. My dad, Richard Conway, is the chief technology officer, and he started DELTA H 30 years ago. It started out as a service company, mostly doing consulting and service work, and it has grown from there. My twin brother and I joined forces with him, which was kind of serendipitous as it wasn’t planned on happening and it just did. We joined him in 2009 and never looked back. We’ve been with him for about 11 years and it’s been an incredible ride. Over those past 10 years, we’ve been getting more and more interested in manufacturing our own brand and it’s been a huge success. DELTA H really focuses on specific niches and certain industries. We’ve done really well in the aerospace industry designing heat treat furnaces that are specifically meant towards certain applications such as aluminum heat treating, titanium steels, and what we see in aircraft MRO or an OEM or parts manufacturer. We really cater to those companies. We are also in automotive plastics composites, which is a huge industry for us with our walk-in ovens. That’s what we mostly focus on.
DG: Here again is Roseanne Brunello, telling us a little more about her and her company, Mountain Rep.
RB: This is Roseanne Brunello, and I have been in manufacturing for 37 years, working as the owner of a manufacturing rep firm by the name of Mountain Rep. For many of those years, I was in the component and sub-assembly industry, leaning more toward the aerospace industry, which of course let me learn plenty about heat treat along the way. In the meantime, I moved home to Cleveland about 6 years ago to help take care of my mom and wound up kind of refocusing the company to lend myself toward the heat treat world, which has been kind of fun. I thought I was more specialized when I was in manufacturing with parts; well, boy, heat treat is even more specialized. I’m proud to be in the industry–there are not very many women, which is why we decided to start this little association.
DG: Good! That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you about. That’s what caught my eye. You and Ellen Conway-Merrill from DELTA H started a group on LinkedIn. First off, give us the name of the group and then how the two of you came about to create it.
RB: She is a great gal. She called me actually and said that she was doing some research on women in heat treat and didn’t find anything and invited me down to her facility in Columbus to show me what they do and to see if we wanted to start some kind of group- see if the activity was there, then maybe we could turn it into an association. It’s called Women in Heat Treat. It doesn’t have to be women only, but our focus is to educate women and help promote women within this industry.
DG: Ellen explains a little more deeply what motivated her to think about starting a women in heat treat group.
EC: It’s kind of funny how it happened. Roseanne and I connected a while back. I think she actually posted something on LinkedIn about the stem work that she does, which is one of my original passions with my background actually being in education, of all things. I didn’t go to school for heat treating or anything like that; it was education. She posted something about one of her programs and I reached out to her and that’s how we connected. We finally met at the heat treat show this past October in Detroit, and we stayed connected. Some time passed. I’m actually the membership chair of the association of women in the metals industry. I was doing some organizing with them and I had thought, “Is there a women in heat treat group out there?” I did some searching on Google and nothing came up. I figured if anyone new about it, it would be Roseanne as she’s been in the industry for a long time and knows a lot of people. We got to talking and she thought it was a great idea too. So we decided to at least start with LinkedIn and just see where it went and we seemed to get a lot of interest right away.
Roseanne Brunello, owner of Mountain Rep.
DG: So that’s how the group got started. The next question was forward-looking. Where is this group going?
EC: I feel the overall mission or goal would be to promote and develop the growth of women in the heat treat industry. I do feel like women can benefit themselves and their companies’ relationships, education, and shared knowledge. I envision with Roseanne that we can develop programs and activities very similar to what I’m already doing in the AWMI (Association of Women in Metal Industries) program and set up keynote speakers. Roseanne and I talked about a show coming up at ASM International and doing a women’s get-together there. We could have a keynote speaker that comes in and talks with us. Within that group, the goal would be to enhance skills and experience, address challenges confronting the industry, and of course always promote career growth. These are just ideas, but again, like I said, it is like-minded people in a very niche industry.
DG: Right. And these women that you’re appealing to in the heat treat industry, do they need to be technical in nature, engineering oriented, that type of thing?
EC: No, I’m not! As I said, my background is education and a big part of my role here is mostly running the business and sales side. My technical background is that I know enough to be dangerous but I’m nowhere near being an engineer or a metallurgist or anything like that. That is part of it though. This is open for anyone, whether it’s a sales background, business background, metallurgical, design, or engineering. The more the merrier. I feel like having those different backgrounds is what’s going to make the group really shine in getting all aspects of that.
DG: Roseanne also had something to say about the purpose of the group.
RB: A lot of times women are considered for jobs like the receptionist or the buyer even, but to actually be selling furnaces or be the operations manager of the heat treat company is kind of rare for women. So we’re encouraging that. Women are very good at multitasking. A lot of times having a heat treat facility, you better be pretty good at multitasking. We think women can do a good job in this industry. We’re here to mentor the younger ones and help promote them.
DG: So Roseanne, shortly after seeing the group, I wondered if men were allowed to join. I saw that a few had, so I felt safe to go ahead and join. I hope you don’t mind.
RB: Well, that’s great. We want men in it. I hate to be the one that admits that the men know a lot more than us women, but in some cases they certainly do. They’ve been around this industry a lot longer than us women, and we’re going to take it by storm though.
DG: Ellen, how about you? You’re ok with men being members of the Women in Heat Treat group?
EC: It’s open to both women and men and anyone seeking to develop all aspects of their career advancement and professional development. I think that the ultimate goal is to increase the number of women employed in the heat treat industry. I think that if we work together, both men and women, we can definitely make that mission happen.
DG: How has the response been to-date? Have you had some heat treat women joining?
Look for this banner on their LinkedIn page!
RB: There have been many already. And it looks like it’s growing pretty rapidly already. To name names, there is Maryann Dickman, who has ANS. The Advanced Nitriding Solutions facility is not like an old fashioned heat treat facility, it is as clean and as pristine as you can imagine, all done in flowers and white leather and purple and it is beautiful. I think that’s where we’re going to see things going. I don’t think these old dark, lit, dirt floor heat treaters are going to be around much longer with the green affiliations that these companies are doing. They don’t want ammonia on their floors, or what have you. I think you’re going to be seeing the heat treat company of the future more and more.
There is also Christy from Stanton Industries, who is so much a woman and beautiful. She has a stocking facility right here in Columbus and she stocks vacuum pump parts right in her facility. Whatever she could do to be involved, she is so into it. We have people from Euclid Heat Treating Co., Diedra is the daughter or granddaughter, and she is very involved and is involved in the heat treat society. There are quite a few really great women that we’re going to bring all together and hopefully kick off the whole thing. I’m hoping some kind of gala at IMAT, which is in September. We’re going to have a party, that’s for sure.
DG: So what are your future plans?
RB: We hope that the interest is grand and that we turn it into an association. It could be an international association. I’m all for reaching out to students. I love mentoring the younger people. Many women go into engineering, but then it seems like they don’t stick with it for whatever reason of their own. Maybe they stop to have children, or whatever, but we want to give them some kind of platform where they can reenter the industry or not leave it at all. We’re kind of here as a support group, and women have been known to have support groups for just about everything. Now we have one for heat treat.
EC: We’re definitely going to stay focused on LinkedIn. I think it’s a really great tool for networking and expanding communication. Roseanne is very involved with ASM, and there is a show coming up in the Fall. We have talked about setting up a program there for women in heat treat or women in materials and just having a group there that gets together and again, just seeing where it goes. I don’t know if there is going to be a ton of interest. I hope there is, and I think there will be. We’re going to just keep trucking away and see what happens.
DG: Thank you ladies. I might mention that Heat Treat Today 40 under 40 classes for the last two years have had a solid representation of young women. This might be a good time to remind everyone that nominations for the 2020 class of 40 under 40 are now open at www.heattreattoday.com/40under40nominate, so please feel free to nominate any young women, or men, you feel are worthy.
Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Today publisher and Heat Treat Radio host.
To find other Heat Treat Radio episodes, go to www.heattreattoday.com/radio and look in the list of Heat Treat Radio episodes listed.
On February 27th, Heat Treat Todayconducted an initial Coronavirus Impact Study. We wrote about the findings on March 4th. Click here to see that initial report. Considering the historical uniqueness of what is happening and the impact that the virus and, more importantly, the impact of the reaction that has been mandated by federal, state, and local governments, Heat Treat Today decided to conduct a slightly expanded follow up study (Phase II) on March 20th — roughly 3 weeks after the initial study. Below is an analysis of the results of Phase II and where possible a comparison between Phase I and Phase II results.
Publishers Note: The coronavirus/COVID-19 situation has been accompanied by media coverage that some describe as sensational and panic-creating. Heat Treat Today’s desire is to objectively report impacts without commentary and without increasing panic.
The Phase I (February 27th) survey netted more respondents, 113, than the Phase II (March 20) survey, 75. The decrease in responses may be attributed to the day of the week that the survey was deployed — Thursday for Phase I and Friday (late afternoon) for Phase II. The length of the survey may have also impacted the response rate — Phase II having several more questions than Phase I. Neither study has enough responses to be considered “scientific” and Heat TreatToday strongly recommends that no important decisions be made based on the results of these studies.
Additionally, the phrase “coronavirus” was used extensively in Phase I whereas “COVID-19” was used extensively and in place of “coronavirus” in Phase II. It is understood that these terms are different and stand for different things. For the non-medical professional, we assumed that these two terms will mean essentially the same thing and they were used interchangeably. Our apologies to medical professionals and other who know the difference.
Finally, this survey was sent to roughly 700 heat treat industry SUPPLIERS, not end-users. The desire was to see what impact the virus and the subsequent response of governments and businesses was having on the heat treat industry specifically, and not on the wider industrial economy as a whole.
Current Impact
Q: Has the coronavirus/COVID-19 ALREADY impacted your business?
The two studies were divided up into two broad sections: 1) what impact the virus has ALREADY had, and 2) what impact the virus is ANTICIPATED to have.
The percentage of respondents claiming that COVID-19 had already impacted their business essentially doubled from Phase I to Phase II going from roughly 40% to nearly 80%. And the number of respondents saying that there has been no impact fell from nearly half in Phase I to roughly 12% in Phase II. Below, Phase I results are shown first, then Phase II results.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: How has the coronavirus/COVID-19 ALREADY impacted your business?
The responses here were also significantly different. Please note that the charts below are not 100% comparable. While both green bars denote supply chain difficulties and both blue bars represent travel restrictions, there was a third option added to the Phase II options that was not in Phase I. Therefore, the tan or yellow bar actually represents two different answers between the studies as does the blue bar at the bottom. Please read these charts and the tables that follow them carefully to see the difference between the last two bars.
Suffice it to say, however, that while supply chain concerns did not increase significantly between the two studies, travel restrictions nearly tripled going from 30% in Phase I to nearly 90% in Phase II. Effectively, travel is banned in the North American heat treat industry … something never before experienced.
One final point. In the Phase II chart below, you’ll notice that the last option is “Other (please specify).” For the sake of relative brevity (!), these “Other” comments have not been included in this report. If you’d like to see these comments, please email htt@heattreattoday.com and request a full “Phase II Coronavirus Report.”
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What steps are you ALREADY taking to minimize the impact?
In Phase II, an additional question was asked regarding what steps have already been taken to minimize the impact of the virus. There was no equivalent question in Phase I. Below are the results. Please notice that the complete wording of the answers are shown in the table below the chart and the “Other (please specify)” answers are not shown, but may be obtained by emailing htt@heattreattoday.com.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
Anticipated Future Impact
In both studies, we then moved from the CURRENT situation to what people were ANTICIPATING for the future.
Q: In what ways to you anticipate that the coronavirus/COVID-19 will impact your business?
The top bar, the green one, represents an anticipated difficulty with a company’s supply chain — difficulty getting materials to manufacture their heat treat product or component. This number stayed at roughly 25% in both studies.
The green bar is also the same in both studies representing travel restrictions. This number, however, took a huge jump between Phase I and Phase II — 43% to 79%.
There was an additional answer added to the Phase II study so the tan/yellow bar represents two different things in the charts below. In Phase I, the yellow bar represented “Other” responses. In Phase II, it represents an anticipated drop off in business levels and it was this answer that gleaned the highest number of responses — just over 8 of 10 respondents anticipated a drop in business levels due to the virus.
Phase II (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What steps do you anticipate taking to minimize the impact of the coronavirus/COVID-19?
There was another additional question added to the Phase II study asking what actions the company anticipated taking to reduce the impact of the virus. Below are the responses.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What impact will the coronavirus/COVID-19 have on your company’s bottom line?
On this question, it is safe to say that the answers were significantly less optimistic in Phase II than they were in Phase I. In Phase I, over 50% felt that the virus would impact their bottom line 5% or less. In Phase II, the “5% or less” answer was given less than 10% of the time, meaning that over 90% of the respondents anticipate that the virus will have a greater than 5% impact on their bottom line. In fact, the highest number of respondents chose “11-20%,” and the second largest group was the group anticipating “Over 20%”.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: How long do you anticipate the coronavirus/COVID-19 will impact your business?
This is another question where the answers were significantly different between the two studies. The “3 to 6 month” answer came in nearly identical on both studies sitting at roughly 60% in both cases. Marked changes occurred, however, on both sides of the “3 to 6 month” answer. Those anticipating an impact of “0-2 months” fell by nearly half from roughly 30% in Phase I to just over 17% in Phase II. The big gainer was in the “7 months or more” category where the numbers over doubled from only 10% in Phase I to 25% in Phase II. Obviously, the heat treat industry is bracing for a much longer impact than initially anticipated in Phase I.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Actual Sickness
The above question was the LAST question asked in the Phase I study. Phase II respondents were given the optional opportunity to answer one more personal question. The reason for asking this question was to get at the actual health impact of the coronavirus/COVID-19 verses the impact caused by the reaction of governments, media, and others who might be unduly heightening anxiety levels whether purposefully or unwittingly. As you can see from the chart and table below, nearly 80% of the respondents chose to proceed with the optional question.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
The question itself is rather long and can be read in the chart below. As you can see, of those proceeding to this more personal question, over 80% chose to actually answer the question. Of those answering the question, nearly 95% knew of no one in the heat treat industry (as defined by the question) currently infected with the coronavirus/COVID-19 and a full 97% knew of zero or one person infected. (Please note that the percentages above are based on a base of 38 people who chose to give a numeric answer.)
Phase II (click to enlarge)
A Complete Copy of the Report with “Other” Comments
If you’d like to see a complete copy of the Phase II results (with all personally-identifiable or company-identifiable information removed), please email htt@heattreattoday.com and request a copy of “Phase II Coronavirus Report.”
Heat Treat Today is privileged to oversee the 40 Under 40 recognition awards highlighting a group of young, up-and-coming talent in the North American heat treat industry every year. This year’s Class of 2019 is no disappointment–a group of industry elite, significant contributors to the heat treat market.
Every couple of weeks we highlight two of the current class of recipients. This week we introduce Miguel Fajardo of John Deere and Tony Marton of The Timken Company.
Miguel is responsible for the development of heat treatment manufacturing lines at John Deere Mexico and has collaborated with different John Deere sites around the globe on developing better heat treatment processes. He is currently enrolled on several HT symposiums and participating on a 6sigma contest for heat treatment lines. Day to day, Miguel demonstrates his commitment to heat treatment processes, seeking cost reductions and improvements to product quality, using tools like 6sigma. He has experience in a materials laboratory performing failure analysis, mechanical testing, and metallographic tests. He is a reference within the company in technical knowledge. His responsibilities are not limited to heat treatments; he is also in charge of forging and hardfacing processes, as well as machining and turning, where his materials knowledge has helped close gaps and and reduce costs. Today the John Deere factory that employs Miguel is on path to become a global excellence center for heat treatment manufacturing to support all John Deere sites in the world.
Nominated by: John Deere
Name: Tony Marton
Company: The Timken Company
Position: Senior Metallurgical Engineer, Process Design & Development
Tony is dedicated to building his existing knowledge and to applying his experience of heat treat manufacturing to the Timken bearing business. Since joining the team in late 2017, he has assumed new responsibilities quickly and dedicates his time to learning more about the bearing business. He is currently working on strategic plans to implement new heat treat processes for the company at several global manufacturing locations. He also is working on analyzing the heat treated dimensional results of specific product portfolios to develop rules for the growth and variation within various heat treat processes. He performs these analyses quickly and provides direction for engineering and supplier quality to help improve product results. In addition to his projects at work, he has been very involved in 2 of the company’s 4 Associate Resource Groups that all collaborate to improve the Diversity & Inclusion of the associates worldwide. Tony is also a high school volleyball coach and plays competitive volleyball in his spare time. Tony is a well-rounded associate who has been a great benefit to his team and to The Timken Company.
Nominated by: the Timken Company
Read more about the feature at Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40 resource page and find out more about each of this year’s winners by clicking on their image. To nominate someone for the Class of 2020 40 Under 40, please click here.
If you’ve ever tried to braze together materials that have widely different Coefficients of Thermal Expansion (COE’s), you know that the material with the higher expansion rate will grow faster than the other when heated and contract faster when cooled down. You also know that once the two different materials have been brazed together and cooling begins, the shrinkage-rate differences between those two materials can produce significant shear stresses at the brazed interface between them and be so strong that the thin brazed joint may be torn apart at either interface. Other similar weaknesses and damage can result as well.
In this HTT Best of the Web Technical Tuesday feature, Dan Kay of Kay and Associates, a vacuum and atmosphere brazing consultant, explains the details of this problem and the solution.
Dan Kay Brazing Engineer Kay and Associates
An excerpt: “Today’s brazing technology is based on a strong foundation of the brazing experiences of many people around the world over a period of many decades (even centuries). I’ve now been very active in the brazing world for almost 50 years and, like my predecessors in the world of brazing, I’ve learned a lot about this fascinating joining process (and I’m still learning). In the article, I’d like to share with you one of my brazing experiences from many years back, one that involved high-temperature differential-expansion between an 18″ (45 cm) diameter tool steel die and a thin carbide plate (round disc) that needed to be brazed to the die’s front surface for wear-protection.”
In this article, Dan, who is also a HTT consultant, helps readers understand the high-temp differential-expansion problem, explore what steps can be taken to prevent it, and ties it all together so that readers can clearly understand what to do.
This informative feature was contributed by CENOS, a simulation software developer. Read on to learn about how 3D printing is revolutionizing the heat treat world, particularly in the production of copper coils.
3D printing, also known as “additive manufacturing,” is a hot topic now as it broadens possibilities for on-demand and customized products, even with complex geometries. It eliminates the need for welding, soldering, bending, and similar steps in coil design as 3D printers build the object in one piece and in the exact shape as drawn in CAD.
(source: PROTIQ)
“3D printing unleashes design opportunities for induction coils, while 3D simulation software allows validating design performance. . . . We believe that 3D printing of copper will grow even more in significance for coil production, and possibly even become a part of the conventional manufacturing process,” said Max Wissing, Development Engineer at PROTIQ.
Currently additive manufacturing is widely used for steel parts, and for a long time printing machines were not able to print pure copper items. But now the technology has developed, and since the second half of 2019, it’s possible to print on demand 100% pure copper coils. Some companies with notable success offering this innovation are PROTIQ and GH Induction.
Main Benefits Simulations Enable Together with 3D Printing:
freedom of design
optimized geometry
more homogeneous heating
lower lead time
less material waste
cost reduction
3D Printed Copper Comparison:
RS-cooper
Pure copper
Electrical conductivity: 50 MS/m
Electrical conductivity 58 MS/m
Elongation at break: 25%
100% IACS
Improved strength for high loads
Elongation at break: 50%
Tensile strength: 230 Mpa
Tensile strength: 220 Mpa
Yield strength: 180 Mpa
Yield strength: 125 Mpa
Density: 98%
Density: 99.8%
Fewer Man-Hours, Faster Processes
Coils are a critical part of induction heat treatments as they must be replaced from time to time due to deterioration. This interrupts production and requires several man-hours for recalibration. In comparison to conventional manufacturing, 3D printing induction coils offer great benefits.
First, additive manufacturing provides better reproducibility and higher accuracy compared to the manual bending, which reduces necessary recalibration times. Second, it allows lower cost and faster production of inductors. Finally, using numerical simulation methods, the coil’s heat pattern is precisely predicted and visualized, helping optimize inductor geometry. This allows for creating a perfect coil with the first prototype.
Simulation and 3D Printing Process Illustration:
(source: PROTIQ)
Simulations as the Enabling Factor for Coil Durability
Simulations allow full freedom of design and point out places for improvement in producing a more efficient coil production process. 3D printers build objects layer upon layer, allowing them to make even complex geometries in one piece without soldering. Simulation of the design process allows predicting coil heating, which altogether results in a longer coil lifetime. Because there is no need to bend or join parts together with heat treatment, this also allows for eliminating some intermediate steps of the supply chain. Another notable benefit is that the lifetime of 3D printed coils can exceed conventionally manufactured copper coils up to two times, as reported by PROTIQ’s automotive industry clients.
Currently there are only a few copper coil printing companies because the material is not easily processed in additive manufacturing.
Comparison of maximum copper coil dimension as a single piece:
PROTIQ
GH Induction
Length: 250mm
Length: 200mm
Width: 250mm
Width: 200mm
Height: 300mm
Height: 100mm
The possible size of the printed coils varies between really small ones, measuring only a few millimeters, and bigger shapes that are used in the automobile industry. Coils that exceed the maximum printable dimensions can be joined together afterward via welding or brazing without problems.
Regarding the time, copper coils can be printed within a few days. Compared to the conventional way, which takes up to several weeks, this method enables fast-paced product tests and generates flexibility for the customer due to shorter delivery times.
3D Printing Future Forecast
GlobeNewswire market research shows that the global 3D printing metals market is estimated at USD $774 million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD $3,159 million in revenue by 2024. This suggests we will see even more and bigger 3D printed metal parts.
In a greater perspective, Boeing is demonstrating an impressive point that additive manufacturing currently has no limits. Boeing’s GE9X engines are now fully 3D printed, combining more than 300 engine parts into just seven 3D printed components.
Taking into consideration all of the benefits listed above, one has to wonder whether additive manufacturing will become the norm in the coming decades in many of the traditional manufacturing processes.
Boeing Defense, Space, and Security recently revealed the single-engine, single-rotor helicopter it is proposing to the U.S. Army as part of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) prototype competition, initiated in 2018. The goal of the contest, part of the Army’s broader Future Vertical Lift program, is to develop a successor to the Bell OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support.
Mark Cherry, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing’s Phantom Works (source: Boeing)
“We’re offering more than a helicopter,” stated Mark Cherry, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Phantom Works. “We’re offering an affordable and fully integrated system for the Army, the mission and the future. We’ve blended innovation, ingenuity and proven rotorcraft experience with extensive testing and advanced analysis to offer a very compelling solution.”
Boeing emphasized that its FARA design meets the Army’s current mission needs “while evolving as technologies and missions change.”
The FARA competition awarded design in April 2019 to AVX Aircraft, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Karem Aircraft, and Sikorsky Aircraft. Two manufacturers will be selected to proceed with their designs this year, and the prototypes will be delivered in 2023.
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
The Swedish Air Force has selected GKN Aerospace for technical product support and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). GKN Aerospace will provide these services as well as spare parts supply for the Gripen E RM16 aircraft engines of the Swedish Air Force. The RM16 is the Swedish name for the engine based on the General Electric F414 that powers the F-18 Super Hornet. GKN Aerospace’s continued support to the platform was confirmed by the Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV) in January. GKN Aerospace will closely collaborate with Saab and GE to build up the necessary infrastructure and competence for the new engine type.
Joakim Andersson, President of Engines at GKN Aerospace
President of Engines for GKN Aerospace Joakim Andersson said, “GKN Aerospace is proud to further expand our relationship with FMV, GE, and Saab to the new RM16 aero-engine support. Our unique and efficient engine maintenance and support capabilities have served the Air Force operations since 1930.”
GKN Aerospace is also the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and type certificate holder of the Gripen C/D RM12 aero-engine and has been supporting the RM12 aero-engines since the first Gripen aircraft went into service in 1997.
