New Walking Beam Furnace Installed

/ FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT

A new walking beam furnace and two new Garrett coilers will be installed at the Emmenbrücke site of Swiss Steel in Switzerland. Swiss Steel is a subsidiary of SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH, a manufacturer of special long steel.

With the investment, Swiss Steel is updating its facilities with state-of-the-art technology, resulting in one of the most modern facilities in the world. The production potential for special steels is increased by around 8%. The new walking beam furnace allows optimal and more efficient heating of the previously produced billets at the desired temperatures, preparing the billet for its further processing in the downstream rolling mill. In addition to a performance increase, this also reduces quality losses and achieves substantial energy and CO2 savings. The new Garrett coilers used to wind the rolled products after they were processed in the rolling mill will allow an increase of ring weight to over 2.2 tons from 1.8 tons currently. Thus, Swiss Steel meets the requirements of the important customer segment of drawing mills.

The commissioning of the plant is planned in stages. The walking beam furnace is expected to go into operation in 2019, the Garrett coilers a year earlier. Full operation is expected for the end of 2020. Of the total investment volume of CHF 49 million, around CHF 11 million originate from federal funds by means of a reimbursement of the “feed-in remuneration at cost” (“Kostendeckende Einspeisevergütung”, KEV), a Swiss federal instrument for the promotion of electricity production from renewable energies.

Carlo Mischler, CEO of Swiss Steel, said: “The investment decision is a clear commitment to Swiss Steel and its location Emmenbrücke. With the new equipment, we are increasing our competitiveness and can serve customers with even better quality and a wider range of products. In addition, we are significantly
reducing energy consumption in the rolling mill.”

Clemens Iller, CEO of SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH: “Swiss Steel is a company with a strong market position and a broad customer base – a valuable part of our Group. The large-scale investment at the Emmenbrücke site strengthens this first-class positioning and makes it possible to meet the high demands of Swiss Steel’s customers in the future.”

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Rolls Royce Grants Approval

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS

Rolls Royce has granted approval to Solar Atmospheres of Western Pennsylvania to conduct certain commercial aerospace heat treat processes. Rolls Royce requires strict specification requirements, strict process execution, and a daily commitment to quality processing from its suppliers in order for this to be granted.

Susan Generalovich, Quality Manager said: “The successful certification of our western Pennsylvania facility is a testament to our commitment to continual improvement, and to growing our business within the aerospace industry.  We are excited about the opportunities this certification will allow and the added confidence it provides to our customers.”

More information about Solar Atmosphere’s Quality Certifications: click here.

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Callies Precision Engine Components Improves Process

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

Callies Precision Engine Components of Fostoria, OH has installed an automated nitriding process control system from Super Systems Inc (SSi).  Callies, a leading supplier to the high performance engine market for 28 years, is always looking at opportunities to invest in technologies that improve quality, reduce cost and collapse delivery time to the customer – and the SSI Nitriding system was a perfect fit.  “Our goal has been to outfit all equipment with the latest technological controls to assure complete accountability with our in-house operations.  This was the main reason we teamed up with Super Systems.”

The engineered control system from SSi provides Callies with the ability to perform tight nitriding process control using an easy-to-use recipe system that maintains tight tolerances on temperature(s), gas flows and nitriding potential.  The relatively shallow nitride case delivers a tremendous improvement to fatigue life of every Callies crankshaft.  The extremely hard nitrided surface also gives the crankshaft excellent wear resistance.   The SSi control system provides the latest in sensor and flow technology for measuring the nitrding atmosphere and an operator-friendly interface to provide complete traceability to the process and load data.

The SSi control panel was retrofitted on an existing a Lindberg pit furnace previously used for nitriding.  Delivering proper surface and case properties requires in-situ control of the nitriding potential (Kn) and control of the ammonia, dissociated ammonia and nitrogen gases.  The system delivered by SSi also included the control of the Dissociated Ammonia (DA) generator.  The controls for the DA generator provided gas flow monitoring and temperature control to ensure the ammonia is fully cracked prior to being used as process gas in the furnace.

Callies takes their heat treating seriously as illustrated by their investment in SSi which is just part of the million dollar plus investment in the department.  Carefully controlled heat treating can be found throughout their manufacturing process which includes induction, neutral hardening, and carburizing.

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Heat Treated Rolled Rings Used in Energy Industry

/ ENERGY HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS

  Source:  Euskalforging

Five large rolled rings ranging from 6.500 mm of outer diameter up to 10.000 mm of outer diameter and input weights from 24t up to 80t have been ring rolled, heat treated, machined and delivered by Euskalforging.  The rings will be used in the manufacturing of the Blue 25M hammer from Fistuca. The hammer will be able to drive the largest offshore wind monopiles in the industry.

Read more: Euskalforging Breaks a World Record

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Hardening and Tempering Line Receives Upgrade

/ FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES, TEMPERING NEWS

The Ohio-based Engineering Division of Conrad Kacsik Instrument Systems completed a full system upgrade of an automated hardening and tempering line for Nelson Fastening Systems, also located in Ohio. The project involved the removal of the existing control system, VFD drives, limits, and control wiring for Nelson, and included the installation of a new system that features safety controls.

A Honeywell HC900 with a 15-inch operator interface terminal integrated with a computer running Specview HMI software controls a 2-zone hardening furnace, generator, quench tank, water cooling tank, washer, 2-zone tempering furnace, and a blackening unit. The equipment was linked with six conveyors and wired into the four control panels completed by Kacsik’s engineering team.

The old conveyor system had VFD drives that did not communicate with a PLC. The new system was programmed with safety features: in the event of a chain break or a conveyor jam, the system will alarm and automatically shut other conveyors off.

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Metal Magnesium Ingots Produced in Quebec

/ AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS

The  first metal magnesium ingots have been produced at the Danville demonstration plant in Quebec by Alliance Magnesium Inc. . This achievement comes after four years of technological development, design and construction of a pilot plant.The ingots, which are now produced on a regular basis, are used to validate the manufacturing process developed by AMI and to collect the technical and economic information necessary for the subsequent phases of magnesium production.

“This is a crucial step in the development of AMI that has just been completed. It depends on the hard work of all our staff, as well as our financial, technical and government partners who share our ambition to become the greenest magnesium producer on the planet. “Said Dr. Joël Fournier, Chief Executive Officer of AMI.

AMI is also announcing a $ 4.1 million loan from the Fonds de diversification économique de la MRC des Sources, a fund created by the Government of Québec. The proceeds of this funding will go toward the operations of its pilot plant and the preparation of its $ 100 million commercial demonstration plant, which will take shape during the year and create more than 70 jobs.

“We are delighted to count the Regional Fund as one of our strategic partners in the evolution of our company,” said Dr. Fournier. “This financial contribution demonstrates the recognition of AMI’s business model as a key driver of the region’s economic recovery and its positive impact on the community. ” he added.

AMI has invested more than $ 12 million in the region over the past three years and directly and subcontracts more than 20 professionals and operators.

About Alliance Magnesium Inc.

Alliance Magnesium is a privately-owned Canadian company engaged in the production of magnesium metal and other valuable minerals from serpentine. AMI has developed an innovative technology and process that gives it a cleaner and less expensive approach than those currently used worldwide by magnesium producers. The new AMI process is an alternative to the thermal process, which is one of the most important sources of CO2 emissions in the world. AMI has developed a three-stage development program that will lead to an annual production of 50,000 tons in 2019 and the creation of more than 350 jobs.

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Heat Treating of Jaw Fixation Plates Provides Superelasticity

/ ANNEALING, FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT

  Source:  Bioengineering

Process parameters and post-processing heat treatment techniques have been developed to produce both shape memory and superelastic NiTi using additive manufacturing. By introducing engineered porosity, the stiffness of NiTi can be tuned to the level closely matching cortical bone. Using additively manufactured porous superelastic NiTi, we have proposed the use of patient-specific, stiffness-matched fixation hardware, for mandible skeletal reconstructive surgery.
Read more:  Finite Element Simulation and Additive Manufacturing of Stiffness-Matched NiTi Fixation Hardware for Mandibular Reconstruction Surgery by Ahmadreza Jahadakbar , Narges Shayesteh Moghaddam , Amirhesam Amerinatanzi , David Dean , Haluk E. Karaca  and Mohammad Elahinia

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