Bodycote

Global Heat Treater Opens New Facility in Prague

/ AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS

The world’s largest heat treat provider recently marked the opening of its new heat treatment plant in the Czech Republic.

Roman Poslusny welcomes guests to the official opening ceremony.

Bodycote held an official opening ceremony at the new facility in central Prague which has expanded space for broader heat treatment capabilities for the automotive and general manufacturing industries.

“Bodycote is proud to be opening our newest facility in Prague, where we can be close to our customers and grow to meet their future demand,” said Paul Clough, president of Bodycote’s classical heat treatment division for Northern Europe & Asia.

“The Czech Republic is an excellent place for Bodycote to invest in order to support our customers’ supply chains locally,” said Roman Poslusny, vice president of operations of Central Eastern Europe for Bodycote’s classical heat treatment division. “This expansion helps to demonstrate our commitment to our Eastern European customers by providing the best possible service.”

The VIP ceremony was attended by the local mayor of Hostivice (Prague-West district), arch. Klára Čápová, and the British ambassador to the Czech Republic, Nick Archer.

 

Main image credit/caption: Bodycote / Left to right: Paul Clough, President of Northern & Eastern Europe (Bodycote); Klara Capova, Mayor of Hostivice; Nick Archer, British Ambassador; Baris Telseren, Senior Vice President Eastern Europe (Bodycote); Roman Poslusny, Vice President Central Eastern Europe (Bodycote).

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UK Heat Treater Invests in N. American Facility

/ MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

The world’s largest provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services based in Macclesfield, United Kingdom, is pleased to announce plans to open a new heat treating facility in Elgin, Illinois.

Bodycote’s new facility will include advanced heat treating technologies such as low pressure carburizing and carbonitriding, vacuum nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing, Bodycote’s proprietary Corr-I-Dur® process, and traditional carburizing of large parts. The facility, scheduled to be operational by late 2019, will support the automotive, agricultural, mining, construction and various other manufacturing supply chains in the Upper Midwest region.

“This investment demonstrates Bodycote’s commitment to serving the Midwest with the services our customers ask for and require,” said Dan McCurdy, President Automotive & General Industrial, North America & Asia division.

 

Photo: Bodycote

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15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Mike Paponetti recently accepted the position of Sales Manager at Solar Atmospheres South Carolina. Prior to accepting this position, Mike was the Regional Sales Manager at Solar’s Hermitage, Pennsylvania, facility.
  • Alliance Steel LLC has announced plans to relocate the company from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, to Gary, Indiana, where a new plant will allow the company to consolidate its multi-structure facility into a single-structure facility.
  • William M. Brown, Harris Corporation Chairman, President, and CEO, has been named chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Board of Governors for 2019. He succeeds outgoing AIA Chairman Tom Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon.
  • A new 107000-square-foot facility will focus on additive manufacturing, advanced composites, assembly, and industry 4.0 processes for aerospace design and manufacturing. GKN Aerospace’s new Global Technology Centre in Bristol, United Kingdom, has received support through the UK Governments Aerospace Technology Institute.
  • A provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services held an official opening ceremony last week at its brand new facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), Rotherham, Yorkshire. Bodycote‘s new advanced heat treatment center, now fully operational and supporting customer requirements, offers a range of heat treatment services and has been established to support the aerospace and power generation markets in the UK and Europe.
  • An Iowa-based foundry recently sold its operating assets to its Galesburg, Illinois-based sister company, Aluminum Castings Company, an aluminum sand castings foundry. The transition will include the relocation of the ALCAST Midwest Works LLC‘s heat treating and grinding operations back to the Fairfield facility from their Clarence, Missouri, facility.
  • A supplier of live tooling for the North American machine tool industry, Prospect Heights, Illinois-based Heimatec Inc., has become part of a new corporation, Platinum Tooling Technologies Inc.
  • German car maker Porsche AG and Schuler, Inc., a Canton, MI-based provider of metalforming technologies and products announced plans to build an innovative press shop together for the car factory of the future. The objective of Schuler and Porsche’s joint venture is to create a so-called Smart Press Shop as part of a networked Industry 4.0 approach. The new press shop’s pioneering technologies will enable the highly flexible production of complex car body parts; whereby the focus will be on aluminum body panels and small batch production.
  • Constellium contracted with Tri-Arrows Aluminum Holding Inc. (TAAH) for the supply of cold coils from its Logan plant in Kentucky for up to five years as part of its agreement with UACJ Corporation and TAAH, its U.S. subsidiary, to acquire TAAH’s 49% stake in Constellium-UACJ ABS, LLC. Constellium’s plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, will continue to ramp-up its Auto Body Sheet substrate capability to gradually become Bowling Green’s sole supplier of cold coils.

Equipment Chatter

  •  A Japanese customer has placed an order with EBNER to expand an existing HICON/H2® bell annealer facility. The facility, which spheroidizes and recrystallizes coils of steel strip, will be upgraded with two additional gas-fired heating bells.
  • A natural gas-fired conveyor oven was shipped to a supplier of the oil and gas industry by Wisconsin Oven Corporation. This conveyor oven will be used for the preheating and powder coating of couplings. This conveyor oven has sufficient capability to heat 1,000 pounds per hour of steel parts from 70° F to 1000° F. In addition, Wisconsin Oven Corporation announced the shipment of a natural gas-fired conveyor oven to a leader in the forging industry. This conveyor oven will be used as a preheating oven for aluminum billets.
  • A Gruenberg truck-in-oven was recently shipped to the oil and gas industry by Thermal Product Solutions. The truck in oven will be used to test parts used for downhole drilling.

Kudos Chatter

  • Alloy Engineering Company, an industry leader in the design and manufacture of alloy equipment for high-temperature and corrosive industrial applications, celebrated its 75th anniversary in the month of November. The Berea, Ohio, company’s equipment is used for both commercial and in-house heat treating, and for processes such as annealing, hardening, carbo-nitriding, carburizing, nitriding, tempering, brazing, and sintering.

    SMS Group has won the German Design Award in 2018.
  • Paulo is celebrating its milestone 75th year in business. The company was founded in 1943 in St. Louis, conceived originally as Paulo Products Company was originally conceived as a manufacturer with heat treatment provided as a secondary service. Helping customers succeed by offering thermal processing solutions is where the company excelled. Founders husband and wife Ben and Pauline Rassieur had previously worked for Central Mine Equipment Company. Pauline, after whom Paulo is named, was one of the first women to earn an engineering degree from the University of Missouri.
  • SMS Group has won the German Design Award 2019 in the category “Industry” for the additively manufactured 3D spray header. The component for which plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group has received the German Design Award 2019 in the category “Industry” is a spray head used to cool dies in forging presses.

Heat Treat Today is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sector to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.

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Strengthen Your “Metal Matrix” with Precipitation Hardening

/ FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

 

Titanium nitride precipitates in a precipitation hardened HSLA steel. Image copyright: University of Nevada, Reno via The Balance

Source: Multiple (see below)

You may know it by one name — Precipitation Hardening, or by another — Age Hardening, or Particle Hardening. Whatever term you use, if you are employing this process to strengthen aluminum, titanium, or forms of alloys, the right balance between material and application will bring you the right results.

Precipitation hardening is a heat treating method used to strengthen metal components through the utilization of controlled release of solid impurities — or precipitates — to form precipitate clusters.

“The formation of these precipitates is accomplished by using a solution treatment at high temperatures prior to a rapid cooling process. The solution heat treatment results in a single-phase solution while the rapid cooling results in a stable material by preventing the creation and propagation of lattice defects. This greatly strengthens the metal matrix. 

Precipitation hardening is typically performed in a vacuum, inert atmosphere at temperatures ranging from between 900º and 1150° F. The process ranges in time from one to four hours, depending on the exact material and the characteristics specified.” ~ The Balance

The process generally follows three steps (per AZO Materials):

  1. Solution treatment at high temperatures
  2. Rapid cooling
  3. Heat treatment to induce precipitation

According to Bodycote’s website, where more information is given regarding the process details, the outcome varies depending upon whether a solution treating-only method is used or a combination of solution treating and precipitation age hardening.

 

Read more about the types of metals treated by precipitation hardening, techniques, industrial applications, and more:

“Learn About Precipitation Hardening” (The Balance)

“Age Hardening – Metallurgical Processes” (AZO Materials)

“Precipitation Hardening: Stainless Steels” (Bodycote)

 

Photo credit: Bodycote

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Energy, Aerospace Supported by New Heat Treatment Plant in UK

/ ENERGY HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS
Bodycote Rotherham

 

The leading provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services recently announced the opening of its newest facility to support the power generation and aerospace industries in the UK and Europe.

Located in the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, Yorkshire, the state-of-the-art plant will be fully operational in 2018 and offer a number of heat treatment processes. Additionally, Bodycote reports that major OEM approvals will be secured along with Nadcap accreditation.

“This investment demonstrates Bodycote’s continuing commitment to align resources to serve both the aerospace and power generation markets,” said Simon Blantern, vice president of Sales Europe for Bodycote’s Aerospace, Defence & Energy heat treatment division.

 

Photo credits: Bodycote

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Aerospace Giant Secures 15-year Agreement for Heat Treating Services

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS, HIPING NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

Engineering giant Rolls-Royce has entered into a 15-year contract with a UK-based thermal processing services specialist to secure specialized vacuum heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to support its civil aerospace production.

Bodycote, which provides heat treatment services that protect and improve the properties of metals and alloys, extending their operational life and making them safer, will work with Rolls-Royce’s turbine blade casting facilities in Derby and Rotherham.

The agreement, which is expected to be worth over £160 million ($227.3 million US) in incremental revenues over the 15-year period, ensures the provision of specialist thermal processing capacity utilizing Bodycote’s high performance, quality-focused approach to support the growth of Rolls-Royce’s large civil engine programs, including the Trent XWB, Trent 1000, Trent 7000, Trent 700 and Trent 900.

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Specialty Stainless Steel Heat Treat Facility Opens to Support U.S. Auto Supply Chain

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

A Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S³P) facility has opened in North Carolina to serve automotive, food processing, medical and oil and gas industries. U.K.-based Bodycote, a global provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, recently announced the grand opening of its new site for S³P processes, which increase mechanical and wear properties in stainless steel without adversely affecting corrosion resistance.

Kent Abrahamsen, Senior Vice President, Bodycote Specialty Stainless Steel Processes

Bodycote reports that demand for S³P processes featuring Kolsterising® has grown across multiple markets including automotive, food processing, medical, and oil and gas among others in the United States. The new facility will support the manufacturing supply chains in the southeast region and will be accredited for both ISO9001 and AS9100 to serve the customer base.

“We are excited to respond to our customers’ requests to expand Bodycote’s geographic footprint and increase capacity to serve their growing demands,” stated Kent Abrahamsen, senior vice president, Bodycote Specialty Stainless Steel Processes. “Our new, larger facility in Mooresville supports the increasing demands for Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S³P).”

Certain stainless steel applications present unique technical challenges to metallurgists and engineers. Bodycote’s S³P technologies treat stainless steel, nickel-based, and cobalt chromium alloys (including martensitic and precipitation hardened stainless steel materials) to improve resistance against surface wear such as galling, cavitation erosion and abrasive wear.

Specialty Stainless Steel Heat Treat Facility Opens to Support U.S. Auto Supply Chain Read More »

10 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

 

 

 

10 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Heat treatment provider Bodycote PLC announced this week that its 2017 pretax profit rose 27 percent, due in part to a return to growth in general industrial markets following a multiyear negative trend. The pretax profit amounts to $161.6 million ((117 million pounds) in the year, compared with GBP91.9 million in 2016, the company said.
  • The UK-based specialist in thermal processing and hard coating of metals, Wallwork Group Ltd, announced that Tecvac Ltd, which supplies heat treatment and vacuum brazing to a variety of industries covering aerospace, automotive, biomedical, motorsport, and manufacturing sectors in the UK and Europe, will now operate as Wallwork Cambridge. Tecvac Ltd is BSI ISO 9001:2000 and NADCAP approved for PVD/CVD coatings and also holds various Aerospace Prime approvals. In addition, Metaltech, which was recently acquired by Wallwork, has been renamed Wallwork Newcastle.
  • Aeromet International, a leading supplier of airframe and aero engine components, recently agreed to the acquisition of the business and assets of the London-based aluminum and magnesium foundry, Stone Foundries Ltd, from Langham Industries, a UK engineering group serving particularly the marine and aerospace industries.
  • The Manufacturing Institute announced the recipients of the Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Award are Aleris leaders Helene Lagace and Brittany Kanz. The STEP Ahead Awards honor women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers and represent all levels of the manufacturing industry, from the factory-floor to the C suite.

Equipment Chatter

  • North American heat treater Paulo has added a new precision controlled nitriding furnace.  Also known as vacuum nitriding the equipment is similar to a vacuum heat treatment

    Paulo adds precision controlled nitriding furnace

    furnace but operates at lower temperatures and without quenching capability, which produces minimal distortion. The recently installed furnace has a 6,000lb capacity and a work zone that measures 70"L x 47"W x 39"H. Process controls allow Paulo to meet specific requirements with respect to which nitride phases are formed and to what depth. This furnace is also capable of vacuum (protective atmosphere) tempering, which prevents oxidation during the tempering process.

Kudos Chatter

  • Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument (SDP/SI) has announced that the company meets all certification requirements of the new ISO 9001:2015 + AS9100D standard, maintaining processes that provide superior components and assemblies with detailed quality reporting. SDP/SI is a leader in providing mechanical based design, engineering, and manufacturing services for critical motion control and small power transmission applications for aerospace and defense.
  • ASTM International, based in West Conshohocken, Pa., announces F3301 - 18 Standard Specification for Thermal Post-Processing Metal Parts Made Via Powder Bed Fusion. This standard specifies the requirements for thermal post-processing of parts produced via metal powder-bed fusion to achieve the required material properties and microstructure to meet engineering requirements. This standard is intended to be referenced by Material Part Property specifications for powder-bed fusion. Currently, this standard includes thermal post-processing for the following materials: titanium alloys; cobalt 28 chromium 6 molybdenum; UNS N07718; UNS N06625; UNS 31603; and AlSi10Mg. This specification will be updated as new powder-bed fusion material heat treatments are developed.
  • Advanced Heat Treat of Waterloo, Iowa, has announced that their Burton Avenue location successfully transitioned from ISO/TS 16949:2009 to ISO 9001:2015 / IATF 16949:2016.
  • Toronto-based Innovation Metals Corp., which specializes in cost-effective processing solutions for critical metals, was recently awarded a research contract from Natural Resources Canada for work on the production of rare-earth-element ("REE") oxides and alloys. The contract was awarded as part of NRCan’s Rare Earth Elements and Chromite R&D Program. NRCan is the Canadian government department that oversees the responsible development and use of Canada’s natural resources and the competitiveness of Canada’s natural-resources products.
  • Pelican Wire was certified under ISO 9001:2015 standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The Naples, Florida-based company had previously earned certification under ISO 9001:2008 in 2010 and has been audited and registered since that time by DQS Inc.

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French Aerospace Manufacturer Reaches Agreement with Global Heat Treat Provider

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS, HIPING NEWS

An international high-technology group and tier-1 supplier of systems and equipment in the aerospace market recently announced a long-term agreement with a leading global provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services.

Heat treater Bodycote also announced that its global network will support the agreement with the Paris-based Safran, operating initially from strategically located facilities in France and Belgium.

Safran is a part of the Safran Group, a French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component, defense, and security company. Under the agreement, Bodycote will provide manufacturing services which include thermal spray coatings, electron beam welding, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), heat treatment and others to Safran companies and their key strategic first-tier suppliers, in support of Safran’s civil aerospace programs, including but not limited to CFM LEAP for Safran aircraft engines, helicopter engine programs, and landing gear systems.

 

French Aerospace Manufacturer Reaches Agreement with Global Heat Treat Provider Read More »

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

 

 

 

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current

The heat treat industry is one of people transitioning and companies executing business, achieving goals, and receiving acknowledgments. Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Changes and Moves

  • Roberto Pancaldi, current Tenova Metals chief operating officer, has become the new Tenova Metals CEO, directly reporting to Andrea Lovato, CEO of Tenova.

  • Roberto Pancaldi, Tenova Metals CO

    The Aluminum Federation, the trade body for the UK aluminum industry, has announced that appointment of a new chief executive. Mr. Tom Jones joins the organization from MMC Hardmetal UK, part of the Mitsubishi Materials group, where he was general manager. Tom has more than 35 years experience of working in manufacturing.

  • The Board of GKN Group plc has announced that Anne Stevens, currently Interim Chief Executive, has agreed to become the Group’s new Chief Executive with immediate effect. It was added that since her appointment, Stevens has taken leadership of an ongoing and wide-ranging internal review of all GKN’s businesses which has culminated in the development of a transformation plan to improve GKN’s performance.

    Solar Atmospheres of California's expansion includes installation of 4 new furnaces purchased from Solar Manufacturing, Inc

  • Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) announce the completion of its most recent facility expansion. Project expansion began taking shape in July 2016 with groundbreaking for a new 25,000 sq. ft. building. In preparation for the added growth, SCA has procured an additional four vacuum furnaces from sister company Solar Manufacturing (SMI) based in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

    Equipment Transactions

  • a heat treatment line from SMS group

    German metal processor Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH ordered a new heat treatment line from SMS group. The line, project name "Adjustage II", will be consist of a shot-blaster, two roller hearth furnaces, the MultiFlex-Quench®, a plate leveler, a cleaning and priming line, and a water treatment plant and be capable of processing more than 300,000 tons of heavy plate annually. Commissioning is scheduled to take place early in 2020.

  • Wisconsin Oven Corporation shipped two electrically heated standard horizontal quench systems to an aluminum manufacturer, each designed to heat 1,000 pounds of aluminum to a 950°F operating temperature with qualified operating temperature ranges of 775°F and 1,075°F.

  • Grieve recently supplied a 1000°F (538°C) top-loading oven that will be used for curing composite materials in large molds at a manufacturer’s facility. Workspace dimensions measure 168 inches wide x 48 inches deep x 48 inches high, and 120 kW are installed in lncoloy -sheathed tubular heating elements. A 12,500-CFM, 10-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow.

    Baker Furnace
  • Graftech Advanced Graphite Materials in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, recently divested assets to refractory manufacturer Allied Mineral Products, Inc., located in Columbus, Ohio, and GTRefractory Solutions LLC in Wilmington, Delaware. Allied purchased the intellectual property rights to a collection of refractory cements and pastes, and GT Refractory Solutions acquired assets such as carbon and semi-graphite carbon brick, cement, pastes, porous carbons and graphite powders specialized for use in the steel, ferroalloy and iron industries.
  • Baker Furnace, Brea, Calif., the west coast division of the Thermal Product Solutions (TPS), moved to a new 40,000 sq-ft manufacturing space facility in 2017, which contributed to record shipments of custom and standard units in a variety of configurations. Among other projects, drop-bottom furnaces, crucible furnaces, car bottom furnaces, and batch ovens will be used for a variety of applications in the heat treating, foundry, composites, and automotive industries.

    HBD Industries acquires True Position Technologies LLC
  • HBD Industries announced the expansion of its Precision Components Platform through the acquisition of True Position Technologies LLC (“True Position”), based in Valencia, California. A leading provider of complex machined components for flight control applications, True Position specializes in manufacturing high specification components that require multiple machining, testing and finishing processes all within extremely tight tolerances.

Accreditations, Certifications, Patents, and More

  • Conrad Kacsik Instrument Systems, Inc., has been reaccredited for ISO-IEC 17025:2005 by A2LA, a continuous A2LA accreditation since 2000.
  • Heat treaters Metallurgical Processing Inc., based in New Britain, Connecticut, has been awarded a 24-month Nadcap accreditation after being audited to 10 checklists.

  • Bodycote HIP now counts nine Nadcap-accredited sites with the recent award to the Surahammar, Sweden, location.

    Advanced Heat Treat Corp., which has held Nadcap accreditation since 2013, has been awarded Nadcap Merit status for Heat Treating (Ion Nitriding) at the MidPort location in Waterloo, Iowa. This is the highest accreditation period that can be earned. "We are proud to achieve Merit status for the third time in a row and be granted a 24-month accreditation. We hope our customers take pride in the fact they send their parts to AHT," stated John Ludeman, Director of Metallurgy and Quality Excellence.

  • Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, announced that its Surahammar, Sweden, Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) location has earned its Nadcap accreditation. The Surahammar site has been producing Powdermet® Near Net Shape (NNS) and Selective Surface Net Shape (SSNS) components for many years, using its long experience of manufacturing complex, high integrity components from powder metal to serve markets such subsea, oil and gas, marine, nuclear, tool steel and automotive. Bodycote HIP now has nine Nadcap-accredited sites.

  • SAE International, Warrendale, Pa., announces that technical standard AMS2750 – Pyrometry, has received complete recognition by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and it has been added to its list of recognized consensus standards database, List #47.

     

Heat Treat Today is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current Read More »

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