CENOS

20 Quick Heat Treat News Chatter Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry. Enjoy these 20 news bites that will help you stay up-to-date on all thing heat treat. 

Equipment Chatter

  1. A leading Chinese aviation company began cooperating with SECO/WARWICK, placing an order for a Vector® vacuum furnace for carburizing and gas quenching. The furnace will be used for the manufacturer of hydraulic pump components and other machinery.
  2. Tenova Italimpianti, a technologies and equipment supplier for industrial furnace providers, recently received a contract from Metalloinvest for the reconstruction of the Heating Furnace 2 in the second rolling unit of Alexey Ugarov OEMK, in Russia.
  3. Tenova LOI Thermprocess has received an order from Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. (WISCO) in Wuhan, China for the installation of a continuous quench for the efficient cooling of thin steel plates.

Personnel/Company Chatter

  1. Nitrex’s Aurora commercial heat treat facility is now in the hot testing phase of its newly installed low-pressure carburizing (LPC) and vacuum system, which is expected to start production in September.
  2. Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. welcomed Johan Vargas to its Mechanical Engineering team.
  3. Mike Stowe, senior energy engineer at Advanced Energy, recently won an ACEEE Champion of Energy Efficiency in Industry award in the industrial leadership category.
  4. Selas Heat Technology Co. announced that Burner Design and Controls (BDC) of Hazelwood, Mo. has joined their network of manufacturers’ representatives. BDC will be handling Selas burners, valves, mixers, and control components serving customers in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Southern Illinois.
  5. The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) recently gathered for its annual meeting in St. Pete Beach, FL, where the National Board of Directors and Executive Officers met in person. The leading Board of Directors consisted of both continuing and new members. Scott Bishop of Alabama Power – Southern Company serves as president; Jeff Valuck of Surface Combustion, Inc. as vice president; Brian Kelly of Honeywell Thermal Solutions as treasurer and Michael Stowe of Advanced Energy serves as past president. Jason Safarz returns to the IHEA Board of Directors as a regional sales manager at Karl Dungs, Inc. Jeff Rafter, vice president of sales and marketing with Selas Heat Technology Co., joins the IHEA Board of Directors this year. Continuing their service for 2021–2022: Gary Berwick, Dry Coolers; Alberto Cantu, Nutec Bickley; Bob Fincken, Super Systems, Inc.; Doug Glenn, ; Francis Liebens, SOLO Swiss Group; John Podach, Fostoria Infrared; and John Stanley, Karl Dungs, Inc.
  6. The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) acknowledges their current committee chairpersons on the IHEA Committees and Divisions: Government Relations Committee led by Jeff Valuck, Surface Combustion, Inc.; Safety Standards and Codes Committee led by Kevin Carlisle, Karl Dungs, Inc.; Education Committee led by Brian Kelly, Honeywell Thermal Solutions; Marketing Communication & Membership Committee led by Erik Klingerman, Industrial Heating The Infrared Division is chaired by Scott Bishop, Alabama Power – Southern Company; and the Induction Division is chaired by Michael Stowe, Advanced Energy.
  7. Alvis Eimuss, head of Customer Support at CENOS, presented the company’s most recent software, CENOS Induction Heating simulation software’s version 3.0 at a webinar titled, “Webinar: CENOS 3.0 release”.

Kudos Chatter

  1. Braddock Metallurgical announced that they achieved the renewal of Nadcap accreditation at their Bridgewater, Boynton Beach, and Jacksonville locations. Additionally, Braddock Metallurgical earned the special Nadcap recognition of Merit.
  2. Solar Atmospheres – Souderton, PA announces that it has been awarded Nadcap 24-month Merit status for heat treating, brazing and carburizing.
  3. Metallurgical Processing, Inc. in New Britain, CT has achieved two-year Merit status with PRI/Nadcap with 10 checklists ranging from Aluminum, Ion Nitride, Vacuum Furnace Brazing and Carburize among others.
  4. The Bodycote team in Berlin, CT completed a three-day Nadcap audit for electron beam welding, maintaining their Merit status for a further two years.
  5.  Bodycote teams at Silao, Romulus, and Canton Haggerty were awarded the Supplier Quality Excellence Award from General Motors for their work in 2020.
  6. Isostatic Pressing Services, LLC successfully completed the PRI evaluation process, becoming Nadcap certified for various criteria including AC7102/6 and AC7102/8 Rev A among others.
  7. Thermal-Vac Technology has been nominated and asked to take part in the Orange County Business Journal’s celebration of the 22nd annual Family-Owned Business Award.
  8. Allied Mineral Products of Columbus, Ohio celebrates its 60th anniversary in August 2021.
  9. SECO/WARWICK, a Polish company with American roots, was awarded a prize at the USA-Central Eastern Europe Investment Summit & Awards, one of the key events summing up the economic partnership between the U.S. and the Central Eastern European region. The award for the Most Successful Expansion was accepted by Sławomir Wozniak, the president of SECO/WARWICK Group
  10. The European Steel Technology Platform (ESTEP) reconfirmed Roberto Pancaldi, Tenova CEO, as member of the Board of Directors in the position of vice president. Enrico Malfa, Tenova R&D Director, was appointed member of the Clean Steel Partnership’s Board at ESTEP

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 bethany@heattreattoday.com.

 

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8 Heat Treaters Improve Processes with Simulation Software

/ FEATURED NEWS, INDUCTION HEATING EQUIPMENT TECHNICAL CONTENT, INDUCTION HEATING TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT

Source: CENOS

Heat Treat Today brings you this best of the web content to highlight how 8 companies have been using simulation in their heat treat processes. In the article, the companies attest to saved time and costs as well as the benefits of visualizing accurate results. Check it out!

An excerpt:

[blockquote author=”CENOS” style=”1″]Old coil design failed and started leaking after 20,000 shots, while the redesigned coil is still running after 122,000 shots – more than five-fold improvement of the coil lifetime. By summing all of the benefits of the simulation software adoption in the engineering routine of the plant, Kevin got a 9% increase of the overall equipment efficiency (OEE).[/blockquote]

Read More: “8 Stories on How Computer Simulation Helped Companies to Improve Induction Heating in 2020”

 

 

All images provided by CENOS.

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Simulation of Induction Heating of Steel Billets for Forging

/ FEATURED NEWS, FORGING TECHNICAL CONTENT, INDUCTION HEATING TECHNICAL CONTENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

This article was written by Dr. Vadims Geza, chief scientist at CENOS. More information on CENOS Platform can be found here.

Induction is becoming an increasingly popular choice for heating steel billets prior to forging due to its ability to create high heat intensity quickly and within a billet, which leads to low process-cycle time (high productivity) with repeatable high quality, occupying minimal space on the shop floor. It is more energy-efficient and inherently more environmentally friendly than most other heat sources for steel billets.

In this article, the author demonstrates a simulation example on how to optimize a progressive induction heating system for a steel billet. The method used is CENOS Platform, a 3D simulation software which focuses specifically on induction heating and uses open source components and algorithms.

CENOS platform is capable of simulating various types of induction heating for forging. It is possible to simulate both static heating and progressive heating where the billet is moved through the coil with constant velocity. In accomplishing this simulation, coil design is not a limitation: both single coil and multi-coil are possible to simulate. Besides the coil, it is also possible to simulate any material and frequency.

The functional performance of the software

CENOS is a finite element method-based, computer-aided engineering desktop software for 2D and 3D physical process simulation and computational modeling of induction heating, induction hardening, brazing, annealing and tempering of steel, aluminum, copper, and other materials.

The simulation process consists of three steps:

  • Choose the workpiece geometry (from built-in templates or create your own CAD file).

  • Define induction heating parameters (frequency, voltage, time, etc.).

  • Run 2D or 3D simulation of your choice.

At the conclusion, results like temperature and magnetic field are displayed in 3D renderings, plots, and more. Apparent power, induced heat, and inductance are logged into an Excel file.

3D Simulation example—comparison of two heating systems

In the simulation, two systems under consideration—two-stage and three-stage systems—in the progressive heating of the billet. The target for the simulation was to reach 2192°F (1200°C) ± 122°F (50°C). To check both systems, the user has to create set up for both of them, set physical parameters (material properties, frequency, current, etc.), and start the simulation.

After the simulation is done, the user will have access to different output variables, including:

  • Temperature distribution
  • Current density and Joule heat distribution
  • Magnetic field lines
  • Total, reactive and apparent power
  • Inductance of the coil
  • Coil current, voltage

In our example of billet heating, it is possible to compare both cases and the output.

 

It is observable how a three-stage system can decrease power consumption and increase the production rate for this specific case. It is also possible to plot the distribution of temperature, Joule heat, magnetic field, etc. Resulting temperature distribution in the billet across the radius is shown in Figure 1. As can be seen, better temperature homogeneity is obtained in the three-stage system.

Figure 1. Temperature distribution along the billet radius at the outlet of the heating system

 

Figure 2. Temperature distribution in the long billet during scanning (progressive) induction heating.

Figure 2 shows how different systems lead to different temperature distribution. In the two-stage system, the temperature required for forging is reached with shorter coils, thus also with smaller scanning speed. This leads to worsened temperature uniformity and smaller production rates. On the other hand, the three-stage system heater gradually increases the temperature of the billet and the resulting temperature difference between core and surface is smaller.

Platform users are free to change all the input parameters and assemble the system of any number of stages required for their process.

Should the same system need to be used for scanning of shorter billets where end effects play a more significant role, it is possible to set up a simulation with a moving billet. An example of temperature dynamics in such simulation are shown in GIF images below:

A simulation with a moving billet in a two-stage system.

A simulation with a moving billet in a three-stage system.

 

Simulation helps make better decisions for production set-up and planning

As demonstrated in the simulation example, it is possible to compare two different systems and get results. The scope and variety of different simulations are unlimited; it all depends on what problem the user wants to solve:

  • Dr. Vadims Geza

    Heating system design—to optimize induction heating performance, improve product quality, and avoid unpleasant surprises related to subsurface overheating

  • The selection of power, frequency, and coil length in induction billet heating applications

  • The selection of right forging temperatures for plain carbon and alloy steels to avoid possible damage by incipient melting or overheating.

 

 

Main Photo Image via CENOS, courtesy of efd-induction.com

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