H.C. Starck

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

  • The purchase of a producer of fixtures and parts in refractory alloys for heat treatment, steel, incineration, power generation, automotive, and aerospace industries was recently announced. The Safe-Cronite business unit of the Safe Group was purchased by its CEO Pierre Wittmann and a group of managers in partnership with investment funds driven by CICLAD.
  • The central laboratory of H.C. Starck, known until recently as H.C. Starck Analytical Services, announced it became an independent company with the name ChemiLytics GmbH & Co. KG. The new company will remain part of the H.C. Starck Group. The company is presented on its new webpage www.chemilytics.com to provide interested customers with an overview of the company, its core competencies, and service range.
  • Paulo, a supplier of heat-treating services for a wide range of industries headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, officially inaugurated its first plant outside the U.S., located at the GP Escobedo industrial park in the municipality of Escobedo, Nuevo Leon. The facility started operations earlier this year providing proprietary heat-treatment processes for the automotive industry in a 50,000 square-feet footprint which is expected to expand up to 110,000 sq.-ft as new equipment keeps coming into the plant in order to serve manufacturers of aerospace components and agriculture equipment, among others.
  • A leading producer of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum products Kaiser Aluminum Corporation recently announced that it has acquired Imperial Machine & Tool Co., a leader in multi-material additive manufacturing and machining technologies for aerospace and defense, automotive, high-tech, and general industrial applications.

Equipment Chatter

  • Ipsen USA recently announced several furnace shipments, including several TITAN® vacuum furnaces from the platform product line, several custom horizontal and vertical vacuum furnaces and multiple atmosphere box furnaces all designed to meet customers’ specifications. Many of these shipments also included PdMetrics® software for predictive maintenance.
  • Gasbarre recently designed, manufactured, and commissioned a large capacity gas-fired temper furnace for a major specialty alloy manufacturing company located in the Northeastern portion of the United States. The furnace is designed to temper workloads that are 32 feet wide by 6 feet long by 4 feet high and weigh up to 40,000 lbs. The furnace utilizes the latest design and control technologies to achieve excellent temperature uniformity (±10°F) across a wide temperature range (800°F to 1400°F)
  • A new Hot Isostatic Press will soon be in operation at Lake City Heat Treating, expanding their Hot Isostatic Press capabilities for the aerospace and medical industries. With a much larger capacity of 2,000 pounds per load, Lake City will be able to expand load sizes and meet customer turnaround requirements. The new press will be housed in their new 6,000 square foot addition.
  • Solar Atmospheres of Western PA recently commissioned a new 20-foot car bottom furnace that has a total load capacity of up to 30,000 pounds. The Class 2 furnace, built by John Becker’s Heat Treat Equipment Inc., located in Canton, Michigan, was installed and fully tested for the first time in Hermitage, PA. This new piece of equipment will serve to compliment Solar’s lower temperature work – especially where surface oxidation is of little concern. It will also be used to economically process many “downstream” processes, including multiple tempering operations, which typically follow vacuum austenitizing treatments.
  • Quintus Technologies supplied a hot-isostatic press to a Chinese manufacturer to complement the additive manufacturing capabilities at Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies Co., Ltd. BLT produces 3DP parts in titanium and aluminum alloys, superalloys, and stainless, die, and high-strength steels, for a range of industrial applications, including automotive engine and structural parts, aircraft engine and structural components, mold/die, energy, electronics, and other customer segments.

Kudos Chatter

  • Materion Corporation recently announced that the Society of Automotive Engineers – Aerospace Material Specification Nonferrous Alloys Committee (SAE-AMS) has approved AMS4369 specification for SupremEX® 225XF metal matrix composite (MMC) and AMS4379 for SupremEX 225XE MMC. This represents the second AMS specification for SupremEX 225XE and applies to the extruded form of the material. With the two recently added specifications, the company now has a total of four AMS specifications for its SupremEX line of products, allowing engineers to reference a national standard for material properties.
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute recently presented its 2018 Innovator of the Year Award to metallurgical pioneer Diran Apelian. The first WPI faculty member to receive the honor, Apelian is the founding director of WPI’s Metal Processing Institute, an internationally recognized researcher and educator, and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
  • ASM International recently recognized several members for achievement at its ASM Awards Banquet, held in Columbus, OH on October 16, 2018. In addition, ASM International Trustee-Elects have been selected to serve on the 2018-2019 ASM Board of Trustees. ASM International’s trustees are charged with acting in the best interests of the society’s membership and help to lead the governance of the society. The ASM officers and trustees were officially installed in office at ASM’s Annual Meeting on October 15, 2018, also in Columbus, OH. Details can be found at ASM International’s website: https://www.asminternational.org/membership/awards/photos
  • Kanfit Ltd., a leading manufacturer of assemblies and subassemblies for the aerospace industry, announced today that it has recently achieved Nadcap re-certification for chemical processing and heat treatment following thorough audits of the Performance Review Institute. Kanfit was awarded recertification of Chemical Processing and is qualified for full Nadcap merit status of 24 months. This means that the frequency between audits has been increased from 18 months to two years. Kanfit has been Nadcap accredited for chemical processing since 2013 and has been accredited by Nadcap for heat treating since 2008.
  • GE Aviation recently produced 30,000th 3D printed fuel nozzle at its Auburn, Alabama, plant.
  • Surface Combustion Inc., Maumee, Ohio, has recently updated its website, which provides details about its standard atmosphere and vacuum furnace designs. Not only is the website mobile friendly, but also thermal processing solutions on the product, industry, and process pages are easier to navigate.

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.

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Niobium C-103 Alloy Developed for Space Exploration

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS

 

Judson Humphrey

A global supplier of refractory technology metals and technical ceramics for multiple industries recently launched a unique niobium C-103 alloy for rocket and jet propulsion applications utilized in spacecraft and launch vehicles.

H.C. Starck’s Fabricated Products Division developed the advanced alloy with “resistance to high-frequency vibrations at cryogenic temperatures that occur in satellites and particularly high-performance rocket nozzle applications,” said Judson Humphrey, Market Director for Aerospace, Defense and Government for the Fabricated Products Division.

Andreas Mader

“H.C. Starck‘s niobium C-103 alloy is part of our alloy development program to extend our fabricated products portfolio allowing customers to take advantage of the unique characteristics of our alloyed materials,” said Andreas Mader, CEO of the Fabricated Products Division. “We are working with customers in space exploration to design the highest quality and performance products with the prospects of more advanced space exploration in mind.”

 

 

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

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A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

 

 

 

A Baker's Dozen 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 Changes and Moves

  • Super Systems Europe recently announced that Rob Wilcox has joined the sales and engineering team, where he will also operate as a general consultant to help commercial and captive heat treaters improve the quality and efficiency of the entire operation, covering the UK and Ireland.
  • Brian Robbins, CEO of MidWest Materials, has been named Steel Man of the Year by the Association of Steel Distributors. "I am honored to be chosen for this prestigious award. My family has been associated with the steel industry for more than 65 years, and it is humbling to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather, Joseph Koppelman, founder of MidWest Materials, who was one of the earliest members of the ASD and served as its president 50 years ago," said Robbins, who served as president of ASD from March 2014 to April 2016. He led the association’s effort to rebuild the steel manufacturing sector by encouraging young talent to join the industry.
  • Ryan Kelly recently rejoined the team at Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) where he will be leading all quality initiatives as a senior quality specialist.
  • Senior Vice President Douglas Matthews has assumed day-to-day operations of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel’s Tubular division. He replaces David J. Rintoul, who retired to become the president and CEO of GrafTech, a graphite company that supplies technology to the steel industry.

  • Dana Incorporated announced the election of two more members to its board of directors: Michael J. Mack, who recently retired from Deere & Co., where he had served as chief financial officer; president of the company's Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division; and most recently as group president of John Deere Financial Services, Global Human Resources, and Public Affairs; and Diarmuid B. O'Connell, who spent the last 11 years at Tesla, most recently as vice president of business development.
  • International Thermal Systems (ITS) recently announced Tom Stricker as the new president. Stricker joined ITS in 2015 as the general manager of the Metal Packaging and Parts Washer product groups and brings more than 20 years of professional experience to his new role.
  • Herbert J. “Hawk” Carlisle has been elected to the Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) board of directors. General Carlisle is president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and is a retired four-star general from the United States Air Force (USAF).

Equipment Transactions

  • A supplier of the battery industry received shipment of a nine tube gas-fired immersion tube lead melting and holding furnace from Lindberg/MPH, to be used in the production of lead plates for automotive batteries. The furnace has over 28,000 square inches of heat transfer area for efficient heating of the metal without super heating and the resulting metal losses. In addition, Lindberg/MPH announced the shipment of a three-zone tube furnace to an American University with a footprint which makes it ideal for research facilities with limited space. The maximum temperature rating for this tube furnace is 2012°F.
  • Ipsen recently designed and built a vertical, high-pressure quenching furnace, complete with twin cooling systems and a work volume of 350 cubic feet. During the testing phase, the furnace quenched with 1,000 horsepower (.75 megawatts) – a remarkable achievement that began as an idea just months prior.
  • An aviation engine repair services facility located in the western region of the United States recently received shipment of two vacuum furnaces from Solar Manufacturing. The customer witnessed full testing at Solar Manufacturing and approved shipment in late 2017. Both new furnaces are tailored specifically to fit the needs of aerospace engine component repair processing to the aerospace specification AMS2750E and incorporate the new SolarVac® 5000 supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA). The system provides gas quench rate control utilizing a variable frequency drive and precise temperature control from ambient to 2400° F (1316° C) utilizing digital power trimming technology.
  • An aluminum manufacturer received shipment of two electrically heated standard horizontal aluminum quench systems from Wisconsin Oven Corp., of East Troy, Wisconsin. The systems guarantee temperature uniformity of ±10°F at 775°F and 1075°F, ensuring that the furnaces meet AMS 2750E, Class 2 furnaces and Instrumentation Type C requirements. Each system is designed to heat 1000 pounds of aluminum to a 950°F operating temperature.

Accreditations, Certifications, Patents, and More

  • MedAccred has recognized Solar Atmospheres of Western PA for its commitment to continual improvement in medical device heat treat and brazing quality. In receiving the prestigious MedAccred Heat Treating accreditation, Solar Atmospheres has become only the eighth plant internationally and the fifth plant domestically to receive this certification.
  • H.C. Starck recently announced that it has received the certification for processing of “conflict-free” tantalum raw materials the seventh year in a row. The audit included the H.C. Starck Tantalum and Niobium GmbH subsidiary and the H.C. Starck Smelting GmbH & Co. KG associated company. This means all subsidiaries that process tantalum at the Goslar, Mito, Tokyo, Map Ta Phut, and Laufenburg locations remain certified. The audit was performed by the independent company SGS, acting on behalf of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA, formerly Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition EICC) and the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP formerly Conflict-Free Smelter Program) as part of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI, formerly CFSI).

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Sophisticated All-Metal Hot Zone Delivered

/ FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

A uniquely engineered, high-temperature refractory metal hot zone has been delivered by the furnace division of an international supplier of refractory technology metals and technical ceramics to one of its furnace customers. The engineering team of the German manufacturing firm H.C. Starck fabricated a 1600°C hot zone designed to operate in a vacuum, with certain inert gases or in a reducing atmosphere. By simulating the temperature of each layer, it was ensured that the proper materials were applied throughout the hot zone.

 ”H.C. Starck is excited to deliver the first of its kind refractory metal hot zone,” said Andreas Mader, President and CEO of the Fabricated Products Division. Supplying growth industrial sectors such as the electronics sector, the chemical industry, medical technology, aviation and aerospace, energy and environmental technology, and machine and tool building from its own production locations in Europe, America, and Asia, the company employs 2,500 people in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, China, Japan and Thailand.

 

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