Quintus Technologies

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 Chatter

• Tom Spicer recently joined Gasbarre Industrial Furnace Systems (OEM of J.L. Becker brand equipment) as a Field Service Technician. Tom brings over 20 years of industry experience to the Plymouth, Michigan, company, having previously worked with OEMs assembling and servicing equipment and in maintenance at a commercial heat treat facility.
• Changes at DANTE: The month of May saw the transition of Dan Londrico and Stefan Habean from intern to staff engineer. Charlie Li moved from Vice President to President of the company, and Lynn Ferguson became Emeritus. Edward Lee, a mechanical engineering student at The Ohio State University, joined the DANTE team as an intern.
• Sławomir Woźniak has been appointed by the Supervisory Board at the SECO/WARWICK Group to the role of President of the Management Board. The new President has been appointed for the same period as the joint term of the new Management Board, which spans the next three full financial years.
• Ajax TOCCO Magnethermic / Emmedi would like to congratulate Don Gibeaut on his election to Chairman of the North American Management Board of Directors (NAMB) for the International Tube Association (ITA). Don is the product manager for ATM’s Tubular Products Division.
• A materials technology engineering group recently completed a partial acquisition of a provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) services and advanced end-use components. Sandvik acquired a 30% stake in privately owned Beam IT, which supplies metal AM end components to demanding industries, including automotive, energy and aerospace, and holds several relevant quality certifications to serve these industries.
• A new hot isostatic press (HIP) has been delivered and installed at Paulo’s Cleveland Division. The furnace was built by Quintus Technologies. The 30,000-sqft expansion to house the HIP vessel is complete and will provide the Cleveland Division room for additional expansion to support customer needs.
• GE Additive recently announced that the company has made a significant investment in its electron beam melting (EBM) technology, with the purchase of an additional 17 A2X systems and 10 Spectra H systems. Avio Aero, a GE Aviation company, currently operates a fleet of 35 Arcam machines at its recently expanded site in Cameri, Italy. The additional EBM systems will be installed at GE Aviation and Avio Aero facilities in the US and Europe and will be used primarily for the production of titanium aluminide (TiAl) blades on the low-pressure turbine for the GE9X engine.
• Metal Exchange Corporation (MEC), headquartered in St. Louis, MO, is forming a new joint venture with Novellini Industries Srl in Mantova, Italy. Called novALmec, the newly formed company will supply aluminum billet capacity to the European market.

Equipment Chatter

• An automotive supplier recently ordered a nitrocarburizing furnace for a new component line for a major carmaker. SECO/WARWICK commissioned the high-volume, horizontal retort furnaces, which will allow the customer to produce parts for North American suppliers. In addition to ferritic nitrocarburizing, the furnaces can provide clean, stress relief processing.
• Four atmosphere controlled, aluminum coil annealing furnaces, which will be used to anneal automotive body stock and common alloy sheet coils, have been ordered by a leading U.S. aluminum producer from Consolidated Engineering Company.
• A quench tank has been installed by Baker Furnace, a division of Thermal Product Solutions, for a supplier in the heat treatment industry. The customer had two quench tanks and three drop bottom furnaces and needed the third quench tank in order to optimize quench loads per day.

Kudos Chatter

• During the 2019 CCAI Annual Meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina, the Chemical Coaters Association International held their annual awards ceremony to recognize the CCAI Chapter Users and Suppliers of the Year and announce the 2019 James F. & David J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The 2018-19 Chapter Award winners are: Central States Chapter – Frank Laster, A-1 Paint Powder and Sandblasting LLC and Ron Cudzilo, George Koch Sons LLC; Georgia Chapter – Wayne Pettyjohn, Georgia Power Company; Las Vegas Chapter – Tony Sclafani, AR Iron, LLC and Sercy Spears, TIGER Drylac, Inc. USA; Northern Illinois Chapter – Matt Ambrose, Henkel Corporation; Salt Lake City Chapter – Ginny Phommavongsay, Martin Door Mfg.; Southern California Chapter – Shivie Dhillon, Sundial Powder Coating, Tony Sclafani, AR Iron, LLC and Luis Hernandez, Coral Chemical Co.; Twin Cities Chapter – Mark Walsworth, Retired and Jim Henningsen, Troy Chemical; West Michigan Chapter – In memory of Herb Knape, Knape Industries Inc., and Jason Meekof, Industrial Metal Cleaning; and Wisconsin Chapter – Justin Jarmuz, Wacker Neuson Corp. and Matt Roeser, DuBois Chemical Co.
• During the July 9^th Collier County Board of County Commissioners meeting, Pelican Wire was named the Collier County ‘Business of the Month’ and was recognized by the Board for being a manufacturing leader in Collier County for over forty years.
• On July 11th, Solar Atmospheres hosted 28 high school students enrolled in the Summer Engineering Institute (SEI) at Lehigh University. The group also included a few members of Lehigh University undergraduate students and staff. The SEI program, under the guidance of Director Dr. Laura Moyer, is a two-week residential program, running two sessions back to back. Students are nominated by faculty of local high schools, and the program specifically targets under-represented groups including girls, first-generation students, and students who might otherwise have limited opportunities to study in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

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

• Diane C. Creel was recently announced as independent Board Chair at Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) upon the retirement of Executive Chairman Richard J. Harshman.
• A global company specializing in the manufacture of flow measurement instrumentation was recently acquired by The TASI Group. Sierra Instruments is comprised of two divisions: FLOW, headquartered in Monterey, California, and AUTO, headquartered in Malvern, United Kingdom. The FLOW Division manufactures mass flow meters and flow controllers for gas, liquid, or steam application. The AUTO Division builds complex, custom, integrated test facilities, and world-class engine and vehicle test automation systems.
• StandardAero Component Services facility, located in Prahova, Romania, expanded its manufacturing capacity from 32,000 sq. ft. to 43,000 sq. ft. and also recently exceeded over 200,000 gate valves processed with High-Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) coatings.
• A multi-year contract has been signed between American privately-funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company, Blue Origin, and Constellium N.V., to support their launch vehicle programs. This contract is a new milestone in a successful collaboration between the two companies for the supply of high-performance Airware® products. Under this agreement, Constellium is to supply Airware® aluminum plates and sheets for Blue Origin’s massive orbital rocket, New Glenn.

 Equipment Chatter

• A state-of-the-art hot isostatic press (HIP) with Uniform Rapid Quenching (URQ®) will introduce a new quality benchmark for the FIT Additive Manufacturing Group. Coming online in September 2019 in FIT’s main facility in Lupburg, Germany, the press from Quintus Technologies will enable the additive manufacturing (AM) specialist to boost productivity while responding to the heightened industrial requirements for 3D printed metal series parts.
• A global manufacturer of cutting tools has purchased an additional vacuum temper furnace from Pennsylvania-based SECO/VACUUM, for its North American manufacturing operations. The new furnace, which will be used for tempering and stress relieving metal parts, is part of the company’s growing manufacturing expansion and complements another commissioned earlier in 2019 at this facility.

Kudos Chatter

• Electro Tech Machining – Carbon and Graphite Innovation, which serves the heat treating industry among others, recently announced the launch of its new website: http://www.etmgraphite.com
• Dana Incorporated has been named Outstanding Thermal Management Solutions Supplier of the Year by the China Decision Makers Consultancy (CDMC) for its work in 2018.
• AMETEK SMP Superior Tube, a leading manufacturer of small diameter precision metal tubing for the aerospace and defense industries as well as other sectors, has announced two successful reaccreditations from Nadcap. Superior Tube met all Nadcap’s requirements based on the exacting standards around heat treating and welding/brazing.
• Franck Adjogble and Wolfgang Spies, both SMS group engineers, received the AIST James Farrington Award 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for their work entitled “Holistic Approach of High Quality Flat Steel Production – Dynamic Production Scheduling in Respect to Process Quality, Control System and Plant Condition”.

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

A company that specializes in the design, manufacture, installation, and support of high-pressure solutions recently supplied a Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) to a leading heat treating equipment manufacturer.

Paulo will add hot isostatic pressing to its thermal processing services with the HIP acquisition from Quintus Technologies, which is headquartered in Västerås, Sweden. The press, model QIH 122 M URC®, is equipped with Quintus’ proprietary uniform rapid cooling (URC), a feature that improves material properties in additive manufacturing and investment casting.

“We see the market for HIP expanding, with a large part attributed to additive manufacturing,” said Scott Herzing, Paulo Vice President Engineering. “We have the leading material knowledge and process expertise to help our customers in this area. The ability to combine HIP and heat treatment will allow us to offer one-stop-shop thermal processing solutions, with faster turnaround times.”

The HIP, which operates at a maximum temperature of 2,552°F (1,400°C) and a maximum pressure of 30,000 psi (2,070 bar), will be installed in Paulo’s recently expanded Cleveland Division in Willoughby, Ohio, which provides brazing and vacuum heat treatment services.

Paulo and Quintus Technologies have also entered into a marketing agreement where the two companies will partner in educating the industry on the use of the HPHT process.

“Paulo was very intrigued by our ability to offer a complete partnership: the system itself, the Quintus Care program including application support, and the marketing agreement,” said Jan Söderström, CEO of Quintus Technologies. “With this partnership, they see the possibility to enter the market in the best possible way.”

“Working with a market-leading company like Quintus is a good fit for Paulo,” says Herzing. “This partnership will allow us to continue to do what we have always done, help our customers succeed.”

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

• Julien Noel has been named Vice President / General Manager of the Buehler worldwide division. ITW Test and Measurement Group President, Yahya Gharagozlou, made the announcement. Buehler is an ITW Company which manufactures scientific equipment and consumables for materials analysis.
• A fourth vacuum aluminum brazing (VAB) furnace has been purchased by California Brazing, a Newark, California, heat treating company in order to expand the capability to service the aerospace sector.
• Solar Atmospheres recently awarded the title of CEO Emeritus to Roger A. Jones, FASM. The honorary title was conferred by the company and announces his semi-retirement as Solar Atmospheres’ CEO, the culmination of 45 years of leadership and service to the vacuum heat treating industry.
• A refractories supplier’s recently established partnership will result in the full-service distribution of the company’s products and services throughout several European countries. The Plibrico Company and Pli Group Europe GmbH, a highly experienced refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria, have entered into a new value-added distribution partnership will cover Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
• The world’s largest aerospace company, the Boeing Company recently acquired Embraer SA, the commercial aircraft arm of a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, in a new $4.75 billion joint venture.

Equipment Chatter

• Seven Gruenberg Glassware drying ovens were recently shipped to a university in the U.S. Midwest by Thermal Product Solutions, a manufacturer of thermal-processing equipment based in New Columbia, Pennsylvania.
• A furnace equipment company based in Erie, Pennsylvania, recently designed and manufactured a front-loading forge furnace for a leading North American forging company. The furnace built by Onex, Inc., is one of the largest of its kind in North America with workspace dimensions measuring 26ft (W) x 20ft (D) x 14ft (H).
• A heat treating services provider in the U.S. Northwest recently purchased a Meg-HIP hot isostatic press for heat treating and metal processing. Västerås, Sweden-based, Quintus Technologies installed the system at Stack Metallurgical Group in Albany, Oregon.

Kudos Chatter

• Thermal-Vac Technology, Inc. has been awarded a 2018 Top Workplaces honor by The Orange County Register. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by research partner. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.
• AK Steel recently announced that it has accepted an award of up to $1.2 million from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office program to investigate novel low-density steels in the laboratory, which could ultimately be used in automotive structural applications. The three-year project will be conducted in collaboration with DOE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Materials Science and Technology Division, and the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center in the Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.  The objective of the project is to conduct alloy design, laboratory validation, and testing of low-density steels that are alternatives to currently available advanced high strength steels and other lightweight metals.

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.

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

• A Berwick, Pennsylvania, machining company which offers heat treating among its services was recently acquired by precision machining provider DPMS, based in Santa Clara, California. K-Fab Inc. operates a 22,000-sq.-ft. precision machine shop that manufactures parts for the aerospace, defense, and semiconductor sectors.
• GKN Powder Metallurgy recently announced a strategic collaboration with HP Inc, becoming the first to deploy the just-launched HP Metal Jet, a groundbreaking binder jetting technology, into its factories to produce functional metal parts for auto and industrial leaders, including Volkswagen and Wilo, and for companies around the world.
• Joshua Farrell recently took over the Operations Manager position at Mid-South Metallurgical, based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Equipment Chatter

• California-based Delta H Technologies, LLC, recently delivered a commissioned dual chamber aerospace heat treating system — the largest and most advanced to date — to a leading U.S. military aircraft manufacturer. Both chambers are certified for heating parts up to 1200°F and capable of solution heat treating, aging, annealing aluminum, stress relieving titanium and ferrous castings, weldments, and aging of PH stainless steel.
• An auto parts manufacturer recently received shipment of a customized oxidation nitriding furnace, manufactured by JGEF Furnace, a vacuum heat treating  equipment supplier with U.S. offices in San Francisco, California. The pit furnace, which has useful dimensions of 43.3 inches (1,100 mm) in diameter x 70.9 inches (1,800 mm) high, has a maximum temperature rating of 1292°F (700°C). The goal for this project was to represent an advanced solution for metallic parts. The furnace includes an advanced oxidation system that ensures the workpieces are preheated in a controlled oxidizing atmosphere and guarantees corrosion resistance, which in turn facilitates nitrogen uptake and growth of the nitride compound layer.
• A large capacity fastener hardening furnace system has been commissioned by a tier one automotive supplier based in Detroit, Michigan. CAN-ENG Furnaces International Ltd has been contracted to design and commission the system for the company, which offers heat treating among its services.
• A large capacity SECO/Warwick vacuum furnace was delivered to U.K.-based Wallwork Heat Treatment company just before Christmas.

Kudos Chatter

• America Makes recently announced the awardees of a Directed Project Opportunity on advancing additive manufacturing (AM) post-processing techniques (AAPT), funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Manufacturing and Industrial Base Technology Division. Awardee #1 is Arizona State University, in conjunction with Quintus Technologies; Phoenix Heat Treating, Inc.; and Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. Awardee #2 is ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE), a collaborative, which includes ASTM International, Auburn University, EWI, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wichita State University – National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), in conjunction with Quintus Technologies, Carpenter Technologies Corporation, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Rolls Royce Corporation, Honeywell Aerospace, GE Aviation, and Raytheon.
• Paulo recently announced the recent addition of the St. Louis Division to the approved heat treat sources list for General Motors High-Pressure Die Casting Die Insert Material. The approval list references AWQ49658 which includes the heat treatment specifications for Hot Work Tool Steels for GM High-Pressure Die Casting applications.  The St. Louis Division joins Paulo’s Nashville plant on the approval list, which includes only seven approved locations in the US. AWQ49657 covers approved material providers, heat treaters, and testing labs. Paulo is the only US source with two facilities on the list.
• Nominations are open for the ASM HTS/Surface Combustion Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes an outstanding early-to-midcareer heat treating professional whose accomplishments exhibit exceptional achievements in the heat treating industry. The award was created in recognition of Surface Combustion’s 100-year anniversary in 2015. The winning young professional will best exemplify the ethics, education, ingenuity, and future leadership of our industry. Deadline for the nomination is February 1, 2019. Past winners include Olga Rowan of Caterpillar in 2015 and Lee Rothleutner of Timken in 2017. For nomination rules and forms, visit the Heat Treating Society website at hts.asminternational.org and click on Membership & Networking and Society Awards.

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.

A leader in high pressure technology headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, recently commissioned hot isostatic presses for development and production of high-performance AM components in high-performance car and aviation applications as well as demanding applications within the aerospace, automotive, and energy sectors.

Quintus Technologies, which specializes in the design, manufacture, installation, and support of high pressure systems for sheet metal forming and densification of advanced materials and critical industrial components, supplied a Quintus HIP to Pankl Racing Systems in their new Pankl Additive Manufacturing Competence Center (PAMCC) in Kapfenberg, Austria.

The QIH48 will complement Pankl’s heat treatment facilities for HIP post-treatment. The PAMCC is an initiative of Pankl Racing Systems in collaboration with Voestalpine/Böhler Edelstahl, EOS and Quintus Technologies.

“As market leaders in our industry, we need the best equipment and best partners for our advanced AM production,” said Stefan Seidel, CTO of Pankl Racing Systems.

“High-speed, high-tech, high-quality–we are impressed with this commitment of Pankl to their customers and their own objectives and happy to become part of their effort to broaden the application fields for AM in the racing car industry,” said Jan Söderström, CEO of Quintus Technologies.

“Quintus’ capability to deliver an easy-to-install, compact HIP system in a very fast time is very important for rolling out our AM strategy and business plan. We are looking forward to adding the Quintus HIP to our production portfolio,” said Wolfgang Plasser, CEO of Pankl Racing Systems.

Pankl Racing Systems specializes in developing and manufacturing engine and drivetrain components for racing cars, high-performance vehicles, and the aerospace industry.

In addition, the Center for Engineering and Industrial Development (CIDESI) in Querétaro, Mexico, has purchased and installed a HIP system from Quintus Technologies®, the QIH-15L. CIDESI is one of Mexico’s top research and innovation organizations, playing a key role in helping the country’s industry generate technological breakthroughs as well as educate the next generation of engineers for future challenges. The Quintus HIP system installed at CIDESI features a work zone of 7.32 inches (186 mm) in diameter and 19.69 inches (500 mm) in height; an operating temperature of 2552° F (1400° C); and pressure of 207 MPa (30,000 psi).

“Quintus Technologies has for several years worked with universities and research institutes in the development of education in many research areas, in North America and globally. We are honored to have been selected by CIDESI to deliver this HIP system. It proves our commitment to deliver reliable HIP systems to this educational and specialized technological sector,” said Söderström.