Roger Jones

How Medical Device Alloys Are Heat Treated

/ FEATURED NEWS, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT, MEDICAL HEAT TREAT NEWS, TITANIUM PROCESSING TECHNICAL CONTENT, VACUUM FURNACES TECHNICAL CONTENT

Roger Jones, FASM–CEO Emeritus, Solar Atmospheres (source: Solar Atmospheres)

Heat Treat Today’s Medical and Heat Treating December 2019 issue featured an article on medical alloys.  Heat Treat Today asked Roger Jones, CEO Emeritus of Solar Atmospheres, Inc., to comment on how specialty medical metals are heat treated. These include titanium, niobium, tantalum, nitinol, and copper, to name a few, which in turn are used to create such standard medical devices and equipment as diagnostic guide wires, miniscule screws for implants, complex surgical tools that are operated robotically, and more. Read to see how Roger describes the hot zone and conditions under which medical device alloys are heat treated.

To read the full article to which Roger Jones’ comments pertain, go to Medical Alloys Their Uses and Heat Treatments

Vacuum furnace chambers processing titanium, niobium, chrome cobalt, and other medical device alloys are typically constructed from stainless steel. The hot zones are comprised entirely of metal (moly); graphite materials are never used in the construction of the hot zone or in fixturing parts. These furnaces process medical device alloys exclusively to avoid cross-contamination of the hot zone or the medical parts being treated.

Ultimate vacuum levels should be 1 X 10-6 Torr or better, with leak rates no greater than 2 microns Hg per hour. Gas system isolation valves aid in achieving tight vacuum, as they eliminate constant pumping on the quench system. Vacuum furnace leak up procedures are performed weekly, as well as a bake out at 2400 °F for one hour.

Horizontal, front-loading vacuum furnace with all-metal hot zone in a cleanroom setting typically used for heat treatment of medical alloys and devices (source: Solar Atmosphere)

Because of the alloys processed, cooling gases are mainly high purity argon from a liquid source. Very seldom is nitrogen used for cooling. Either type K or type N Inconel clad work thermocouples are imbedded in the loads for precise temperature readouts at +/- 10 °F or better. Processes include vacuum annealing, aging, stress relieving, solution treating, hardening, tempering, and other special processing. All furnaces are approved to the MedAccred quality standard, are surveyed to AMS 2750E, and comply with AS9100D in their processing parameters. Because the alloys are thermally treated, the vacuum furnaces operate in an air conditioned clean room with controlled temperatures and humidity levels.

To read the full article to which Roger Jones’ comments pertain, go to Medical Alloys Their Uses and Heat Treatments

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Solar Manufacturing and Bucks County PA Officials Participate in Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

/ EQUIPMENT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

Three generations of the Jones family. This picture taken just moments before the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony shows (l-r) Trevor Jones, CEO of Solar Manufacturing; Trevor’s grandfather, William R. Jones, CEO of the Solar Group of Companies; and Trevor’s father, Roger A. Jones, President of Solar Atmospheres (retired).

William and Myrtle Jones were recently joined by a group of key Solar Manufacturing employees including Roger Jones and Trevor Jones at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company’s new manufacturing site in Sellersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Speaking at the ceremony in addition to William Jones was Sellersville Borough mayor Thomas C. Hufnagle, Gorski Construction president Jerry Gorski, Bucks County Industrial Development Authority chairwoman Mary Smithson, and Bucks County Board of Commissioners chairman Robert Loughery. Employees moved into the newly constructed 59,000 square foot facility in early October on land vacated by AMETEK in 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

Gorski Construction president Jerry Gorski; Myrtle Jones; CEO of Solar Group William Jones, Solar Manufacturing CEO Trevor Jones; Sellersville mayor Thomas C. Hufnagle; Solar Manufacturing president Jim Nagy; and retired president of Solar Atmospheres Roger Jones.

"It is important that we invest in our communities,” explained CEO William Jones. “When AMETEK left, they left more than a couple of vacant lots. It’s our goal to grow and support the local economy.”

Jim Nagy, president of Solar Manufacturing, gave the local dignitaries a tour of the facility including a shop floor filling up with equipment being transferred in from the company’s previous manufacturing locations.

The company plans to hold an open house event in the first or second quarter of 2020 once the dust has settled on the new construction and employees have had a chance to acclimate to their new surroundings.

In the video below, Gorski Construction president Jerry Gorski presents a shovel to William Jones, representing the groundbreaking of the new location.

 

 

 

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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

  • 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.

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ASM International Developing Stronger Relationships

/ HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

ASM Leadership Visits Solar Atmospheres & Solar Manufacturing
Pictured left to right: Jim Nagy, President, Solar Manufacturing; Don Jordan, FASM, Vice President/Corporate Metallurgist, Solar Atmospheres; Bill Mahoney, Managing Director, ASM International; Fred Schmidt, Vice President, ASM; Ron Aderhold, Associate Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, ASM; Rachel Stewart, Student Board Trustee, ASM; Jamie Jones, VP of Operations, Solar Atmospheres; Roger Jones, Corporate President, Solar Atmospheres. Photo Courtesy: Solar Atmospheres

Souderton, PA – ASM International visited Solar Atmospheres on Wednesday, March 22 to renew stronger relationships with supporting companies, and to gain a better understanding of Solar’s commitment and involvement with ASM.  Managing Director, Bill Mahoney, along with Ron Aderhold, ASM Associate Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, Fred Schmidt, ASM Vice President, and Rachel Stewart, Student Board Trustee, met with representatives from Solar and toured the facility.

ASM presented firsthand information on the objectives and progress of the ASM renewal, spearheaded by Mahoney.  Some of the objectives are pursuing an easier renewal process, developing stronger relations with affiliate societies, improving professional development, and developing a culture of excellence within the headquarters at Materials Park, OH.

Solar Atmospheres came away from this meeting with a high level of confidence with the new team at ASM Materials Park, and we are encouraged with the early results from the renewal deployments, and Solar offers complete support of the program for the betterment of the society.

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