SECO/WARWICK Archives

Heat Treat Educational Opportunities

In the wake of COVID-19, suppliers and manufacturers in the heat treat industry has found ways to educate and convene with one another using digital classes, seminars, conferences and more. This Heat Treat Learning article highlights some of the most prominent events which you can attend from your home or office. The list features events by date.

If you have attended or will be attending an online event, please consider emailing the editors at editor@heattreattoday.com or bethany@heattreattoday.com to share your impressions of the event value.

Classes and Webinars

Fractography and Fracture Analysis: History and Development: Tuesday July 28, 2020, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

(photo source: Wynn Pointaux from Pixabay.com)

This free webinar will explore the background of fractography and fracture analysis with Daniel Grice, P.E. Senior Engineer and Larry D. Hanke, P.E., FASM, Principal Engineer Materials Evaluation and Engineering Inc. The event, supported by ASM International, is intended to help anyone who is interested in learning more about material behavior. Read more and register here.

How Verification of Medical Device Surfaces in Production Eases Product Development: Wednesday July 29, 2020, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Operating in different time-zones and featuring a recording to any participant who signs up, this free webinar intends to help metallurgical technicians, engineers, quality control and laboratory managers better understand their surface coatings. The webinar, supported by Buehler, will mainly be focusing on preparation challenges and approaches to achieve good quality, efficient preparation, accurate measurement and correct evaluation of these coatings. Read more and register here.

Elizabeth Kidd, Materials Scientist and **Lucas Dillingham**, Senior Applications Specialist at BTG Labs

Surface Coatings; Metallographic Preparation & Analysis: Wednesday July 29, 2020, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

This event targets medical device manufacturers concerned with verification of cleaning, coating, sealing, printing, or bonding. BTG Labs is making this webinar available for free. The speakers are Elizabeth Kidd, Materials Scientist and Lucas Dillingham, Senior Applications Specialist at BTG Labs. Read more and register here.

Heat Treatment 4.0 e-SEMINAR: Wednesday September 9, 2020, 3:00 – 6:00 P.M CET

This international event, conducted in English, features 9 hours of content over a 3 hour period with three topical meeting rooms. Recordings of the event will be made available to all participants for a short time following the event. The site claims that this will be the “first industry virtual meeting of international specialists” including both practitioners and scientists. Additionally, the seminar will serve as a platform to interchange ideas and technologies, share expert experience, and discuss industry in the current times. Hosting this event is SECO/WARWICK. For specific details on the event, read more and here.

ASM Virtual Classrooms: Continual

These online courses listings provide self-guided classes provide professional development opportunities to any students of metallurgy. With quizzes and a final examination, these courses provide certificates of completion for passing (80% or above) the course requirements. A few attributes that one may see in classes are flash animations, video of instructors teaching the course in a classroom, video segments from ASM's DVD series, and PDF's of instructor PowerPoints used in the instructor led trainings. Among course offerings are the Basics of Heat Treat, Component Failure Analysis, and short courses on topics like corrosion. For more details on how to enroll, read more and register here.

Online Opportunities

Not all learning has to be done in a cohort, although community does provide great motivation and a sense of accomplishment. Here is a selection of alternative digital information outlets to access while you are on the go or at home.

Blogs: For the readers

TAV: The Vacuum Furnaces Blog - "Perfect Vacuum Sintering Step by Step [3/4]." Part of a larger series, you can find more via the referenced articles internally linked in this article.
D an Herring's articles. Check out most heat treat news sources and you are sure to find them.
Ipsen's The Herald. Also, be sure to check out their white papers on their website.

Podcasts: For the drivers

Heat Treat Radio: Re-envisioning your international business? Interested in harnessing the research power of Worchester Polytechnic Institute? Here is just one outlet while you are on your daily drive.

Videos: For the entertainers

Heat Treat Marketing Minute: For advertisers, learn a new skill, hone your marketing technique, use more color in your advertising... all here at Heat Treat Today. Check in with Doug in his commentary on ROI.

MetallurgyData with Neil Hardy: You may remember the young producer of metallurgical content, Neil Hardy. Links to his YouTube and some background on the project can be accessed here.

Tom Ott's LinkedIn videos: Scan LinkedIn and you will find Tom Ott's videos, which come in handy for the tech savvy heat treater.

original content

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Electric Car Supplier Purchases Continuous CAB Technology

July 22, 2020 / AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, BRAZING NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

Piotr Skarbiński, Vice President of the aluminum and CAB Product Segment at SECO/WARWICK (photo source: secowarwick.com)

A global manufacturer of electric cars based in Asia has purchased Controlled Atmosphere Brazing (CAB) technology. The CAB technology will be designed for brazing large size car battery coolers.

The supplier, SECO/WARWICK, believes that green technology is increasingly in-demand. "The electric car industry," says Piotr Skarbiński, Vice President of the Aluminum and CAB Products Segment at SECO/WARWICK, "is constantly investing in technologies for the production of advanced vehicles and systems in which these vehicles are equipped.”

The current and forecast development of electric cars and the related rapid and long-term increase in demand for battery coolers is very positive for the segment of the company dealing in aluminum soldering and heat treatment.

(photo source: andreas160578 on pixabay.com)

Electric Car Supplier Purchases Continuous CAB Technology Read More »

Heat Treat History Offers Promise to the Present

July 2, 2020 / EDITOR, FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

In today’s article, Heat Treat Today’s editorial staff has gathered noteworthy reflections of heat treaters who are looking to the past to offer hope to present circumstances. Read more to see that while the present seems paused with Covid-19, the past offers promise of growth and change through challenges.

Like many markets, the heat treating industry is seeking to make the best out of this summer of 2020, and even though the market is looking more positive by the day, there are many who still look for a sense of normalcy. However, with leaders looking at historical moments in heat treat, they remind us that while the present seems paused with Covid-19, the past offers promise of growth and change through the challenges of life.

Sceenshot of Bodycote’s “An Interactive History of Metallurgy” (photo source: https://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal/)

A major reach into the past is a throwback to the 90th century BC called “An Interactive History of Metallurgy.” In this historical timeline, Bodycote presents an engaging look at copper, bronze, iron, and tin through the centuries. The developments include detailed information, mostly funneled from Wikipedia, like the fact that bronze alloy in 12th century English candlesticks contained a degree of silver, antimony, and arsenic. And the modern, continuous development of steel is believed to have begun in the carbon furnaces of Sub-Saharan African communities.

On June 30, 2020, SECO/WARWICK released an “anniversary reflection” to commemorate the achievements of the Group in the first half of 2020. Among these is the 10th anniversary of their Chinese branch which has now become a recognized leader of CAB systems in heat treat, creating furnaces for aluminum brazing in controlled atmospheres. They conclude their message with a word from Sławomir Woźniak, President of the Management Board, saying, “We wish that health, patience and faith – embracing the world at large – will return to normal.”

Sanderson’s Weir (photo source: Shane Higgins on LinkedIn)

Finally, a recent LinkedIn post from Shane Higgins, Field Sales from Special Quality Alloys Ltd, shared a lunch-time crowd favorite: Sanderson’s Weir, built in the 1580s. With two iron forges on either side of the River Don in Sheffield, this low dam was built to provide power to the industrial work. Changes in the nature of industry has allowed a 20-year project along the River Don in Sheffield and Rotherham to permit a fish pass for salmon after 200 years without. It is impressive that the location that once produced iron still houses metalworking business.

(photo source: Hakon Sataoen on unsplash.com)

(photo source: https://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal/)

Heat Treat History Offers Promise to the Present Read More »

International Aerospace Manufacturer Buys 2 Vacuum Furnaces

June 25, 2020 / AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

An international aerospace manufacturer orders two furnaces for its factories in the USA and Singapore. While both are single-chamber vacuum furnaces, they will serve different functions. One will be used for the heat treatment of exotic electrical steels, and the second will be used for annealing parts produced by 3D printing technology.

The furnace purchased for the heat treatment of exotic electrical steels has diffusion vacuum levels and a horizontal chamber. The chamber has the workload size of 24” x 24” x 36” and a 1300 lb. hearth capacity. Additionally, each furnace has a single-chamber, high pressure gas quench heat treat system adaptable to a wide variety of thermal processing applications including annealing, brazing, hardening, LPC and LPN, normalizing, solution heat treating, sintering and tempering.

Two SECO?WARWICK Vector Furnaces (photo source: SECO/WARWICK)

Each of the furnaces were bought from SECO/WARWICK Vector furnaces lines. This is the manufacturer's first purchase for a US installation from this supplier. The Vector furnaces lines are used in multiple applications within the aerospace sector, including heat treating turbine blades and landing gear, as well as in the aerospace aftermarket to maintain fleets of aircraft.

Maciej Korecki, Vice President of Vacuum Business Segment, SECO/WARWICK (photo source: SECO/WARWICK.com)

“SECO/WARWICK Group," commented Maciej Korecki, Vice President of Vacuum Business Segment at SECO/WARWICK, "has delivered hundreds of Vector heat treat systems worldwide, many of which are in steady use supporting the aircraft industry. We offer Vector with either a horizontal or vertical chamber depending on part configuration and the process needs of the customer, and we support each customer all over the world with a dedicated team of aftermarket professionals to keep them running at peak efficiency.”

Vector 3D builds upon the single-chamber vacuum furnace technology to combine the advantages of gas quenching capabilities with the growing requirements of the additive manufacturing market. The result allows customers to perform processes such as sintering, debinding, stress-relieving, aging or solution heat treatment, which are essential for the metal 3D printing sector. It has numerous applications in such industries as aerospace, automotive, medical and energy.

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Kuczma to Acquire Single-Chamber Vacuum Furnace

June 22, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

SECO/Warwick Vector Furnace (photo source: SECO/Warwick)

A family-run, commercial heat treating plant in Rzeszów, Poland, Kuczma Hardening Plant, will expand its heat treating capabilities with a new single-chamber vacuum furnace. A particular addition to this furnace is the directional cooling, which will allow the plant to perform quenching from both the sides and the top and bottom in order to precisely adjust the gas cooling system to the batch configuration.

The Vector® vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK is equipped with 1.5 bar gas quenching pressure. It will increase the capacity of the Kuczma Hardening Plant and will enable the plant to process parts with dimensions up to 600x600x900 mm. This furnace model specializes in heat treating many types of materials and metal alloys; additionally, its functionality includes gas hardening and tempering, annealing, brazing and degassing.

Kuczma Steel Heat Treat facility (photo source: http://hartownia-kuczma.ugu.pl/?page_id=35)

"Kuczma Hardening Plant," said Jerzy Kuczma, Kuczma Hardening Plant owner, "specializes mostly in vacuum quenching in gas, oil and gas nitriding of injection mould components and dies... On one hand, the SECO/WARWICK furnace will enable us to process larger components and increase our output for smaller ones on the other it will enable directional cooling sideways or top/bottom."

The hardening plant also performs carburizing, quenching, and tempering under protective endothermic atmosphere as well as clean stress relieving under nitrogen atmosphere.

(photo source: http://hartownia-kuczma.ugu.pl/?page_id=35)

Kuczma to Acquire Single-Chamber Vacuum Furnace Read More »

Global Auto Manufacturer Deploys Heat Treat System

June 1, 2020 / ATMOSPHERE AIR FURNACES NEWS, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS

A global manufacturer of automotive, power, and aerospace components has commissioned a new heat treat system. This system from SECO/WARWICK is the first furnace with LPC technology for this large Indian company.

The system minimizes the creation of intergranular oxidation (IGO) present in more traditional heat treat processes. The furnace will be dedicated to small and large gear, pinion and other types of automotive gears.

This three-chamber vacuum furnace delivers economical case hardening using low-pressure carburizing (LPC) technology and oil quenching. It can replace existing lines and generators used for mass heat-treatment under protective atmosphere while ensuring higher precision and process repeatability. This solution stands out because of improved process quality, cost reduction from doubling yields, and increased production flexibility.

Maciej Korecki, VP, Vacuum Furnace Segment at SECO/WARWICK (source: SECO/WARWICK)

“Since our . . . furnace was the first LPC technology used in the client’s facility, we had to take a learning curve into account. We worked closely with the engineering staff of the client to ensure they understand and use the technology correctly, exploring all the possibilities, advantages, performance and optimizations it offers,” said Maciej Korecki, VP of Vacuum Business Segment at SECO/WARWICK.

“Successful implementation took time but paid off with much higher quality standards the company can now offer to their clients, who are currently operating on all continents. The client benefited from pre-sale consultation and post-sale installation as well as training assistance,” added Manoranjan Patra, Managing Director at SECO/WARWICK India.

Manoranjan Patra, managing director, SECO/WARWICK India (source: SECO/WARWICK)

Global Auto Manufacturer Deploys Heat Treat System Read More »

Kamyanka Machine Building Purchases 3-in-1 Furnace

May 21, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS, VACUUM PUMPS GAUGES VALVES NEWS

The parent company of a North American furnace manufacturer provided a furnace to Kamyanka Machine Building, an international leader in the production of pumps for manufacturing thread and chemical fibers, metallurgy and oil. The furnace will be equipped with a closed water system and gas installation so that the device can work independently.

Additional equipment from SECO/WARWICK in Meadville, Pennsylvania, will also include a vacuum carburizing option as well as quenching, heating in gas, and isothermal cooling. This will enable Kamyanka Machine Building Plant LLC, based in the Ukraine, to carry out full heat treatment processes in one device in accordance with their requirements. They will be able to perform three heat treatment processes in a single furnace instead of in separate operations.

"The solution we implement in Kamyonka Machine Building Plant is the result of many years of experience in the construction and service of the world's best heat treatment solutions," added Maciej Korecki, Vice President of the Vacuum Furnace Segment at SECO/WARWICK.

This is the first order from the Kamyanka Machine Building for SECO/WARWICK.

Kamyanka Machine Building Purchases 3-in-1 Furnace Read More »

Global Tool Manufacturer Acquires Third Vacuum Furnace

May 4, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, VACUUM FURNACES NEWS

An international company producing, among other things, cutting tools, with a rich history and branches in 40 countries, ordered a vacuum furnace, their third order from them to date.

Vector Vacuum Furnace
(source: SECO/WARWICK)

The horizontal, front-loading furnace, from SECO/WARWICK, will accommodate the customer’s needs with an all-metal hot zone for clean vacuum processing. As with the earlier furnaces, one of which was installed at a different facility, the new furnace includes a convection fan and a pressurized gas quench for quick cooling.

Maciej Korecki, VP, Vacuum Furnace Segment at SECO/WARWICK says, “Precision, high uniformity in heat treated parts, high consistency in workloads and high speeds in batch processing along with low energy and gas consumption makes our product most desirable solution on the market. Often our clients demand just one thing – for instance: high uniformity in heat treated parts which solves problems of distortions they experience using different technology. All the other features come as a surprise and an added value.”

Piotr Zawistowski, president, SECO/VACUUM (source: SECO/WARWICK)

According to Piotr Zawistowski, President, SECO/VACUUM, “This third repeat order is a testament to SVT’s on-time delivery and the performance of our . . . vacuum furnace to meet all promised parameters, including producing clean finished parts, all as promised.”

Global Tool Manufacturer Acquires Third Vacuum Furnace Read More »

Machine Tool Manufacturer Streamlines with In-House Heat Treat

March 30, 2020 / FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

A machine tool manufacturer has decided to create their own “captive” heat treat department. The company has consequently invested in two different, yet complementary, vacuum heat treatment furnaces.

The CaseMaster Evolution® multi-chamber vacuum furnace (source: SECO/WARWICK)

As is often the case with companies thinking about how to gain better control of their production systems, one of the obvious bottlenecks for the customer was their offsite heat treatment arrangement. While quality from their existing suppliers was not an issue, it was clear that logistics could certainly be streamlined by eliminating the need to outsource parts to an external heat treater. The furnace manufacturer helped them weigh the pros and cons of moving their heat treatment processes into the plant. Ultimately, a decision was made to set up their own department, invest in new vacuum heat treat equipment, and train their production technicians to perform this critical function of the plant.

SECO/WARWICK received an order for a multi-chamber carburizing vacuum furnace with integral gas or oil quench, and a high pressure gas quench vacuum furnace capable of quench pressures up to 15-Bar.

The Vector® 15-Bar high pressure gas quench vacuum furnace (source: SECO/WARWICK)

“We knew the customer was already getting excellent quality from their supplier, so the question was ‘How can we make the process better?’” said Maciej Korecki, VP of Business Segment Vacuum Heat Treatment Furnaces at SECO/WARWICK. “Starting an in-house heat treat department requires some amount of risk tolerance by ownership, and they needed assurance that the return on production improvements would be worth the investment. [We have] the background to help make those determinations, and as a manufacturer of heat treat equipment, the company was able to offer real-world experience on performance that an independent consultant might not be able to provide.”

Machine Tool Manufacturer Streamlines with In-House Heat Treat Read More »

Fastener Manufacturer Invests in Belt Furnace for Tempering of Automotive Parts

February 24, 2020 / AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT, AUTOMOTIVE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS, TEMPERING NEWS

STALMAX, a manufacturer of fasteners, is investing in a belt furnace for tempering in a protective atmosphere. The provided equipment is designed for hardening fasteners, such as bolts and nuts, intended for the automotive industry. The main element of the line is a belt furnace equipped with a muffle, in which the heat process is conducted in a protective endothermic atmosphere.

The applied design solutions allow for a high evenness of temperature uniformity to be achieved. The automated process of the work of the ATG processing line by SECO/WARWICK, equipped with a weighing system, enables a precise loading of the treated elements on the hardening furnace belt.

STALMAX vice president, Robert Jeż, says, “SECO/WARWICK with their solutions answers real manufacturing needs, and ATG-type line is a guaranteed fulfillment of the industry’s and the clients’ requirements. The partner has not only offered an excellent furnace, but also protected us in case of an unwanted failure. In accordance with individual needs, components of element coding have been introduced and are connected to the alarm base (PLC) and electric documentation of the control system. Such a solution allows to immediately identify the failure and the damaged element.”

Fastener Manufacturer Invests in Belt Furnace for Tempering of Automotive Parts Read More »

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