Solar Atmospheres

A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

A 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

  • John Finch has joined Plibrico Company LLC as the Southeastern Territory Manager. Mr. Finch, an accomplished refractory professional and is an active member of several different industry and refractory associations.
  • Timothy C. Fish has joined the sales team at Solar Atmospheres of Western PA as Regional Sales Manager, focusing on the Midwest region.
  • Triumph Fabrications is being acquired by Arlington Capital Partners. Triumph consists of four companies that manufacture, coat, and assemble complex sheet metal components for fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms. Heat treating and annealing are included in the operations.
  • A new state-of-the-art aluminum billet manufacturing facility will be constructed in the Rapids East Commerce Center in the City of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Matalco Inc., a member of the Giampaolo Group, will house the new facility in a 110,000 sq ft manufacturing plant, which at full production capacity, will produce in excess of 230 million pounds of high-quality aluminum billet. This is part of a larger investment plan to construct several greenfield aluminum remelt facilities for billet and rolling slab production in North America.

Equipment Chatter

  • A series of gas nitriding and tempering furnaces have been installed at a commercial heat treatment company specializing in mold & die steel heat treatment for its newly formed division. The horizontal gas nitriding furnaces supplied by JGEF Furnaces can produce a hard clean substrate onto which is deposited a duplex layer with high hardness values. The JGEF tempering furnace series will help the manufacturer achieve a pre-vacuum protective atmosphere for tempering, and the atmosphere in the furnace chamber will reduce the oxidative decarburization reaction of the heat-treated workpiece. The furnace has a load capacity of 11023 pounds and an operating temperature range of 302-1202°F
  • Grupo TTT, one of the leaders in heat and surface treatments, recently added a SECO/WARWICK vacuum heat treatment and brazing system equipped with high-pressure gas quench to their Bergara, Spain, facility to run a variety of processes. This is the fourth system purchased by Grupo TTT with an earlier installation in Europe, and two systems currently in operation in Mexico.
  • Three box furnaces have been shipped for installation by Lindberg/MPH. An unnamed customer purchased one Temperite™ Box Furnace and one Treet-All™ Box Furnace to work in tandem. The Temperite™ Box Furnace is configured for aging, annealing, austempering, baking, solution treating, and tempering applications, while the Treet-All™ Box Furnace is configured for annealing, ashing, austempering, brazing, preheating, and solution treating applications. In addition, Lindberg/MPH  announced the shipment of one Treet-All™ Box Furnace to the technology industry. The maximum temperature rating of this light industrial box furnace is 2050°F.
  • A state-of-the-art continuous mesh belt heat treat system has been commissioned for the production of high-quality automotive fasteners. CAN-ENG Furnaces International Ltd was selected for a project in the Piedmont Region of Italy, one of four installation locations for this globally recognized producer of specialty automotive fasteners.
  • A Blue M Friction-Aire® Safety Oven, which provides a controlled heat source without heating elements, was recently shipped to a manufacturer of consumer products by Thermal Product Solutions.

Kudos Chatter

  • StandardAero’s Maryville, Tennessee facility recently completed and shipped its 10,000th auxiliary power unit (APU) repair since the nearly 25 years it has been providing APU MRO services to the industry. The specific 10,000th repair was on a Honeywell model 36-150RJ APU for a regional aircraft operator.
  • Allied Mineral Products has launched a new Chinese-language website. The website, alliedchina.com, targets the local business market in China while actively engaging existing customers. In Northern China, Allied’s manufacturing facility in Tianjin celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.
  • The ASM Materials Education Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 ASM Materials Genome Toolkit competition. As determined by an independent review committee, the undergraduate engineering departments at Georgia Institute of Technology, Louisiana Technological University, Montana Technological University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute will receive a three-year site license for a suite of Thermo-Calc software tools intended to aid in the instruction of computational materials design, an emerging engineering practice deemed essential to the success of the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) and global leadership in manufacturing.

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 Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

A 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

  • Todd McDonald was recently hired as president and chief executive officer of Thermal Process Holdings, Inc., which was formed by Calvert Street Capital Partners and John Hubbard, former CEO of Bodycote, PLC, to pursue a buy-and-build strategy in the thermal processing industry.
  • Gasbarre Products, Inc. launched its new website, www.gasbarre.com. As part of the rebranding initiative, Gasbarre has categorized its diverse product offering into three business units: Powder Compaction Solutions, Thermal Processing Systems, and Manufacturing Technologies.
  • Bentraum D. Huffman has been named president and chief executive officer of the Ellwood Group, Inc. Huffman previously had served as chief operating officer since 2015.
  • Chemcoaters, a coil coater and manufacturer of proprietary coating chemistries, has acquired Eco Green Coatings, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Both companies are located in Gary, Indiana.
  • Connie Mackey, Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) Corporate Quality Systems Manager, was recently selected to be a voting member of the Nadcap Heat Treating Task Group. Nadcap is a global accreditation program designed to ensure standardized and cost-effective approaches and to provide continual improvement among the aerospace and defense industry.
  • A large retort box furnace used for de-bindering ceramic composite pre-peg materials along with powder metals processing and hot isostatic processing was recently purchased from L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc.
  • A cabinet oven from Grieve, No. 934, is currently being used by the customer for heat treating. Workspace dimensions of this 850°F oven measure 38” W x 20” D x 26” H.
  • A LP gas-fired heavy duty car bottom oven with fume incinerator was recently delivered to a leader in the oil and gas industry by Wisconsin Oven Corporation. This car bottom oven will be used for prebaking drill pipe joints. The thermal clean oven has a maximum operating temperature of 800° F and work chamber dimensions of 8’6″ wide x 50’0″ long x 8’6″ high.

Kudos Chatter

  • Solar Atmospheres, Inc. has filed a Patent Application with the US Patent Office, application number 15/999,873 for a high-pressure, rapid gas quenching vacuum furnace utilizing an isolation transformer in the blower motor power system. The gas quench with a 600 HP motor operates at 460 volts in Argon gas, utilizing a double wound, Magnetic Specialties, Inc. electrical isolation transformer, primary winding 1:1 to the secondary winding, with a Variable Speed Drive and solid state electrical spike protection for motor arc suppression.
  • Thermal-Vac Technology, Inc., located in Orange, CA has received merit status for NADCAP AC7102 Heat Treating accreditation. Thermal-Vac Technology Inc. City Steel Heat Treating, located in Santa Fe Springs, CA has been awarded NADCAP accreditation in AC7102 Heat Treating. This is the initial accreditation award after our 2016 acquisition of this location.
  • Cornwell Quality Tools, which produces fine quality tools with high-grade alloy steel, combined with modern heat-treating methods, celebrates 100 years in business this year.
  • Tekscan’s Gait Analysis System Wins R&D 100 Award. Tekscan is thrilled to announce that StridewayTM has won an R&D 100 Award. The R&D 100 Awards honor the latest and best innovations, identifying the top technology products of the past year. Since 1963, the R&D 100 Awards have identified revolutionary technologies introduced to the market.

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 Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

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.

10 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

Applying PID to Temperature Variances in Vacuum Furnaces

/ CONTROLS TECHNICAL CONTENT, FEATURED NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

 

Source: Solar Manufacturing

 

Controlling process temperature with accuracy and without extensive operator involvement is a crucial task in the heat treat shop and calls for the use of a temperature controller, which compares the actual temperature to the desired control temperature, also known as the setpoint, and provides an output to a control element. This comparative process relies upon an algorithm, the most commonly used and accepted in the furnace industry being the PID, or Proportional-Integral-Derivative, control.

“This popular controller is used because of its robust performance in a wide range of operating conditions and simplicity of function once understood by the processing operator,” writes Real J. Fradette, a Senior Technical Consultant with Solar Atmospheres, Inc, and the author of “Understanding PID Temperature Control as Applied to Vacuum Furnace Performance” (with William R. Jones, CEO, Solar Atmospheres, Inc, contributing).

The PID algorithm consists of three basic components, Proportional, Integral, and Derivative which are varied to get optimal response. If we were to observe the temperature of the furnace during a heating cycle it would be rare to find the temperature reading to be exactly at set point temperature. The temperature would vary above and below the set point most of the time. What we are concerned about is the rate and amount of variation. This is where PID is applied. ~ Fradette

In this week’s Technical Tuesday, we direct our readers to Fradette’s article at Solar Manufacturing’s website where he and Jones cover the following on PID temperature controllers:

  • Definitions, e.g., Closed Loop System; Proportional (GAIN); Integral (RESET); and Derivative (RATE)
  • Actual operation of a PID temperature controller, including understanding PID dimensions and values; and general rules for manually adjusting PID
  • The art of tuning, a manual
  • Autotuning
  • Tweaking the furnace PID controller
  • and other factors

 

Read more: “Understanding PID Temperature Control as Applied to Vacuum Furnace Performance”

Photo credit

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15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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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

  • AFC-Holcroft has announced the addition of Daniel Hill as the newest member of their sales team. Hill will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Wixom, Michigan, focusing on key account management as well as new lead generation. Hill will report to Tracy Dougherty, Sales Manager at AFC-Holcroft.
  • Solar Atmospheres’ CEO, Roger A. Jones, was awarded the distinguished honor of ASM Fellow (FASM) at the ASM Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. According to ASM, “The honor of Fellow represents recognition of distinguished contributions in the field of materials science and engineering, and develops a broadly based forum for technical and professional leaders to serve as advisors to the Society.” Roger’s citation reads: “For advancing production vacuum thermal processes and procedures for large and heavy assemblies utilizing state of the art vacuum furnaces, for the enhancement of the overall heat treating industry.”
  • A company that specializes in automated manufacturing solutions for automotive manufacturers among other industries, Innovative Automation, has acquired Tridan International, which supplies machinery for the production of heat exchangers, evaporators and condensers commonly used in manufacturing. This acquisition includes all ongoing operations of the company from their 88,000 square foot facility in Danville, IL.
  • StandardAero, the world’s largest independent Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) with Distribution rights, has recently inducted the first five PT6A-68 engines at its Summerside facility on Prince Edward Island, Canada.  StandardAero has provided full-service support for the PT6A-68 since 2013 but is now in the process of transferring its support of the engine model to its Summerside facility, as part of the company’s Center of Excellence (COE) activity, announced in May 2018.
  • Caterpillar, Inc, has announced that a closed South Carolina casting facility will house its new $13.5 million, 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges where it will produce specialty castings for various engines and transmissions in Caterpillar’s line of products.
  • Schenck Process, which engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of applied measuring and process technology, announced the acquisition of Process Components Ltd, a UK based designer and manufacturer of powder processing and handling equipment, components and spare parts, and its subsidiaries.
  • Braidy Industries and its subsidiary Veloxint recently announced five new executive appointments. Julio Ramirez will take on the position of Chief Financial Officer at Braidy. At Veloxint, Major General Kevin McNeely (Ret.) joins as Chief Operations Officer; Dr. Phoebe Kwan will take on the role of Chief Commercial Officer; Dr. Judson “Jud” Marte will be Vice President of Product Development; and John Gaspervich joins Veloxint as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing.

Equipment Chatter

  • A forced air recirculating oven was supplied by Lucifer Furnaces to a manufacturer of medical & aerospace parts and will be used to heat treat 17-4 stainless steel.
  • A tool and die manufacturer recently expanded its in-house heat treat capabilities with a Vector® furnace, one of the SECO/VACUUM (a SECO/WARWICK Group company) flagship vacuum furnaces. The purchase process included validation tests of tooling dies in a similar nearby furnace with positive results. The furnace being delivered is a  horizontal, front-loading Vector furnace with a capacity of 2,650 lbs.
  • A leading provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions recently announced that a prominent Southeast Asian aerospace parts manufacturer has purchased a dual-purpose Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) and EB Welding System. Sciaky, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), provided the one-of-a-kind hybrid machine to be customized with special controls to switch from 3D printing to welding in a quick and easy process. The manufacturer will utilize the system to 3D print metal structures, as well as weld dissimilar materials and refractory alloys for these structures and other aerospace parts.
  • Four Gruenberg explosion resistant Class “A” truck-in-ovens were shipped to the pharmaceutical industry by Thermal Product Solutions. The pharmaceutical ovens are rated for Class A operation to handle processing solvents per the NFPA 86 specifications.
  • A continuous mesh belt conveyor furnace was shipped by Lindberg/MPH to the computer market. This conveyor furnace is configured for soldering process applications, provides a heating and cooling process environment under a nitrogen/hydrogen blended atmosphere, and will be heated to the customer’s specified temperature (maximum of 1000°C).
  • A leading supplier of the automobile industry received shipment of a natural gas-fired two zone conveyor oven from Wisconsin Oven Corporation. The conveyor oven will be used for stress relieving automotive springs and has the design capacity to heat approximately 11,000 pounds of springs per hour. The overall work chamber dimensions of this stress relieving oven are 11’3” wide x 24’3” long x 14’0” high. The maximum operating temperature is 650°C (1202° F) with guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±5°C at set points of 520°C (968° F) and 570° C (1058° F) to ensure the conveyor oven meets the CQI-9, 3rd edition process Table E for stress relieving/annealing.

Kudos Chatter

 

  • In 2019, AGMA will expand upon the legacy and success of Gear Expo, launching the Motion + Power Technology Expo (MPT Expo). The new show will continue its focus on gears and mechanical power transmission while adding fluid power and electric drive exhibitors to provide all power transmission options to our attendees
  • eldec LLC recently unveiled a new website for manufacturing professionals who use induction heating, brazing, shrink fitting, pre-heating for laser welding, or annealing in their manufacturing processes. The new site provides updates on company and product information, trade shows, and manufacturing and equipment maintenance tips. It can be accessed at www.inductionheatingexperts.com.

 

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

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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

  • John Hubbard, P.E., has been awarded the 2018 Distinguished Alumni of the year award from Cleveland State University’s Washkewicz College of Engineering, which has provided a tradition of high-quality undergraduate and graduate education in engineering and engineering technology. Hubbard recently joined Calvert Street to form Thermal Process Holdings to create a new North American heat treating group.
  • Paulo is pleased to announce the promotion of two employees to new roles in the company. Scott Herzing, a 20-year company veteran who most recently was Manager of Project Engineering, will take over as Vice President of Engineering. And Jessica Sickmeier, who had been Director of Human Resources Development, has been promoted to Vice President of Human Resources.
  • Contour Hardening, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is proud to announce the appointment of Ben Crawford as its new CEO and President. The appointment, which became official on July 30, 2018, follows the recent passing of Contour Hardening’s founder, CEO and President, John Storm.
  • The National Tooling and Machining Association, based in Cleveland, Ohio, has announced the appointment of Dean Bartles, PhD, as their new president, succeeding Dave Tilstone, who is retiring after serving as president since 2010. Bartles brings almost four decades of experience in the manufacturing sector, most recently as the director of the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at the University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH). Previously, Bartles served as a president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, president of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute, founding executive director of the Digital Manufacturing & Design Innovation Institute, and founding chairman of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition.
  • Kristopher R. Westbrooks was recently named as executive vice president and chief financial officer to succeed current CFO Christopher J. Holding at TimkenSteel Corp., based in Canton, Ohio. Westbrooks joined the company in this new role on September 24, 2018.
  • Jim Feltner, vice president of sales and marketing with FPM Heat Treating, in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, was recently honored with an Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from the Daily Herald Business Ledger, nominated by Tom Merrick.

Equipment Chatter

  • A Warrington, PA, furnace manufacturer recently delivered a large dual chamber unit to a metal stamping manufacturer in the Midwest. Lucifer Furnaces built Model HL82-P24, a hardening furnace over tempering oven, as a space-saving combination for multipurpose heat treating. The upper hardening chamber heats to 2300°F with 6.5” multilayer insulation throughout the chamber.
  • A vacuum furnace heat exchanger cleaning process has been developed by Souderton, PA, company Solar Atmospheres, involving a 12-hour soak submerged in a suitable tub using a water base cleaning agent. Recirculated forced water jets wash out the accumulated dirt from deep inside the heat exchanger. It is then pressure washed and blown dry with nitrogen gas. The heat exchanger is cleaned to an as new condition and then returned to the user.
  • A global manufacturer recently purchased a second vacuum furnace from SECO/VACUUM, a SECO/WARWICK company, for its US-based manufacturing operations. This second furnace, a vacuum temper furnace for tempering and stress relieving metal parts, is part of the company’s new US-based manufacturing expansion and becomes a centerpiece in a new processing line for the company.
  • An electrically heated annealing furnace was recently shipped to a firearms manufacturer to be used for annealing an assortment of brass and bronze firearm caps. Wisconsin Oven Corporation provided this conveyor furnace with a maximum temperature rating of 1,400° F (760° C) and a normal operating temperature of 572° to 1,202° F (300° to 650° C).

 

Kudos Chatter

  • On 24 September, at the Grand Gala of the Business Leader 2018, SECO/WARWICK was awarded for the second time the statuette in recognition of the company’s strong market position. Katarzyna Sawka, Marketing Director of SECO/WARWICK Group, collected the award on behalf of the Company. “Business Leader” is the award that recognizes the best companies in Western Poland who conduct their business in a transparent and honest manner and their success is a regional trademark.
  • Pelican Wire was named Manufacturer of the Year in the Small Business category at the 2018 Manufacturers Association of Florida “MAF Exchange” conference and awards banquet. Selected from over fifty nominees spanning numerous industries and cities throughout the State of Florida, Pelican Wire also received this award in 2014.
  • Ohio Star Forge, a steel firm with heat treating, cold roll forming, and CNC machining capabilities, recently held a ribbon cutting for its expansion and celebrated its 30th anniversary at the company’s location in Youngstown, Ohio. Ohio Star Forge was originally a joint venture of Copperweld Steel and Japanese company Daido Steel.

 

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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A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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A 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

  • A partnership was recently formed between C3 Data LLC and CCPI Europe Ltd. for distribution of furnace software compliance products throughout the UK and Europe. C3 Data’s innovative software solutions are now available for streamlining furnace compliance processes for Nadcap, AMS2750, and CQI-9 for the UK & European aerospace and automotive industries.
  • The NextGenAM collaborative project, formed to establish the basis for a future system for series production using 3D printing technologies, has launched its pilot facility at Premium AEROTEC’s technology center in the German city of  Varel. Premium AEROTEC, EOS, and Daimler partnered in this project, and the project team has been working on assessing the additive manufacturing process to see what kind of potential it holds for automation.
  • Industry leaders and executives gathered in Atlanta from July 30 – August 1 for the second ITPS (International ThermProcess Summit). Anne Goyer, IHEA’s Executive Vice President, noted that attendee evaluations showed executives felt the speakers and their presentations were very valuable. “I have been involved in organizing conferences and summits for more than 35 years. This year’s ITPS was one of the highest evaluated events we’ve ever produced.”
  • Heat Treatment Australia’s North American operations (HTA-Los Angeles) recently moved into a new facility in Santa Fe Springs, California, as part of an ongoing improvement program to increase available services to N.A. industries. The company also reports an impending order of an age hardening furnace (12-ft) which will be delivered in January. “The new facility provides much-needed resources required to run the new equipment,” said Karen Stanton, referring to the availability of power and gas. The new address is 10140 Romandel Avenue, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670, not far from the previous location.

Equipment Chatter

  • A Pennsylvania-based company that provides custom engineering and manufacturing of power equipment recently shipped a 360KVA, three-phase, 60HZ transformer for use in wire annealing. Magnetic Specialties produced a transformer that features an extended primary winding with multiple taps to adjust the output voltage of the high current secondary.  The tap can easily be changed via the three phase tap switch mounted to the front of the enclosure.  The delta connected secondary winding is designed for line currents up to 6,500 ARMS.  The delta connection was made with large aluminum bus bars due to the high secondary current. The core and coil, along with the custom NEMA 1 enclosure, were designed using Solidworks 3D modeling.
  • A tool and equipment manufacturer recently received shipment of an electrically heated, standard two-zone, belt conveyor oven to be used to temper steel parts. The furnace, shipped by Wisconsin Oven Company, has the capability to heat 1,800 pounds of steel from 70° F to 425° F within a 1-hour time period. The tempering oven has work chamber dimensions of 3’0″ wide x 34’0″ long and 1’6″ high and a maximum operating temperature of 500° F.
  • A North American heat treater recently expanded its capabilities by adding a new ZeroFlow® precision gas nitriding vacuum furnace. The horizontal, front-loading furnace joins another SECO/WARWICK gas nitriding furnace already in production at the customer’s facility.

Kudos Chatter

  • Professor Jerzy Michalski has been recognized as the 2018 Hephaestus Award. Organizers Nitrex Metal and United Process Controls announced the specialist in the design of gas nitriding processes and modeling of nitriding atmospheres as this year’s recipient. The award is bestowed upon individuals in the field of heat treating whose contributions have had an impact on surface engineering, materials science, and industrial processes or production techniques. The award will be presented to Prof. Michalski during the 3rd Novatherm Seminar, taking place October 3-5, 2018, in Poland.
  • Richard Sisson Jr. has been named a fellow of two materials science professional societies, the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE), and the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). The George F. Fuller Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Manufacturing and Materials Science and Engineering programs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), who directs the Center for Heat Treating Excellence, part of WPI’s Metal Processing Institute, received the IFHTSE fellowship at the 4th International Conference on HTSE in Automotive Applications in Spartanburg, S.C., in June, where he also delivered one of the conference’s three keynote addresses.
  • Nevada Heat Treating (NHT), based in Carson City, Nevada, was recently awarded a two year merit on their Nadcap heat treat accreditation.
  • FPM Heat Treating, a leading provider of heat treat processes in the Greater Midwest Region recently announced the successful re-certification of Nadcap accreditation. FPM also reported that all three of the company’s commercial heat treating locations upgraded to the new ISO 9001-2015 certification standards.
  • Solar Atmospheres announced that all four of the company’s facilities have recently obtained certifications to AS9100 Revision D and ISO9001:2015. Solar has held AS and ISO quality management systems registration certificates since 2001. These latest releases are the most demanding international standards required of suppliers to the aviation, space, defense and medical industries.

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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Vacuum Heat Treat Furnace Manufacturer Breaks Ground on New Facility, Reunites Operations

/ AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT, AEROSPACE HEAT TREAT NEWS, FEATURED NEWS

Bill Jones, CEO, Solar Manufacturing, Inc.

With the recent groundbreaking at a site in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, a leading vacuum furnace manufacturer launched its plans to reunite its manufacturing operations under one roof in order to combine its staffing and production efforts into an expanded space.

Solar Manufacturing Inc. celebrated this new chapter in its history with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new manufacturing facility at the Sellersville Business Campus in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Due to substantial growth in recent years, Solar Manufacturing has been operating out of two separate manufacturing facilities located a few miles apart. The nearly 60,000 square-foot building will be built on 8.55 acres and is expected to be completed in early 2019.  The new building will contain a two-story office space of nearly 20,000 square feet and 40,000 square feet of crane-served, manufacturing space.

"Solar Manufacturing has been very fortunate to experience steady growth over the past 15 years," said Bill Jones, CEO. "We needed more manufacturing space to expand and grow our business. Bucks County and Sellersville Borough have been very supportive and welcoming. It is an ideal location for us."

Solar Manufacturing is a member of the Solar Atmospheres family of companies, which is based with headquarters in Souderton, Pennsylvania, has four US commercial heat treating facilities with over 60 vacuum furnaces in operation, and services the aerospace, medical, automotive, defense, and other industries with heat treating equipment. This move to the Sellersville location will free up space for Solar Atmospheres' growing operations.

Pictured left to right: Jim Nagy, President; Bob Wilson, VP of Engineering; Scott Jacoby, Corporate Controller; Myrtle Jones, Owner; Bill Jones, CEO/Owner; Trevor Jones, CEO; Nick Cordisco, Service Manager; Pete Reh, VP of Sales; Rick Jones, International Sales Manager

 

Main image photo credit: Madeleine Cook, The Morning Call. Caption:  CEO of Solar Manufacturing Inc., Trevor Jones, receives a certificate from his grandfather, owner William Jones, during the groundbreaking ceremony for a new manufacturing facility on June 21, 2018, in Upper Bucks County. 

Read more here: "Construction starts for Bucks County manufacturer’s new $8M HQ" (Lehigh Valley Business); "Upper Bucks' Solar Manufacturing breaks ground on new headquarters at reclaimed brownfield industrial site" (The Morning Call); "Manufacturer breaks ground on new $8.5 million Sellersville plant" (The Intelligencer)

 

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10 Quick Heat Treat News Chatter Items to Keep You Current

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Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Chatter

Equipment Chatter

  • Solar Atmospheres, Inc., in Souderton, PA, recently installed a 74″ diameter by 72″ deep horizontal internal quench vacuum furnace, designed by Solar Manufacturing, Inc., to quench with argon at 10-bar while utilizing a 600 horsepower motor running at 460 volts from a variable speed drive, and rear head moveable gas baffle doors. The goal of the massive quench system is to be able to quench larger batches of power generation castings by increasing the cooling rate and eliminating the supplemental use of helium and operating in 100% argon.
  • An electrically heated cyclone pit furnace was recently delivered by Lindberg/MPH to a steel heat treater to be used for a heat treating process on aircraft components. The maximum temperature rating for this electric pit furnace is 1250ºF. The work chamber has a 38″ diameter x 48″ depth and is constructed with an alloy liner backed with 7″ of block insulation.
  • Spanish supplier of aluminum sheets and coils Aludium has announced that the company will install a multi-chamber furnace to reduce metal costs and improve the sustainability of its operations. The new furnace will be installed in the Amorebieta cast house and will increase Aludium’s ability to melt lacquered scrap and is due to come onstream during 2019. The multi-chamber furnace selected is a Hertwich Ecomelt PS275, a proven technology and one of the largest shaft furnaces in the world.

Kudos Chatter

Proudly presenting the certificates are (l-r) Director Georg Anzer, Managing Partner Renate Keinath and Head of Training Michael Vieth.

  • PyroGenesis Canada Inc. has announced that it has received certification for the production of metal powders under a quality management system which complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. This certification is an amendment to the company’s existing ISO certification, pertains specifically to metal powder production, and was received under the auspices of a major independent risk and standards company, SAI Global.
  • Family-owned global manufacturer of plastic processing machines Arburg, based in Loßburg, Germany, has recently been presented three certifications: LQW, ISO, and IHK recognition. The LQW certificate was presented to the machine manufacturer in January after the successful completion of the “Learner-oriented Quality Certification in Continuing Education and Training”. The company received the approval of DIN ISO 29990:2010 “Quality Management Systems for Learning services for Non-formal Education and Training” inspection in February. In late 2017, the manufacturer was recognized with the “1A Excellent Training Company” award presented by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) – Northern Black Forest region.
  • Countyline Tool, a Komet Service Partner based in East Peoria, Illinois, has attained ISO 9001:2015 certification. All Komet partners are currently working to obtain the ISO 9001:2015 certification, and Countyline Tool is the eighth partner to have completed the certification.

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 Chatter Items to Keep You Current Read More »

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

The heat treat industry is one of people transitioning and companies executing business, achieving goals, and receiving acknowledgments. Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Changes and Moves

  • Roberto Pancaldi, current Tenova Metals chief operating officer, has become the new Tenova Metals CEO, directly reporting to Andrea Lovato, CEO of Tenova.

  • Roberto Pancaldi, Tenova Metals CO

    The Aluminum Federation, the trade body for the UK aluminum industry, has announced that appointment of a new chief executive. Mr. Tom Jones joins the organization from MMC Hardmetal UK, part of the Mitsubishi Materials group, where he was general manager. Tom has more than 35 years experience of working in manufacturing.

  • The Board of GKN Group plc has announced that Anne Stevens, currently Interim Chief Executive, has agreed to become the Group’s new Chief Executive with immediate effect. It was added that since her appointment, Stevens has taken leadership of an ongoing and wide-ranging internal review of all GKN’s businesses which has culminated in the development of a transformation plan to improve GKN’s performance.

    Solar Atmospheres of California's expansion includes installation of 4 new furnaces purchased from Solar Manufacturing, Inc

  • Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) announce the completion of its most recent facility expansion. Project expansion began taking shape in July 2016 with groundbreaking for a new 25,000 sq. ft. building. In preparation for the added growth, SCA has procured an additional four vacuum furnaces from sister company Solar Manufacturing (SMI) based in Souderton, Pennsylvania.

    Equipment Transactions

  • a heat treatment line from SMS group

    German metal processor Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH ordered a new heat treatment line from SMS group. The line, project name "Adjustage II", will be consist of a shot-blaster, two roller hearth furnaces, the MultiFlex-Quench®, a plate leveler, a cleaning and priming line, and a water treatment plant and be capable of processing more than 300,000 tons of heavy plate annually. Commissioning is scheduled to take place early in 2020.

  • Wisconsin Oven Corporation shipped two electrically heated standard horizontal quench systems to an aluminum manufacturer, each designed to heat 1,000 pounds of aluminum to a 950°F operating temperature with qualified operating temperature ranges of 775°F and 1,075°F.

  • Grieve recently supplied a 1000°F (538°C) top-loading oven that will be used for curing composite materials in large molds at a manufacturer’s facility. Workspace dimensions measure 168 inches wide x 48 inches deep x 48 inches high, and 120 kW are installed in lncoloy -sheathed tubular heating elements. A 12,500-CFM, 10-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow.

    Baker Furnace
  • Graftech Advanced Graphite Materials in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, recently divested assets to refractory manufacturer Allied Mineral Products, Inc., located in Columbus, Ohio, and GTRefractory Solutions LLC in Wilmington, Delaware. Allied purchased the intellectual property rights to a collection of refractory cements and pastes, and GT Refractory Solutions acquired assets such as carbon and semi-graphite carbon brick, cement, pastes, porous carbons and graphite powders specialized for use in the steel, ferroalloy and iron industries.
  • Baker Furnace, Brea, Calif., the west coast division of the Thermal Product Solutions (TPS), moved to a new 40,000 sq-ft manufacturing space facility in 2017, which contributed to record shipments of custom and standard units in a variety of configurations. Among other projects, drop-bottom furnaces, crucible furnaces, car bottom furnaces, and batch ovens will be used for a variety of applications in the heat treating, foundry, composites, and automotive industries.

    HBD Industries acquires True Position Technologies LLC
  • HBD Industries announced the expansion of its Precision Components Platform through the acquisition of True Position Technologies LLC (“True Position”), based in Valencia, California. A leading provider of complex machined components for flight control applications, True Position specializes in manufacturing high specification components that require multiple machining, testing and finishing processes all within extremely tight tolerances.

Accreditations, Certifications, Patents, and More

  • Conrad Kacsik Instrument Systems, Inc., has been reaccredited for ISO-IEC 17025:2005 by A2LA, a continuous A2LA accreditation since 2000.
  • Heat treaters Metallurgical Processing Inc., based in New Britain, Connecticut, has been awarded a 24-month Nadcap accreditation after being audited to 10 checklists.

  • Bodycote HIP now counts nine Nadcap-accredited sites with the recent award to the Surahammar, Sweden, location.

    Advanced Heat Treat Corp., which has held Nadcap accreditation since 2013, has been awarded Nadcap Merit status for Heat Treating (Ion Nitriding) at the MidPort location in Waterloo, Iowa. This is the highest accreditation period that can be earned. "We are proud to achieve Merit status for the third time in a row and be granted a 24-month accreditation. We hope our customers take pride in the fact they send their parts to AHT," stated John Ludeman, Director of Metallurgy and Quality Excellence.

  • Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, announced that its Surahammar, Sweden, Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) location has earned its Nadcap accreditation. The Surahammar site has been producing Powdermet® Near Net Shape (NNS) and Selective Surface Net Shape (SSNS) components for many years, using its long experience of manufacturing complex, high integrity components from powder metal to serve markets such subsea, oil and gas, marine, nuclear, tool steel and automotive. Bodycote HIP now has nine Nadcap-accredited sites.

  • SAE International, Warrendale, Pa., announces that technical standard AMS2750 – Pyrometry, has received complete recognition by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and it has been added to its list of recognized consensus standards database, List #47.

     

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.

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current Read More »