A heat treating company that processes stainless steel, titanium, and other specialty alloys is expanding its operations with a major investment in a larger facility, tripling its heat treatment and surface hardening capacity. The automotive and medical devices industries are among those the company serves at its Twinsburg, Ohio, location.
Thomas Sandholdt CEO Expanite, Inc
With the new equipment, Expanite Inc., a subsidiary of Expanite A/S, based in Denmark, will be able to meet the growing demand for advanced surface hardening and heat treatment solutions. The new furnaces, installed by SECO/WARWICK, have chamber sizes up to 24x24x36 inches and process larger and more complex components. This expansion will allow the company to meet its commitment to sustainability by offering greener alternatives to traditional technologies.
“Our investment is all about meeting the growing demands from our North American customers,” said Thomas Sandholdt, CEO of Expanite. “We’re now able to handle much larger volumes while maintaining the fast lead times and flexibility that our customers expect from Expanite.”
“Our expanded capabilities mean we can now offer our full range of Expanite technologies, including the processes for titanium, right here in the U.S.,” said Claus Løndal, country manager for Expanite North America. “This allows us to serve a wide range of customers while reducing lead times and costs.”
New furnaces installed as part of Expanite’s expansion at its Twinsburg, Ohio, location.
Besides the proprietary Expanite processes, standard vacuum heat treatment processes are offered, including hardening of tool steels (D2, A2, M2, H13, etc.), austenite annealing of stainless (304, 316, etc.), precipitation treatment of PH-steels (17-4PH, 13-8PH, etc.) and specialty treatment of alloys (Inconel 718, MU-metal etc.). The addition of vacuum heat treatment solutions extends the company’s capabilities, offering more solutions, and greater flexibility and ensuring clients receive hardening solutions tailored to their specific needs. In this expansion, Expanite is bringing its patented technology for hardening of titanium to North America.
The heat treat industry is rich with knowledgeable leaders, resourceful problem solvers, and innovative teams. One of our favorite things to do here atHeat Treat Today is to draw attention to the wealth of expertise in the field, so we are pleased to launch the Voices in Heat Treat series, pointing readers to a treasure house of recorded interviews and discussions diving into the fundamentals of thermal processing.
In this and coming articles drawn from the audio library at Solar Atmospheres, we will summarize topics on everything from basic heat treating how-tos, preventative maintenance, and troubleshooting to the history of hot zone designs, temperature uniformity surveys, and the distinctions to take into consideration when processing different kinds of metals and alloys. In today’s installment, our industry experts focus on vacuum brazing and the uniqueness of heat treating titanium.
In the premiere article of this series, Bill Jones, founder and CEO of Solar Atmospheres and Solar Manufacturing, interviews industry leaders about the advantages of vacuum furnace brazing. Read the highlights of their discussion about the process, in particular when used with stainless steel and titanium. The summary of a fourth episode recorded earlier has been added, expanding on the topic of the advantages of processing titanium in a vacuum furnace. The experts are Calvin Amenheuser, vice president of the Hatfield plant, and Mike Paponetti, sales manager of the southeast. Jim Nagy, senior vice president of Solar Manufacturing, hosts the episodes. A summary of each conversation is below, followed by links that will take you directly to that podcast episode.
Bill Jones and the Team Speak on Vacuum Brazing, a 3-Part Series
“Advantages of Vacuum Furnace Brazing”
December 2015
Brazing to form strong metallurgical bond where the brazed joint becomes a sandwich of different layers, each linked at the grain level
This episode is the first in a series on vacuum furnace brazing, with an overview of different types of brazing processes and why vacuum furnace brazing is superior to other joining methods, particularly torch brazing and welding.
The conversation explores various reasons why a vacuum furnace is well-suited to perform brazing because it provides:
a controlled, consistent atmosphere cycle after cycle
uniform heating throughout the hot zone
a controlled rate of heating
the elimination of air to prevent the formation of oxidation of the metal
Vacuum Furnace Brazing vs. Alternative Methods
Both Cal Amenheuser and Mike Paponetti speak about vacuum brazing being a superior process to alternative methods. Mike noted that torch brazing is effective for low volume loads, but the process risks flux entrapment and could produce messy, overheated and possibly carburized parts. In contrast, vacuum furnace brazing allows for higher volume loads, providing a repeatable process, precise temperature measurements, and versatility.
Brazing applications from parts to rockets
Calvin added that while welding melts the materials and produces a strong joint, the surrounding material is weaker. With vacuum furnace brazing, the brazed joint is just as strong or stronger afterward as before.
Finally, the panelists compared how batch vacuum furnace brazing eliminates distortion that is typical with torch brazing and welding because of hot zone uniformity. A batch furnace operator can modify the process to meet the demand of the load, and furnace charts provide proof of reveal what exactly happened during the run so that successful recipes can be repeated.
In this episode, second in the series on the vacuum furnace brazing, the Solar team reconvened to discuss advantages of and concerns with nickel-based and copper-based brazing alloys.
All agree that nickel-based alloy offers a cleaner braze but emphasize precautions must be put in place to avoid metal erosion and cracking. While readily available and a good match for low carbon steel, copper flashes during the braze. Inert gas is recommended to decrease evaporation of the copper-based alloy.
“Processing Titanium in Vacuum Furnaces: Active Brazing of Titanium in a Vacuum Furnace”
April 2016
In this third and final episode on the topic of vacuum furnace brazing, Bill Jones, Calvin Amenheuser, and Mike Paponetti consider significant challenges to brazing titanium, which is the need to reduce surface oxide to allow the process to take place and why active brazing is suggested as a means to meet that challenge. What follows is an informative discussion on composites that allow producing companies add to the material, like hydrated titanium, zirconium, and indium, to help overcome oxides, which are effective at wedding to the surface.
“Processing Titanium in Vacuum Furnaces: Advantages”
February 2013
175,000 pounds of 6Al-4V titanium in Solar’s 48-foot-long vacuum furnace
Although recorded earlier than and thus separately from the series on vacuum furnace brazing, this summary of an episode is included in this article to provide context about the advantages of processing titanium in a vacuum furnace. This is a solo Bill Jones episode.
Bill Jones highlights how vacuum furnaces provide a pure atmosphere for processing titanium compared to an argon atmosphere, saving machining costs and time. Additionally, vacuum processing uses forced inert gas quenching to cool titanium as opposed to water quenching which results in a more uniform result and eliminates part distortion. Finally, fixturing parts properly in a vacuum furnace with graphite allows heat treaters to preserve the part shape and avoid movement.
Bill Jones Founder & CEO Solar Atmospheres, Solar Manufacturing Source: Solar AtmospheresCalvin Amenheuser Vice President of Operations, Souderton plant Solar Atmospheres Source: Solar AtmospheresMichael Paponetti Sales Manager of the Southeast Solar Atmospheres, Inc. Source: Solar AtmospheresJim Nagy Senior Vice President Solar Manufacturing, Inc. Source: LinkedIn
A U.S.-based automotive manufacturer is expanding its production capacity for brazing stainless heat exchangers with the order of a single-chamber vacuum furnace. The equipment will be integrated into an existing line’s thermal process operations, which is located at their Mexico facility.
Peter Zawistowski Managing Director SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA Source: SECO/WARWICK
The heat treater ordered the furnace from SECO/VACUUM specifically for immediate delivery, allowing brazing of automotive components to begin without delay.
“We built this furnace to be ready to be shipped and put into operation very quickly, which is just the solution they were looking for,” said Piotr Zawistowski, managing director of SECO/VACUUM.
The press release is available in its original form here.
What is the most common scenario for a eutectic reaction? And (for that matter) what constitutes a eutectic reaction?
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If your heat treat operations involves vacuum heat treatments, you may already be familiar with this term. With the ability to truly make a bad day worse, this paper uncovers several examples of eutectic reactions, the costs that this “metallurgical experiment” can have on your load and furnace, and what steps you should take to prevent two mating metals from melting together. In this best of the web article, read about the eight examples of how barriers are used in real-world applications.
An excerpt: “To many people, the term ‘eutectic’ is not well understood. The best way to think of a eutectic is a metallurgical meltdown. A eutectic reaction occurs when two components with different melting points and surfaces free of oxides come in contact with each other in the vacuum furnace. This can create an atomic diffusion. For some materials, when a specific atomic composition is reached, they will melt at a temperature much lower than the melting point of the individual metals. If that temperature is reached or exceeded during the heat treating cycle, melting will occur at the contact points. This is referred to as a eutectic melt.”
At the end of March, a vacuum aluminum brazing furnace was shipped to a manufacturer that serves the aerospace industry. The North America company produces complex heat exchangers, cold plates, and avionic enclosures.
The furnace, from PVT, Inc., has an AMS 2750 qualified work zone of 36” x 30” x 90” with type B instrumentation and Class 1 temperature uniformity. In addition to this furnace, PVT delivered two furnaces in Q4 and one furnace in Q3 2022 to companies manufacturing components for avionics, MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), and electromechanical assemblies.
Getting excited for the November print edition? In 2021, Heat Treat Today released the inaugural Vacuum Heat Treating print edition. This edition is set to release every November to help heat treaters better work their vacuum furnaces and vacuum heat treat processes.
This Technical Tuesday original content round-up shares the hottest vacuum heat treating articles from this past year as you bundle up for the cool weather this fall. Enjoy!
Graphite in Vacuum Furnace Fixturing
Let's talk about carbon/carbon composite --- C/C.
Why is the vacuum furnace industry excited about its use in graphite vacuum furnace fixtures, grids, and leveling components? Because it can be readily machined for special shapes and applications. The lighter-weight material is mostly composed of carbon fibers and a carbon matrix (or binder).
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As the authors of this article explain, "They are among the strongest and lightest high temperature engineered materials in the world compared to other materials such as basic graphite, ceramics, metal, or plastic. C/C composites are lightweight, strong, and can withstand temperatures of over 3632°F (2000°C) without any loss in performance." Intrigued, are you not?
Step-by-Step Guide To Choose Heat Treating Equipment (English / Español)
If it's time to choose an industrial furnace, let's break it down step by step:
Step One: Quote Request
Step Two: Supplier Selection
Step Three: Study and Evaluation of Offers
Step Four: The Price
Follow this guide and avoid saying things like "The substation and/or the cooling tower did not have the capacity"; "The equipment is not what we expected"; or “They never told us that the furnace needed gas in those capabilities." If there are steps you take when selecting an industrial furnace, let us know in a Reader Feedback note here.
Pressure vs. Velocity and the Size of Your Furnace
If you like the R&D world of heat treat, but also like to be grounded in practical heat treat solutions, this is the article for you. Read about what this commercial heat treat found out about how size relates to the pressure and velocity of vacuum furnace cooling rates. Here are the facts you will learn:
The greatest impact on the cooling performance in a vacuum furnace is to increase the___ ______ within ___ _____.
This is achieved by ______ __ ______ of the ______ ____.
Energy at Large: A Heat Treat Vacuum Furnace Case Study
If you like to read about how heat treaters can be game changers in multinational science projects, this is the article for you. A specially designed vacuum heat treat furnace was commissioned to heat treat critical components in a large energy generator. The heat treating of these components takes 5 weeks to complete; talk about a long, uniform heat treat period.
Read about the energy experiment, the heat treat furnace, and the heat treating process in this technical feature.
Part discoloration after vacuum heat treating? What can heat treaters do to prevent this? In this best of the web, Q&A-style article, witness the heat treating industry gather around to exchange ideas and find a solution to the problem. Part position, backfill gas level, contaminated quench gas, or an air leak could all be to blame in this Technical Tuesday.
Dan Herring weighs in on the issue as well. To read The Heat Treat Doctor's®diagnosis, click the link below. Learn how the color and position of the discoloration give clues as to the source of the problem.
An excerpt:
"So, what else could be happening? Let The Doctor add a few thoughts to the discussion. First, the fact that the discoloration (staining) is brown in coloration suggests that the oxide is forming on the part surface during cooling when the temperature is in the range of (approximate) 245ºC – 270ºC (475ºF – 520ºF). This is supported by the fact that the oxidation does not occur “during natural cooling” (which we assume to mean cooling under vacuum). Second, the fact that the discoloration is more evident at the bottom of the load suggests the phenomenon is (gas exposure) time dependent, that is, the longer the parts take to cool through the critical range, the greater the chance for discoloration."
Getting excited for the November print edition? In 2021, 
If you like to read about how heat treaters can be game changers in multinational science projects, this is the article for you. A specially designed vacuum heat treat furnace was commissioned to heat treat critical components in a large energy generator. The heat treating of these components takes 5 weeks to complete; talk about a long, uniform heat treat period.
