Solar Atmospheres of Western PA (SAWPA), Hermitage, announces that Michael Paponetti has accepted the position of Regional Sales Manager. Michael will be utilizing his 18 years of heat treating / brazing technical knowledge to maintain and promote sales throughout the country. Prior to accepting this position he served as President of Expert Brazing and Heat Treating which is located in Massillon, Ohio.

Pro-Tec Coating Co., Leipsic, Ohio, a joint venture between United States Steel Corp. and Kobe Steel Ltd., has begun hot commissioning of the continuous annealing line supplied by SMS Siemag and installed at the works in Leipsic, Ohio. The line has been designed to produce almost 500,000 tpy of ultra-high-strength steel strips for automotive structural components.

Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, has extended its long-term titanium products supply agreement with the Boeing Co. It covers value-added titanium mill products and provides opportunity for greater use of ATI’s next-generation and advanced titanium alloys in both long product and flat-rolled product forms. For example, ATI 425 titanium alloy is a continuously processed alpha+beta alloy with strength comparable to Ti 6-4 and improved formability.

Researchers at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., have developed a transparent, bioinspired coating that makes ordinary glass tough, self-cleaning, and extremely slippery. Researchers produce the ultraslippery coating by building a glass honeycomb-like structure with craters (left in the diagram), coating it with a Teflon-like chemical (purple) that binds to the honeycomb cells to form a stable liquid film. That film repels droplets of both water and oily liquids (right).

Siemens Metals Technologies, Austria, and LanzaTech, New Zealand, have signed a ten-year cooperative agreement to develop and market integrated environmental solutions for the steel industry worldwide. The collaboration will utilize fermentation technology developed by LanzaTech to transform carbon-rich off-gases generated by the steel industry into low-carbon bioethanol and other platform chemicals.

Rust includes any variety of powdery or scaly reddish-brown or reddish-yellow hydrated ferric oxides formed on iron and iron-containing materials by low-temperature oxidation in the presence of water. It often symbolizes neglect and rotting infrastructure. However, a photography contest sponsored by Gizmodo challenged contestants to capture its beauty. The winner (pictured here) is called Sandstone. The photo was taken by Andre Papineau using a Nokia Lumia 920 ISO: 100 F 2.

The U.S. Dept. of Energy, Washington, announces that an ARPA-E  program called  Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advancements for Light-metal Systems (METALS), will provide $32 million to find cost-effective and energy-efficient manufacturing techniques to process and recycle metals for lightweight vehicles. Manufacturers, laboratories, and universities  taking part in the program will develop innovative technologies for cost-effective processing and recycling of aluminum, magnesium, and titanium.

The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Va., announces the addition of three companies to the organization’s membership.  Scotwood Industries, Page Transportation, and Alloy Technology Innovations, each of which provides goods or services to the aluminum industry, will join the Association as Associate members.  These additions bring total membership of the Aluminum Association to a record 98 members, consisting of 51 producer and 47 associate members.

RTI International Metals Inc., Pittsburgh, has acquired the Osborn Steel Extrusions business unit of Osborn Metals Ltd., UK, for approximately $15 million in cash. Osborn Steel Extrusions specializes in the manufacture of less than 6-in. diameter extruded titanium and stainless steel hollows and near-net shape profile parts. It principally supplies commercial aerospace, energy, power generation, and defense customers.

Aichelin Group, Modling, Austria, announces that a new order for a 1500-kg electrically heated quench furnace installation has been received from Renault Nissan Automotive Ltd., for its automotive assembly plant in Chennai, India.  The order reportedly consists of four sealed quench furnaces and accessories, including a tempering and preheating furnace, a washer, and other related equipment, to be supplied in phases until April 2015.

Infinium Metals Inc., Natick, Mass., has received a grant from ARPA-E and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to commercialize its Pure Oxygen Anode technology. The process is said to enable three to five times higher production output per footprint than conventional processes, with virtually no emissions. It reduces cost by cutting in half the energy required and by eliminating the need for consumable graphite anodes.