Ipsen installs vacuum furnace at Taiwan Hodaka Technology

Ipsen, Tainan City, Taiwan, has announced the installation of a TurboTreater vacuum furnace for a customer in Southeast Asia. Established in 2002, Taiwan Hodaka Technology Co., Ltd. is an aluminum extrusion supplier, specializing in high-end aerospace aluminum alloys. 

They also produce products used in the sporting goods, consumer electronics and automotive industries. The TurboTreater boasts a work zone size of 36” (914 mm) x 36” (914 mm) x 48” (1219mm) with a weight capacity of 3000 lb (1360 kg) and normal operating temperature up to 2400 °F (1315 °C). The furnace was designed with convection heating, allowing for more uniform processing of large cross-section parts and dense loads. It is also capable of quenching at up to 12 bar positive pressure in nitrogen.

Hodaka chose Ipsen for their positive brand reputation, technical capabilities and process know-how.

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Can-Eng Furnaces contracted for continuous quench and temper furnace system

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd., Niagara, Ontario, was recently contracted to engineer and commission a continuous quench and temper furnace system for a North American producer of mining, construction, and materials handling products. The purchase of this equipment is part of a larger plant expansion and initiative to bring foreign outsourced manufacturing in house.  

This move is not only to improve part quality but also to help eliminate overall shipping costs and reduce supply chain issues which have been plaguing many industries over the past couple of years. This equipment will be part of an automated manufacturing cell and fed automatically from upstream handling equipment. Special considerations have been made to precisely control the quench temperature to reduce hardness variations and improve overall part quality.  

The multizone belt style temper furnace employs high efficiency natural gas fired heating and recirculation systems which have been proven to provide the ultimate in temperature uniformity in even the most demanding of applications.  

 

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Kanthal and Rath announce strategic partnership to expand sustainable industrial heating technology offerings

Kanthal and Rath, Amherst, NY, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at expanding their combined offering in industrial heating technology. This collaboration is set to benefit industries such as steel and petrochemical as they strive to transition to greener practices.

By joining forces, Kanthal and Rath will create the most extensive range of sustainable industrial heating solutions available in the market. Kanthal’s expertise in heating elements and systems, combined with Rath’s premium insulation and refractory products, will provide customers with a unique and comprehensive offering to meet their industrial heating needs.

Robert Stål, president of Kanthal, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “We are thrilled to partner with Rath to further expand our offerings in industrial heating technology, enabling societies and industries to make the green shift. In this era of electrification, this partnership will provide our customers with a broader range of innovative solutions that will enable them to optimize their operations and achieve their sustainability goals. Together, we can leverage our collective expertise to deliver greater value to our customers and help them thrive in a rapidly evolving market.”

Andreas Pfneiszl, CFO/CSO of Rath, emphasized their focus on sustainability, particularly in developing energy-saving refractory products and materials for electrically heated furnaces. He stated, “With our strategic partner Kanthal, we will enable customers’ shift towards fossil-fuel-free production.” This partnership aligns with Rath’s commitment to environmentally friendly practices.

Through closer collaboration in developing new technologies and solutions, Kanthal and Rath will leverage their expertise to drive the technology shift that industries like steel and petrochemical are currently undergoing. The joint go-to-market model will provide customers with a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, offering enhanced value and convenience.

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Solar Atmospheres of Western PA treats a record load of titanium

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, Hermitage, vacuum degassed a record 175,000 pounds of 6Al-4V titanium in their 48-foot-long vacuum furnace. The furnace load consisted of 154 sheets of titanium 40” wide X 240” long. It represented the largest and heaviest single load of titanium ever processed in Solar’s history.

Bob Hill, president of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA states, “The future of the global aerospace titanium market is very promising with the many opportunities in the commercial and military aircraft markets!”

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One Minute Mentor: Vacuum Furnaces

The demands on vacuum-hardening technology have changed in recent decades. One of the most important considerations that must be met is the accomplishment of highest dimensional stability with optimal microstructural properties and minimal change of the surface of the workpieces. 

Minimizing exposure to air during the heat treatment by reducing the quantity of oxygen in a heat treatment furnace, as with creating a vacuum, is an excellent method for preventing changes in surface appearance and chemical composition.

Suppliers of modern vacuum furnaces are further faced with new demands, such as increasing quenching speed to improve microstructural and mechanical properties by reducing grain size, and enhancing hardness and toughness and/or reducing distortion due to the hardening process. Furthermore, quality standards such as AMS 2750d or North American Die Casting Association (NADCA), which describe temperature homogeneity or quenching speeds and resulting and needed workpiece properties, had a significant effect on furnace design and process control.

For more information, click on the link below (subscription required). Then scroll to Figure 14

R Schneider ; R. Mesquita ; H. Altena ; T. Müller ; P. Seemann,Processes and Furnace Equipment for Heat Treating of Tool Steels, ASM International, 2014, https://doi.org/10.31399/asm.hb.v04d.a0005958

Constellium to provide closed-loop recycling for the all-new Megane E-TECH Electric

Constellium, Paris,  announced today its agreement with Renault Group to establish a closed-loop recycling process for the all-new Megane E-TECH Electric. 

Aluminum, lightweight and fully recyclable, is the material of choice for the electrification of the automotive fleet, and Constellium is well-positioned to support this transition with advanced products and solutions.

Renault Group has developed a closed-loop recycling process to bring manufacturing scrap from the stamping process directly back to Constellium, resulting in a reduced CO2 footprint. Based on best practices to avoid mixing 5xxx and 6xxx alloys and to compact scrap for optimal logistics at Renault Group, the closed-loop process will recycle these alloys, so that they can be reused in Renault Group’s production without any loss of properties, and overall with no downcycling.

Constellium, a full-service supplier of rolled and extruded aluminum solutions for the global automotive market, supplies aluminum for 1 in 4 vehicles produced in Europe and the U.S. We help automakers produce lighter, safer and more fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as electric vehicles with greater range. Renault Group is supplied by Constellium’s ASI-certified facility in Neuf Brisach, France.

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EndoFlex generator chosen for fastener heat treatment

UPC-Marathon, Quebec,, a Nitrex company, has commissioned a 100 M3H EndoFlex endothermic gas generator for a South American manufacturer of industrial fasteners.

This is a repeat customer that has UPC-Marathon‘s gas panels, flowmeters, oxygen probes, and Protherm plant automation software installed in their heat treatment operations. With the addition of the EndoFlex generator, they will now be able to supply gas to a new continuous mesh belt neutral hardening furnace for the treatment of metal fasteners used in automotive applications.

The customer had the option to choose between a nitrogen-methanol system or an endothermic gas generator for their neutral hardening furnace. After careful consideration, they selected UPC-Marathon’s EndoFlex generator in order to achieve better control and consistency of the process atmosphere. The result is an improved hardening process and higher-quality hardened fasteners, along with reduced operating costs. The EndoFlex mixes ratios more accurately and efficiently, ensuring a constant furnace atmosphere and consistent gas quality, leading to immediate cost savings through reduced electricity and gas consumption and zero waste.

The system was started in March 2023, and its consistent performance has exceeded the customer’s expectations.

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Norman Noble opens new corporate headquarters

Norman Noble, Highland Heights, Ohio, a medical device contract manufacturer, announced it has officially opened their new corporate headquarters at 5500 Avion Park Drive. 

The new 51,000-square-foot facility on 12.35 acres accommodates the sales, estimating, and purchasing departments, and includes collaboration rooms, conference rooms, a learning center, and future manufacturing and product development space.

As project manager, Julie Bennett Lowry, Norman Noble’s director of facilities and environmental Health and Safety stated, “The newly constructed space is stunning, from the two-story main lobby with the full-height glass curtain walls to the 9-display video wall. The space was designed with multiple conference rooms ranging in size as well as a very open office concept making it inviting for personnel to collaborate.”

The technology and the design of the headquarters will help meet medical OEM customers’ growing requirements for Nitinol-based products, including structural heart implants, neurovascular devices, and vascular stent implants.

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Dr. Kathy Hayrynen awarded the 2023 Fred Linebarger teaching award

Dr. Kathy Hayrynen, FASM, vice president of research and development, Aalberts Surface Technologies, Cleveland, has been awarded the 2023 Fred Linebarger Teaching Award by the Cast Iron Division of the American Foundry Society Technical Council.

The award was established in 2015 and honors the late Dr. Fred Linebarger (Director of Technology for Miller & CO) who devoted his career to the development of treatment alloys and processes for the production of both ductile and compacted graphite iron.

Dr. Fred was known for his teaching skills, namely an ability to take complex concepts and break them down into simple bites that anyone could understand. He served as a mentor to many technical employees in the metalcasting industry.

The award honors Dr. Kathy’s efforts mentoring and sharing her knowledge. It emphasizes her role in and the importance of education in the metalcasting industry. It also recognizes her willingness to share knowledge with others by teaching fundamentals of metalcasting to students, customers and industry peers. She serves as a mentor to the next generation of metalcasting professionals, especially women in the industry.

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Charged ions melt nano gold nuggets

In experiments conducted at TU Wien, Vienna, extremely small pieces of gold, consisting of a few thousand atoms and with a diameter in the order of ten nanometers, are bombarded with highly charged ions. This makes it possible to change the shape and size of these gold pieces in a targeted manner. The effects of the ion bombardment were then studied in an atomic force microscope with surprising results.

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Graphene grows—and we can see it

Graphene is extremely strong and good at conducting heat and electrical currents, making it an exceptionally versatile material. Yet, many properties of the material are still poorly understood – for the simple reason that the atoms they are made up of are very difficult to observe. A team of researchers from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and New York University have now found a surprising way to solve this issue.

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