Seco Warwick to install 265-foot aluminum brazing line for auto radiators
December 1, 2016
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Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., reports that it will install a 265-foot controlled-atmosphere aluminum brazing line at Banco Products Ltd., an Indian manufacturer and supplier of original equipment for commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and industrial products. The line is designed for a production capacity of 400 automotive radiators per hour, with a high-speed conveyor belt.
"CAB brazing is the preferred process for manufacturing aluminum heat exchangers in the automotive industry," says Seco Warwick VP Piotr Skarbinski. "We continue to improve this technology to achieve greater equipment efficiency and faster cycle times, while reducing capital expenses."
"Our experience of working with Seco Warwick in the past was extremely positive," says Yogesh Shah, Banco Vice President of Engineering. "We could achieve the required quality and performance set from the installation, resulting in our decision to go with them again for this new installation, the largest controlled atmosphere brazing continuous production line."
www.secowarwick.com
Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., reports that it will install a 265-foot controlled-atmosphere aluminum brazing line at Banco Products Ltd., an Indian manufacturer and supplier of original equipment for commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and industrial products.
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Arconic’s aluminum Micromill technology wins R&D 100 award
November 22, 2016
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Arconic (formerly Alcoa), Pittsburgh, announces that R&D magazine has named Arconic's aluminum Micromill technology an R&D 100 Award winner. The technology reduces the production time to create rolled coil from hot metal from 20 days to 20 minutes. The Micromill's unique production process significantly changes the microstructure of the metal, allowing for higher formability, greater strength, and lighter weight at the same time. It produces metal that is 40% more formable and 30% stronger than today's incumbent automotive aluminum alloys, while meeting stringent surface quality requirements.
Automotive parts made with Micromill material are twice as formable and at least 30% lighter than parts made from high-strength steel.
"Arconic's Micromill material offers a unique combination of strength, weight reduction, and increased formability that was previously impossible," says Ray Kilmer, Arconic Chief Technology Officer. "Bringing these material benefits together changes the paradigm for auto makers, offering them unparalleled design freedom."
Micromill material debuted on Ford's best-selling vehicle, the 2016 F-150, and Ford continues to collaborate with Arconic under a joint development agreement announced last year.
Arconic received an R&D 100 Award in 2014 for its A951 bonding technology that enabled the historic shift to aluminum-intensive vehicles. Arconic estimates that it will grow its automotive sheet revenue approximately sixfold, from $229 million in 2013 to $1.3 billion in 2018.
This year's R&D 100 Awards were presented during the R&D 100 Conference in Washington, D.C., where top innovators in the R&D community come together each year to review the developments of the past year, provide insight into future forecasting, and foster a collaborative environment to share ideas and network with industry peers.
www.arconic.com
Arconic (formerly Alcoa), Pittsburgh, announces that R&D magazine has named Arconic’s aluminum Micromill technology an R&D 100 Award winner.
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Computationally Optimized Heat Treatment Process wins R&D 100 Award
November 18, 2016
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The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, announces that its Computationally Optimized Homogenization Heat Treatment Process has been named a winner of the 2016 R&D 100 Awards. NETL's technology provides an easy method to optimize heat treatment to achieve the required degree of homogenization with a minimum of furnace time.
Conventional processes for homogenizing metal alloys are trial-and-error in their approach, resulting in increased process cost and limits to the possible paths that may be explored. The primary application for this technology is for alloys that are exposed to extreme environments, including heat-resistant alloys or those needing corrosion/oxidation resistance. A properly homogenized alloy will not only function better, but also will have an extended life cycle.
During solidification of any alloy, the elements segregate unevenly. This chemical segregation is unavoidable and results in non-uniform regions that negatively impact mechanical and physical properties. Even distribution of the alloying elements is necessary to achieve optimal performance for the specified application.
The computational approach to homogenization is based on kinetics of the chemical diffusion coefficient of each element to determine the homogenization cycle necessary to evenly distribute the elements that are susceptible to segregation. Conventional homogenization processes rely on a trial-and-error approach that results in the need for more experimentation and analysis. If the selected times and temperatures do not achieve the correct degree of homogenization, additional experimentation become necessary.
The Computationally Optimized Homogenization Heat Treatment Process is designed especially for alloys exposed to extreme environments, including heat-resistant alloys and those that require corrosion/oxidation resistance. Such alloys are typically in industries that service the aerospace, military, petrochemical, power generation, nuclear, structural, automotive. and instrumentation sectors.
www.netl.doe.gov
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, announces that its Computationally Optimized Homogenization Heat Treatment Process has been named a winner of a 2016 R&D 100 Award.
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Siemens to acquire Mentor Graphics for its electronics IC and systems design
November 14, 2016
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Siemens AG, Munich, and Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, Ore., announce that they have entered into a merger agreement under which Siemens will acquire Mentor for $37.25 per share in cash, which represents an enterprise value of $4.5 billion. The offer price represents a 21% premium to Mentor's closing price on November 11, 2016, the last trading day prior to the announcement.
This acquisition decisively extends Siemens' leading Digital Enterprise Software portfolio with Mentor's well established electronics IC and systems design, simulation, and manufacturing solutions. These capabilities are essential for today's smart connected products such as autonomous vehicles. The combination provides mechanical, thermal, electronic and embedded software tools which will allow Siemens' customers to further accelerate their innovation, drive production efficiencies, and optimize the operation of their products in the field. Now, for the first time, quality, efficiency, flexibility, safety and speed can be optimized across technical domains, throughout the entire lifecycle and for the entire extended enterprise.
"Siemens is acquiring Mentor as part of its Vision 2020 concept to be the Benchmark for the New Industrial Age. It's a perfect portfolio fit to further expand our digital leadership and set the pace in the industry," said Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG.
"With Mentor, we're acquiring an established technology leader with a talented employee base that will allow us to supplement our world-class industrial software portfolio. It will complement our strong offering in mechanics and software with design, test and simulation of electrical and electronic systems," said Klaus Helmrich, member of the Managing Board of Siemens.
"Combining Mentor's technology leadership and deep customer relationships with Siemens' global scale and resources will better enable us to serve the growing needs of our customers, and unlock additional significant opportunities for our employees," said Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor. "Siemens is an ideal partner with financial depth and stability, and their resources and additional investment will allow us to innovate even faster and accelerate our vision of creating top-to-bottom automated design solutions for electronic systems.
www.mentor.com
www.siemens.com
Siemens AG, Munich, and Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, Ore., announce that they have entered into a merger agreement under which Siemens will acquire Mentor for its electronics IC and systems design, simulation, and manufacturing solutions.
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Ampco Pittsburgh acquires ASW Steel for its specialty steel products
November 8, 2016
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Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp., Carnegie, Pa., has acquired ASW Steel Inc., Welland, Ontario, a specialty steel producer with customers in the oil and gas, power generation, aerospace, transportation, and construction industries. ASW offers a unique combination of carbon, stainless, and other specialty steelmaking capabilities, as well as flexible steel refining methods such as argon oxygen decarburization, vacuum oxygen decarburization, vacuum degassing, and a ladle metallurgical station.
According to John Stanik, Ampco-Pittsburgh's Chief Executive Officer, "This acquisition is a very important element in Ampco-Pittsburgh's strategic diversification plan. ASW's proven broad expertise in flexible steel refining methods will provide us with the capabilities to manufacture the additional chemistries needed to expand our reach in the open-die forging market. The transaction also enhances our ability to grow in markets in which we currently participate and to add new markets."
"Our combined capabilities will offer forgers, ring rollers, and rolling mills, a high-quality supplier with the broadest range of specialized steel products in the marketplace," says Tim Clutterbuck, President of ASW Steel, Inc.
The total purchase price was approximately $13.1 million, including $3.5 million in cash and assumption of approximately $9.6 million of outstanding indebtedness.
ASW, whose annual revenues are approximately $48 million, will be an indirect subsidiary of Union Electric Steel Corporation, a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Ampco-Pittsburgh. Union Electric Steel is a leading producer of forged and cast engineered products for the global steel and aluminum industries.
www.ampcopgh.com
Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp., Carnegie, Pa., has acquired ASW Steel Inc., Welland, Ontario, a specialty steel producer with customers in the oil and gas, power generation, aerospace, transportation, and construction industries.
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PdMetrics software now included with Ipsen Titan heat treat systems
November 7, 2016
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that its PdMetrics platform is now included standard with its Titan heat treating systems. PdMetrics securely connects to a network of integrated sensors on the furnace to gather and analyze data, run algorithms, and provide real-time diagnostics. As a result, these Titan furnaces provide sophisticated monitoring of critical systems and key parameters that improve the health and integrity of the equipment.
Ipsen recently delivered two Titan H2-size vacuum furnaces with 1.9-bar gas quenching and the PdMetrics platform to Japan. Shipped within three weeks of each other, these furnaces will be used by separate commercial heat treaters and feature 18 x 24 x 18-inch graphite hot zones with a 1000-pound load capacity. They operate at temperatures up to 2400°F with ±10°F uniformity, and are capable of meeting applicable AMS 2750E and Nadcap requirements.
Both companies also took a proactive approach to preventive maintenance by ordering one of Ipsen's many spare parts kits. These kits consist of consumable and preventive maintenance items to help ensure equipment uptime and keep the furnace running smoothly.
www.IpsenUSA.com/TITAN
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that its PdMetrics platform is now included standard with its Titan heat treating systems.
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Russian scientists develop strong shape memory alloy based on Fe-Ni-Co-Al
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The Tomsk University Laboratory for Physics of High-Strength Crystals, Russia, announces that its researchers have designed a new high-strength iron-base shape-memory alloy whose properties are developed through a heat treatment technology that they have patented. "We especially use iron-nickel-cobalt-aluminum, plus a fifth element that could be titanium, niobium, or tantalum," says Prof. Yury Chumlyakov, head of the laboratory. "These alloys can compete with nickel titanium."
In particular, the researchers claim that the alloys have a reversible change in shape of about 15%, while nickel-titanium alloys have about 10%. Thus, the sensors and actuators made of the alloys would work more effectively. The iron-base alloys are also said to have high strength, important for practical use in devices that must withstand high external loads, such as components for the aerospace and engineering industries.
The laboratory researchers emphasize that these sensors and actuation devices would be not only stronger, but also cheaper than nickel-titanium. Thus, they can reduce the cost of production of household equipment, fire alarm sensors, connecting elements for aerospace and automotive components, and many other devices.
The scientists developed the material within the framework of the project called "Mechanisms of Phase and Structural Transformations in High-Strength Crystals of Iron and Nickel-Titanium Based Alloys with Conventional and Magnetic Shape Memory Effect." This project is supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation in the amount of $790,000. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of actuating mechanisms and sensors for mechanical engineering, aerospace, and other industries. The laboratory plans to continue studying these alloys.
The results of their study were presented at the international conference Alloys with Shape Memory Effect (St. Petersburg).
http://en.tsu.ru/news/tsu-physicists-have-created-a-high-strength-material-for-the-aerospace/
http://en.tsu.ru/
The Tomsk University Laboratory for Physics of High-Strength Crystals, Russia, announces that its researchers have designed a new high-strength iron-base shape-memory alloy whose properties are developed through a heat treatment technology that they have patented.
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American Axle acquires Metaldyne Performance Group
November 6, 2016
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American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., Detroit, and Metaldyne Performance Group Inc., Southfield, Mich., announce that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which AAM will acquire MPG for approximately $1.6 billion in cash and stock, plus the assumption of $1.7 billion in net debt. The combination brings together highly complementary businesses and forms a global Tier 1 supplier with broad capabilities across powertrain, drivetrain, and driveline product lines, as well as a diversified customer base and end-markets.
"MPG's expertise in complex, highly-engineered powertrain components and its global footprint will be tremendous assets to AAM," says David C. Dauch, AAM's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Together, we are forming a company with increased earnings potential and enhanced cash flow generation that will allow us to rapidly reduce leverage while fueling growth and delivering value to our shareholders."
According to George Thanopoulos, MPG's Chief Executive Officer, "MPG and AAM share a similar culture and value system, laser focused on quality, operational excellence and technology leadership, which creates a natural fit and clear path to value creation for stakeholders of both companies."
Under the terms of the agreement, each share of MPG's common stock will be converted into the right to receive $13.50 per share in cash and 0.5 share of AAM common stock. Upon closing of the transaction, AAM's shareholders will own approximately 70% of the combined company and MPG's shareholders will own approximately 30%. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is anticipated to close in the first half of 2017 subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.
Concurrent with the signing of the merger agreement, AAM entered into a voting agreement with an affiliate of American Securities LLC, the controlling stockholder of MPG, pursuant to which American Securities LLC has agreed to vote in favor of and otherwise support the transaction, subject to the terms of the voting agreement. Following the transaction, an affiliate of American Securities LLC will own approximately 23% of the combined company.
www.mpgdriven.com
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., Detroit, and Metaldyne Performance Group Inc., Southfield, Mich., announce that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which AAM will acquire MPG for approximately $1.6 billion in cash and stock, plus the assumption of $1.7 billion in net debt.
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Alcoa completes separation from parent company Arconic
November 2, 2016
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Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that it has completed the separation from its parent company Alcoa Inc. (now named Arconic Inc.) and has begun operating as an independent, publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AA. Alcoa Corporation is a globally cost-competitive industry leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products, positioned to succeed throughout the market cycle.
The separation was completed through a pro rata distribution by Alcoa Inc. of 80.1% of the outstanding shares of the newly formed Alcoa Corporation. Arconic will retain 19.9% of Alcoa Corporation common stock.
"We are launching Alcoa Corporation as a world leader in the aluminum industry with distinct competitive advantages across the value chain," says Roy Harvey, Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa. "Our bauxite and alumina portfolios enjoy strong first quartile cost positions and our aluminum portfolio has a highly competitive second quartile position. We've made a commercial success of our cast products business. Our can sheet business is a leader in North America, and our substantial energy assets are also driving value for maximum profitability."
"Today we launch Arconic as a strong independent company," said Arconic Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld on Nov. 1. "Our multi-year transformation while part of Alcoa Inc. substantially improved our competitiveness and profitability. Today, we are very well positioned as a leader in attractive markets."
Within aerospace, which accounts for approximately 40% of Arconic total revenues, the company develops and manufactures high-performance, engineered products and solutions for airframe structures and aero engines. Since 2008, the company has significantly grown its capabilities through a combination of organic and inorganic technology and innovation-focused investments.
As a result, Arconic has gained significant share on next generation aero engines and aero structures. The company can today supply over 90% of the components within the jet engine, and it is a leader in structural parts for both metallic and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) aircraft. In fact, 85% of aerospace revenues come from products where it holds either the number one or number two market position.
In the North American automotive market, Arconic invented the bonding process to enable the mass-market shift from steel to aluminum, and it is today at the forefront of capturing growing demand for aluminum sheet as the industry shifts to light-weighting. The Company expects its North American automotive sheet revenues to grow six-fold, from $229 million in 2013 to $1.3 billion in 2018. Across its North American automotive portfolio, 96% of the company's revenues come from products where it is number one or number two in its market.
www.alcoa.com
www.arconic.com
Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that it has completed the separation from its parent company Alcoa Inc. (now named Arconic Inc.) and has begun operating as an independent, publicly-traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AA.
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Buehler IsoMet High Speed precision cutter enables consistent metal sample sectioning
November 1, 2016
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Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., introduces the IsoMet High Speed, a precision sectioning machine designed specifically to create consistent and efficient cuts in metals and other materials using diamond or abrasive blades. It features a robust saw that provides consistent sectioning performance for busy laboratories with the following key features:
Automated three-axis movement allows precise alignment and quick cutting.
Automatic dressing system maintains consistent cut quality and reduces the frequency of changing the dressing stick.
Rapid laser alignment saves time with instant visual alignment with laser.
Intuitive controls allow programming for repeatable and consistent single or serial sections.
Quick sample adjustments offer easy adjusting of sample with the Rapid Rail and tool-less vising system.
According to Product Manager Chelsea Frid, "The IsoMet High Speed is available in two formats – the High Speed and the High Speed Pro. Both provide strength and power to produce quality cut surfaces. In the High Speed Pro version, Buehler has added additional abilities to improve user experience with a laser for visual blade alignment and an automatic dressing system to maintain diamond blade quality throughout the cut."
Buehler offers a complete selection of IsoMet High Speed accessories, including Rapid Rail Vise Holder, Single Saddle Chuck, Double Saddle Chuck, quick clamp vises, dressing wheels, and external recirculation tank.
Buehler is a leading provider of scientific equipment, supplies, consumables and analysis techniques for use in materials preparation, image analyses and hardness testing.
www.buehler.com
Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., introduces the IsoMet High Speed, a precision sectioning machine designed specifically to create consistent and efficient cuts in metals and other materials using diamond or abrasive blades.
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