Kobe Steel to build aluminum extrusion plant in Kentucky
May 9, 2016
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Kobe Steel Ltd., Tokyo, announces that it will build a $46.7 million integrated production facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to manufacture aluminum extrusions for the automotive sector in the United States. The new business will operate through Kobelco Aluminum Products & Extrusions Inc. (KPEX), which will make bumper materials for cars and car frame materials.
The new company will have an integrated production facility, with operations ranging from melting to fabrication. Plans call for construction of the plant to begin this summer. Fabrication will start in the latter half of 2017, and the melting to extrusion processes will begin in the latter half of 2018.
Kobe Steel has been supplying aluminum bumper materials to Japanese automakers since the 1990s. The company has over 20 years of experience in the Japanese market, and has established a strong track record. Kobe Steel's original weight-saving proposals, which cover both product development and cross-section design technology, have received high acclaim from customers.
The establishment of KPEX will enable Kobe Steel to manufacture and supply the same high-quality aluminum extrusions and fabricated products available in Japan in the North American market. Through innovative weight-saving proposals, Kobe Steel aims to gain the trust of automakers in North America. KPEX will also contribute to strengthening Kobe Steel's overall supply network, which covers Japan and the United States.
KPEX will be Kobe Steel's second manufacturing operation in Bowling Green after Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products LLC (KAAP), which began production in 2005. KAAP makes aluminum forgings for automotive suspension systems and aluminum cast rods for compressors.
www.kobelco.co.jp
Kobe Steel Ltd., Tokyo, announces that it will build a $46.7 million integrated production facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to manufacture aluminum extrusions for the automotive sector in the United States.
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Commercial Metals to build steel micromill in Oklahoma for long products
May 3, 2016
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Commercial Metals Co., Irving, Texas, announces that it has begun construction of an electric-arc-furnace steel micromill in Durant, Okla., to produce long products by its continuous-continuous manufacturing process in which steel is melted, cast, and rolled from a single uninterrupted strand. The technology produces higher yields and consumes less energy than the traditional minimill process.
The company says that the new mill will produce low-cost, high-quality long steel products that will complement CMC's recycling and fabrication plants, and will enable it to better serve markets in Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding states.
The Oklahoma micro mill is to be commissioned in the fall of 2017, and is expected to create approximately 300 jobs in the Durant area.
Commercial Metals Company and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle, and market steel and metal products, related materials, and services through a network of steel minimills, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, metal recycling facilities, and marketing and distribution offices in the United States and in strategic international markets.
http://www.cmc.com
Commercial Metals Co., Irving, Texas, announces that it has begun construction of an electric-arc-furnace steel micromill in Durant, Okla., to produce long products by its continuous-continuous manufacturing process in which steel is melted, cast, and rolled from a single uninterrupted strand.
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Ipsen Argos low-pressure carburizing plus 20-bar nitrogen quenching increases hardness
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that its Global Development Team in Kleve, Germany, recently celebrated the first build and testing of the Argos heat treating system, in which low-pressure carburizing combined with 20-bar nitrogen quenching reportedly provides metallurgical properties never before seen in gas quenching systems. One industry visitor who witnessed the test run commented, "The Argos is likely the fastest inert-gas quench furnace in the world."
This initial test was carried out on one of the most difficult to quench vacuum carburized components: layshafts for large gears. Until now, helium gas, which is both expensive and declining in availability, was required to fully transform parts with very high cross-sectional thicknesses.
Test outcomes showed that the shafts processed in the Argos system with 20-bar nitrogen quenching achieved higher surface hardness and core hardness values than shafts processed in the existing vacuum heat-treating furnaces with 20-bar helium quenching.
The Argos system offers several additional benefits:
Flexible installation with a selectable number of carburizing, nitriding, subzero, and high-vacuum process chambers with a nitrogen gas and/or oil quench module;
Excellent temperature uniformity during heating and cooling;
Minimal and controllable distortion due to temperature homogeneity throughout the entire load, and the reversible gas flow during cooling;
Extremely high gas velocity and volume due to Ipsen's unique cooling system design.
Overall, the Argos furnace line represents a significant milestone in the growing trend to operate low-pressure carburizing (LPC) lines in combination with inert gas quenching.
www.ipsen.de/en/argos
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that its Global Development Team in Kleve, Germany, recently celebrated the first build and testing of the Argos heat treating system, in which low-pressure carburizing combined with 20-bar nitrogen quenching reportedly provides metallurgical properties never before seen in gas quenching systems.
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Nanosteel delivers first advanced high-strength steel sheet to General Motors
April 26, 2016
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Nanosteel, Providence, has delivered its first advanced high strength steel (AHSS) sheet to General Motors for initial evaluation of its role in vehicle lightweighting to meet rising global fuel-economy regulations. The steel is the result of a multi-year joint development program between NanoSteel and AK Steel Corp., West Chester, Ohio.
NanoSteel's commercially produced automotive sheet steel overcomes the historical tradeoff between strength and formability by delivering exceptional levels of both properties at the same time (approximately 1200 MPa tensile strength and 50% elongation). The high strength allows designers to create parts utilizing thinner-gauge material, while the high elongation allows manufacturers to produce the newly designed parts without expensive processing techniques, employee retraining, or additional capital costs. The unique combination of properties also allows engineers the design freedom to create novel part shapes, which further reduce weight.
"Many advanced materials with outstanding properties end up abandoned because they are too hard to use or too expensive to make," says NanoSteel CEO and president David Paratore. "NanoSteel's advanced high strength steel is designed to be both easy to produce—using conventional alloying elements with standard slab casting equipment; and easy to use—enabling the stamping and forming of parts at room temperature without additional manufacturing infrastructure or investment, such as that required for ‘hot' stamped parts."
AK Steel CEO Roger Newport commented, "We are pleased to partner with Nanosteel to bring this exciting new product to the market. As the first steel producer to manufacture this unique product using traditional slab casting, we are proud to add this accomplishment to our long and successful track record of innovation."
Mr. Paratore added, "We are confident that the exceptional properties of NanoSteel's sheet will enable automakers to affordably meet the ever-changing requirements of vehicle design and foster a new era of steel competitiveness in the battle of material choice."
Nanosteel, Providence, has delivered its first advanced high strength steel (AHSS) sheet to General Motors for initial evaluation of its role in vehicle lightweighting to meet rising global fuel-economy regulations.
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SSAB introduces five steel product families for specific applications
April 20, 2016
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SSAB, Stockholm, introduces five steel product families tailored for production processes and maximized end-product performance: SSAB Domex, SSAB Boron, SSAB Form, SSAB Laser Plus, and SSAB Weathering. The new SSAB brand families include hot rolled plate, hot and cold rolled strip, metal coated, and tubes and sections.
SSAB Domex comprises a wide range of versatile structural steels with excellent cold-forming properties for high productivity and reliable performance.
SSAB Boron is a hardenable steel made for the easy and consistent production of wear-resistant products quenched in the customer's own workshop.
SSAB Form is the right choice for stamping, stretching, deep drawing, bending, metal spinning, and other forming procedures, particularly in high-volume production requiring exact and consistent properties.
SSAB Laser Plus (shown in photo) is a structural steel for efficient laser, water, and plasma cutting, improving yield and product quality thanks to guaranteed flatness after cutting, low internal stresses, and smooth surface.
SSAB Weathering and COR-TEN provide customers with an exceptionally wide choice, and flexible ordering of high-strength corrosion-resistant steel grades.
"Customers want to know what a product can offer, so it makes sense to group our products according to how they are used," says Olavi Huhtala, Head of SSAB Europe. "This will make it much easier to identify the right product for the right application. We have created these optimized offers by combining recently-developed products with a selection of the best products from our earlier ranges."
The new product ranges also provide SSAB´s customers with direct access to the company´s extensive services and support. Customers are welcome to contact SSAB for workshop recommendations and technical support on how to improve productivity.
The merger between SSAB and Ruukki has resulted in a restructuring of SSAB's steel portfolio. Last year, SSAB announced some new offerings, and this product launch, together with a forthcoming relaunch of the Docol brand for the automotive industry, will complete SSAB´s new product portfolio.
www.ssab.com
SSAB, Stockholm, introduces five steel product families tailored for production processes and maximized end-product performance: SSAB Domex, SSAB Boron, SSAB Form, SSAB Laser Plus, and SSAB Weathering.
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Heat-treated powder metallurgy titanium alloy has higher strength, lower cost
April 13, 2016
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., announces that its research team has improved the strength of a titanium alloy by producing it via powder metallurgy and heat treating it at different temperatures, then quenching in cold water.
Five decades ago, metallurgists created an alloy named Ti185 by blending titanium with low-cost iron, aluminum, and vanadium. However, superior strength was observed for this alloy only in some places, and the alloy had a tendency to clump. Iron clustered in some areas, leading to beta fleck defects, making the alloy unsuitable for reliable commercial production.
Subsequently, in a study carried out about six years ago, the PNNL researchers and its collaborators devised a low-cost powder metallurgy process for the industrial-scale production of the alloy. They used titanium hydride powder instead of molten titanium as the starting material, reducing the energy requirements significantly and cutting the process time in half. ADMA co-developed the method with PNNL metallurgist Curt Lavender. The company sells advanced materials such as the titanium hydride powder to industries, including aerospace.
In their earlier study, the researchers had already demonstrated the superior mechanical properties of the titanium alloy created from their low-cost process. In the new study, they explored how to make even stronger titanium alloys. The team was able to gain insights into the nanostructure of the alloy by using a unique atom probe imaging approach and powerful electron microscopes.
Using electron microscopy, the team observed the microstructure of the alloy at a resolution of hundreds of nanometers. The atom probe tomography system at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science User Facility located at PNNL, was used to observe the arrangement of individual atoms in 3D.
The researchers found that their optimized heat-treating process produced an alloy with an alpha phase, consisting of micron and nanometer -size precipitate regions, in a matrix of beta phase. Each region has higher concentrations of certain elements. The aluminum and titanium atoms are found inside the nano-sized alpha phase precipitates, whereas vanadium and iron are in the beta phase.
"We found that if you heat treat it first at a higher temperature before a low -temperature heat treatment step, you could create a titanium alloy 10 to 15% stronger than any commercial titanium alloy currently on the market, and that it has roughly double the strength of steel," says Arun Devaraj, Materials Scientist at PNNL
"This alloy is still more expensive than steel, but with its strength-to-cost ratio, it becomes much more affordable with greater potential for lightweight automotive applications," added Vineet Joshi, who serves as a metallurgist at PNNL.
www.pnnl.gov
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., announces that its research team has improved the strength of a titanium alloy by producing it via powder metallurgy and heat treating it at different temperatures, then quenching in cold water.
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H.C. Starck joins WPI Center for Heat Treating Excellence
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H.C. Starck, Newton, Mass., announces that it has joined the team at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Center for Heat Treating Excellence, an alliance between the industrial sector and university researchers that addresses short- and long-term needs in the heat treating and thermal processing industry. Membership in CHTE is unique because members have a voice in selecting quality research projects that help them solve today's business challenges globally.
With close to 100 years of metallurgy experience in the technology metals molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and tungsten, H.C. Starck has a wealth of research, technical knowledge, and experience to share.
"With our commitment to quality and technological expertise, we work side by side with our customers to ensure they have the highest quality product," says Dmitry Shashkov, Member of H.C. Starck's Executive Board and Head of the Fabricated Products Division. "We are also rapidly growing our business to match the demands of the global marketplace, working with OEM and aftermarket furnace manufacturers on their new designs. To match this growth, H.C. Starck has made significant investments in our fabrication capabilities, and we are leading the development of new materials for high-temperature applications to improve cost and performance for our customers."
H.C. Starck supplies fabricated products to OEMs, end-users, and aftermarket furnace manufacturers for heat treating medical, aerospace, defense, automotive, energy, nuclear fuel, crystal growth, and waste treatment products.
www.hcstarck.com
H.C. Starck, Newton, Mass., announces that it has joined the team at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Heat Treating Excellence, an alliance between the industrial sector and university researchers that addresses short- and long-term needs in the heat treating and thermal processing industry.
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Continuous roller hearth system heat treats aluminum automotive castings
April 5, 2016
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Consolidated Engineering Company (CEC), Kennesaw, Ga., has received a purchase order for a continuous roller hearth T6 system with a water quench and age oven from an aluminum casting company in the United States. The system is designed for the heat treatment of cast aluminum knuckles and other automotive castings. The company is a rapidly growing foundry business that has been consistently winning automotive orders .
High pressure die casting, in which molten aluminum is injected into a metal die, now accounts for more than half of all aluminum castings worldwide. This manufacturing method has been shown to be particularly suitable for making complex parts for automobiles. These castings are often used as sheet or extrusion connectors to tie together portions of all-aluminum car spaceframes (chassis), which are finding broader application in high-end cars.
CEC manufactures solutionizing furnaces for all types of castings, forgings, extrusions and tubing, and has extensive experience in heat treating castings. To date, CEC's T4 & T6 installations process more than 57 million aluminum cylinder heads, engine blocks, and wheels every year. CEC has invented and developed solution heat-treatment machine innovations and processes that have generated more than 105 patents.
To develop and optimize processes, more than 6350 CEC sponsored or funded casting tests have been run to prove process innovations. The corporate focus is to save operating costs and pollution while improving product quality. CEC invented and remains the world leader in trayless and basketless head, block, and wheel casting processing.
www.cec-intl.com
Consolidated Engineering Company (CEC), Kennesaw, Ga., has received a purchase order for a continuous roller hearth T6 system with a water quench and age oven for the heat treatment of cast aluminum knuckles and other automotive castings.
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Composite foams of steel spheres embedded in aluminum insulate against heat
March 30, 2016
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North Carolina State University, Raleigh, reports that novel lightweight composite metal foams made of materials such as steel spheres embedded in aluminum are more effective at insulating against heat than solid conventional metals such as steel. The composite metal foam consists of metallic hollow spheres — made of materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel or titanium — embedded in a metallic matrix made of steel, aluminum, or other metallic alloy. These foams are especially promising for storing and transporting nuclear material, hazardous materials, explosives, and other heat-sensitive materials, as well as for space exploration.
"We have developed two technologies for manufacturing composite metal foams (CMF)," says Afsaneh Rabiei, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. "One is based on casting a low melting point matrix material, such as aluminum, around hollow spheres made of a material with a higher melting point, such as steel. This creates aluminum-steel CMFs, for example. The other technique is based on sintering the matrix powder around prefabricated hollow spheres. This creates CMFs such as steel-steel, which consist of steel hollow spheres in a steel matrix."
In one test, researchers exposed samples of 2.5 by 2.5-inch steel-steel CMF that were 0.75 inches thick to a fire with an average flame temperature of 800°C for a period of 30 minutes on one side, and monitored the material to see how long it would take for the heat to reach the opposite side of the sample.
For a piece of bulk stainless steel with the same dimensions as the CMF sample, it took only four minutes to reach 800°C, but it took eight minutes for the steel-steel CMF to reach the same temperature.
"We already knew the CMFs have outstanding high-velocity impact resistance, and effective radiation shielding. Now we know that it can withstand high heat," Prof. Rabiei says.
The researchers also found that the composite metal foam made entirely of stainless steel expands 80% less than bulk stainless steel at 200°C — and the differential increases at higher temperatures. Another noteworthy advantage is that the composite metal foam expands at a fairly constant rate when exposed to high heat — whereas conventional bulk metals and alloys such as stainless steel expand more rapidly as temperature increases.
www.ncsu.edu
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, reports that novel lightweight composite metal foams made of materials such as steel spheres embedded in aluminum are more effective at insulating against heat than solid conventional metals such as steel.
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Parker Trutec adds fourth AFC-Holcroft universal batch quench furnace
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AFC Holcroft, Wixom, Mich., announces that Parker Trutec Inc., Springfield, Ohio, has added a fourth UBQ 36-48-36 universal batch integral quench furnace to an existing line. This latest furnace will be equipped for carburizing, and will be made CQI-9 Compliant. The furnace has a capacity of 3500 pounds, has excellent temperature uniformity, and has a maximum operating temperature of 2000°F.
A pneumatic quench elevator with specially designed corner guides provides smooth motion and trouble-free operation. It has vertically mounted variable speed propeller type agitators. The Batchmaster II operating system provides operational control, standard recipes, and recipe management. The equipment is scheduled for installation in March of 2016.
The Parker Trutec Group operates six facilities in the United States and Mexico, specializing in metal treatments and products that improve the resistance to wear, corrosion, and fatigue of metal components.
www.afc-holcroft.com
www.parkertrutec.com
AFC Holcroft, Wixom, Mich., announces that Parker Trutec Inc., Springfield, Ohio, has added a fourth UBQ 36-48-36 universal batch integral quench furnace to an existing line.
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