Argonne receives patent for ultra-fast boriding process, Bodycote acquires license
August 12, 2015
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Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Ill., announces that it has been granted a patent for its ultra-fast boriding process. In this technology, parts are dipped into a molten borax-based solution that converts a metallic surface into a hard, durable boride layer 100 micrometers thick in half an hour. Bodycote Thermal Processing, Dallas, Texas, has obtained an exclusive license for Argonne's development.
The patent covers the ultra-fast nature of the technology, the range of materials that can be treated, and several specific steps in the process. Developed by Distinguished Fellow Ali Erdemir and his team at Argonne, the process reportedly saves time, money, and energy. Because boron is supplied so quickly, the layers are more uniform and dense than those produced by conventional pack boriding, while using 80% to 90% less energy.
Not only is ultra-fast boriding faster, but also it reportedly creates tougher layers than any existing option for surface hardening, including the use of carbon or nitrogen in place of boron.
"The application conditions for all kinds of machinery are getting harsher," says Dr. Erdemir. "The conventional approach to surface hardening is just not enough to sustain these machines." This includes automobiles, with parts that bear the burden of heavy loads, erosion, and corrosion. In the aerospace industry, many components are made of titanium, which would be more resilient if treated with ultra-fast boriding.
The three-year project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office.
www.anl.gov
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Ill., announces that it has been granted a patent for its ultra-fast boriding process.
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Premier Furnace endothermic gas generator provides flexibility in gas flow capacity
August 3, 2015
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Premier Furnace Specialists Inc., Farmington Hills, Mich., recently received an order from a large Commercial Heat Treater in the state of Michigan to design, manufacture, and install an endothermic gas generator. It is a stand-alone unit designed to generate 3000 to 12,000 CHF of endothermic gas, and consists of four independent heating/cracking modules.
The system will provide wide flexibility in gas flow capacity that is automatically adjusted by the included Endolnjector gas mixing system. The generator insulation will have fiber modules in walls and roof and brick insulation on the floor. The burner system is direct fired with individual flame monitoring. The Endolnjectorâ„¢ will have integrated temperature control loops to control the temperature of the retorts. The "main control screen" will provide an overview of all important generator process factors.
http://www.premierfurnace.com/
Premier Furnace Specialists Inc., Farmington Hills, Mich., recently received an order from a large Commercial Heat Treater in the state of Michigan to design, manufacture, and install an endothermic gas generator.
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Automotive lightweight materials congress returns to Detroit
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Annual Global Automotive Lightweight Materials Congress
August 18-20, 2015 – Detroit
This is the largest and most trusted automotive lightweight materials conference, and this years instalment of GALM is scheduled to be the biggest and best ever. The series has been attended by 2000+ attendees across the globe and is returning to Detroit with a 3-day agenda – to share unprecedented detail across composites, joining, forming, and multi-material design.
Building on the successes of GALM events in London, Detroit, and Shanghai this year, this event is fully expected to sell-out, with over 80 attendees and 24 exhibitors already confirmed.
The expert panel of speakers includes:
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David Wagner, Technical Leader Lightweight Vehicle Design, Ford Motor Co.
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Surender Maddela, Sr. Research & Development Engineer, Materials Engineering, Nissan Motor Corp.
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Stephen Logan, Senior Engineering Specialist, Chrysler Group LLC
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Bhavesh Shah, Senior Advanced Technology Design Release Engineer, General Motors
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Nir Khan, Director Of Design, Plasan
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Mark Voss, Engineering Group Manager, Body Advanced Technical Works, General Motors
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Venkat Aitharaju, Senior Researcher, Polymer Composites, General Motors Global Research and Development
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Gregg Peterson, Senior Technical Specialist, Lotus Engineering
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Raymond Boeman, Program Director, Energy Partnerships, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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Laurent Chappuis, Technical Expert - Lightweight Stampings, Vehicle Program Engineering – SBU, Ford Motor Co.
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Glenn Daehn, Mars G. Fontana Professor Of Metallurgical Engineering, Executive Director, Honda Partnership Program
With an agenda re-written from scratch and providing a globally respected platform for leading OEMs, material suppliers, joining and forming partners, the 2015 agenda provides new, exclusive content including:
NINE UNIQUE CASE STUDIES ON JOINING: Mitigating corrosion with strong joining for every material combination that can be applied with low cycle times
FORMING METALS: Benchmarking forming methods for magnesium and aluminum to enable adoption into multi-material architectures
EIGHT DEDICATED SESSIONS ON COMPOSITES: From reducing the costs and cycle times of production to design modeling and application success stories
DESIGN AND MATERIAL SELECTION: Selecting the optimal materials across the body, interior and closures to maximize total weight loss across the vehicle
RECYCLING: Analyzing the lifecycle implications for aluminum and carbon-fiber, tackling segmentation and re-use challenges
View a full conference brochure.
The Annual Global Automotive Lightweight Materials Congress is taking place August 18-20, 2015 in Detroit.
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Proto Labs launches rapid magnesium thixomolding service
July 31, 2015
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Proto Labs Inc., Maple Plain, Minn., has introduced magnesium injection molding into its current rapid manufacturing services. This advanced injection molding process, known as thixomolding, enables product designers and engineers to prototype with the same materials and processes as the final production part. In addition to prototypes, Proto Labs offers production parts in quantities up to 5000+, with a typical turnaround time of 15 days.
Magnesium injection molding is a process of manufacturing fully dense, net-shape magnesium parts, similar to those produced in die casting, using an injection molding press. Referred to also as thixomolding, the process involves heating chipped magnesium feedstock in the barrel of a press. A reciprocating screw works the material into a thixotropic (gel-like) state, and the material is forced into a steel mold at high speed and pressure to create the part. Magnesium injection molding is a mature, established manufacturing process that produces strong, lightweight magnesium parts that maintain detailed features and thin walls.
Magnesium is a strong and lightweight metal that is increasingly being used in the automotive and aerospace industries to reduce weight. "In recent years, lightweighting has become a significant factor in automotive product development, for example, as engineers are being tasked with drastically reducing vehicle weight in order to improve vehicle gas mileage," says Becky Cater, Proto Labs' engineer and product manager. "We see magnesium injection molding as an important tool for achieving this."
Magnesium AZ-91D joins Proto Labs' current injection molding offerings that include more than a hundred thermoplastic, liquid silicone rubber, steel, and stainless steel materials.
The company uses advanced 3D printing, CNC machining, and injection molding technologies to produce parts within days. The result is an unprecedented speed-to-market value for product designers and engineers worldwide.
www.protolabs.com
Proto Labs Inc., Maple Plain, Minn., has introduced magnesium injection molding into its current rapid manufacturing services.
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Ipsen Atlas furnace heat treats parts for automotive and oil & gas industries
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., recently shipped an Atlas atmosphere furnace, two temper furnaces, a washer, a loader, and a storage table to a commercial heat treater in the Midwest. This single-chain, batch atmosphere furnace will be used to process parts for the aftermarket automotive and oil & gas industries. The single-chain Atlas features a 36 x 48 x 38-in. load size, with a 3500-pound load capacity. It also operates at temperatures of 1450 to 1800 °F and has a quench oil capacity of 3500 gallons.
The furnace offers some of Ipsen's newest design features and innovations, including Carb-o-Prof control software with predictive process capabilities. It has an efficient heating combustion system, which provides energy and cost savings; a cartridge-type heat fan assembly; and variable-speed quench agitation, which allows users to achieve and maintain better quenching control.
www.IpsenUSA.com/ATLAS.
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., recently shipped an Atlas atmosphere furnace, two temper furnaces, a washer, a loader, and a storage table to a commercial heat treater in the Midwest.
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Vertical vacuum heat treating furnace processes flowformed components
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PMF Industries, Williamsport, Pa., has expanded its flowforming capabilities with the addition of a new vacuum furnace that allows vertical heat treating of flowformed and machined shafts up to 80 in. long. The vertical-loading vacuum furnace also processes combustor cases, diffusers, seals, and bearing sets for aerospace engines; parts for ground-based turbine systems used in the energy sector; and cylinders for the commercial food and beverage industry.
Flowformed and machined shafts must be heat-treated vertically rather than horizontally to ensure that they remain straight throughout the thermal process. Although PMF's capabilities have long included the heat treatment of flowformed parts and products produced through other metal processing techniques, all of the company's previously existing furnaces feature horizontal loading and are able to accommodate heat treating of shafts only up to 34 inches in a vertical condition.
PMF's new vacuum heat treatment system provides a clean manufacturing environment that offers uniform cooling and features a 46 x 80 inches all-graphite hot zone with a 6000-lb. load capacity. It provides gas cooling to 2 bar absolute pressure, and operates at temperatures of 1000 to 2400°F.
Flowforming is a cold-extrusion, metal-forming process that produces seamless, high-precision, rotationally symmetrical cylindrical, conical, or contoured shapes. The process offers design flexibility and has the ability to produce complex, near-net-shaped components from preforms or blanks, resulting in significant material savings and dramatically lower costs than other metal-forming techniques. Many flowformed parts subsequently undergo heat treating to provide them with additional material properties or physical features required of the finished component.
www.pmfind.com
PMF Industries, Williamsport, Pa., has expanded its flowforming capabilities with the addition of a new vacuum furnace that allows vertical heat treating of flowformed and machined shafts up to 80 in. long.
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Seco-Warwick traveling batch furnace cuts floor space for aluminum heat treating
July 29, 2015
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Seco-Warwick, Meadville, Pa., has supplied a traveling aluminum homogenizing furnace to Aisin Light Metal, Marion, Ill., as part of an expansion project. The traveling furnace features a pair of fixed load bases to support the load. When the cycle is completed on base No. 1, the furnace moves into position over the second load base and immediately begins heating a new load. The previous load is allowed to cool, then is unloaded and replaced with a new load. This can all be done before the next homogenizing cycle is completed.
A traveling furnace provides savings in floor space because the two load bases require significantly less area than h a double-ended stationary furnace with two load cars. It will help to provide more capacity to produce lightweight aluminum products to the automotive industry.
The custom-designed furnace has the capability to homogenize a wide variety of aluminum logs to meet changing production specifications, with consistent quality and equipment reliability.
Aisin Light Metals LLC (ALM), which recently celebrated ten years of operation in the United States, was the second of the three Aisin plants located in the Aisin Industrial Park in Marion. ALM, along with its sister company Aisin Keikinzoku, provides aluminum solutions to the automotive industry worldwide.
www.secowarwick.com
www.aisinillinois.com
Seco-Warwick, Meadville, Pa., has supplied a traveling aluminum homogenizing furnace to Aisin Light Metal, Marion, Ill., as part of an expansion project.
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Bodycote opens new greenfield facility in France
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Bodycote, U.K., recently opened a new greenfield facility in France, and completed another round of expansion at its site in London, Ohio. Another greenfield plant will open in 2016 in Germany. Bodycote's specialty stainless steel process (S3P) technologies are proven solutions dedicated to the treatment of stainless steel, nickel-base alloys, and cobalt-chromium alloys to improve resistance against surface wear such as galling, cavitation erosion, and abrasion.
Bodycote's S3P processes are a unique proven solution for galling in stainless steel. Essentially, S3P makes stainless steel (including martensitic and precipitation hardened stainless steel materials) fit for purpose. It offers customers a significant competitive advantage.
Many surface treatments negatively affect stainless steel's inherent corrosion resistance. Uniquely, Bodycote's S³P process imparts increased mechanical and wear properties without adversely affecting corrosion resistance, presenting engineering benefits for industries such as medical/pharmaceutical, automotive and chemical engineering.
www.bodycote.com
Bodycote, U.K., recently opened a new greenfield facility in France, and completed another round of expansion at its site in London, Ohio.
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Alcoa acquires RTI International Metals to expand aerospace growth
July 22, 2015
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RTI International Metals Inc., Pittsburgh, announces that its shareholders have approved a merger agreement with Alcoa Inc., also of Pittsburgh. At RTI's annual meeting of shareholders yesterday, more than 94% of the shares voted at the meeting were in favor of the transaction, representing nearly 85% of all outstanding shares of RTI. The merger is expected to close on July 23, 2015, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement.
"Alcoa is accelerating its value-add growth engine by acquiring titanium leader RTI," said Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We are combining two innovators in materials science and process technology, shifting Alcoa's transformation into a higher gear. RTI expands our aerospace portfolio market reach and positions us to capture future growth to deliver compelling value for customers, shareholders and employees."
"Innovation and scale are critical to winning in both the titanium and aerospace industries today, which is why this transaction is such a natural strategic fit for both RTI and Alcoa," said Dawne Hickton, Vice Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of RTI International Metals. "We are pleased to have an agreement with Alcoa that delivers immediate value to our shareholders that appropriately reflects the strength of our business. Through this combination of forces, RTI will take its innovative technologies to the next level and deliver even more value-add titanium solutions to meet customer needs. We look forward to continuing to accelerate RTI's success as a part of the Alcoa team."
The previously announced merger agreement provides that Alcoa will acquire all outstanding shares of RTI in a stock-for-stock transaction whereby RTI shareholders will receive 2.8315 Alcoa shares for each RTI share.
www.rtiintl.com
www.alcoa.com
RTI International Metals Inc., Pittsburgh, announces that its shareholders have approved a merger agreement with Alcoa Inc., also of Pittsburgh.
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LIFT project focuses on iron alloys in thin-wall castings
July 10, 2015
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Casting parts from molten iron is a well-established process that has been transformed recently by technological advances. LIFT, Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, has chosen to investigate those innovations in melt processing as its first technology acceleration project. Grede Holdings, Southfield, Mi., and Michigan Technological University, Houghton, are the lead industry and research partners on the project, which will focus on reducing the amount of metal used in making an automotive transmission differential case.
"People don't often think of iron alloys as lightweight, so this first project shows how we are really changing the thinking about manufacturing in America," says Larry Brown, executive director of LIFT. "We expect that by working together through LIFT, collaborators will be able to accelerate the speed of turning their R&D into a production line process."
By integrating and implementing improved manufacturing methods with different available alloys, there is potential to decrease the wall thicknesses of ductile iron cast parts by up to 50%. That, in turn could save from 30-50% weight savings, depending on the load requirements of the part.
Jay Solomond, vice president of engineering and technology at Grede notes, "During early product development, parts are designed to meet the limiting performance criteria. This often results in parts being globally designed with extra material to meet the minimum requirements. However, this also often results in unnecessary weight to the overall part. We want to put the right amount of material just where it needs to be—and to replicate that on a scale for automotive production lines." Grede expects to do a significant amount of work on the project in its St. Cloud, Minn., foundry.
Associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Michigan Tech, Paul Sanders, says, "Iron alloys have high stiffness and good strength. We will optimize composition and cooling rate using Grede's new high precision molding machines to create thin-wall ductile iron components while maintaining desired microstructures and performance. We look forward to integrating upfront modeling with local cast properties to design optimized component geometries. We hope to bring this lightweight design methodology into production."
LIFT is one of six manufacturing innovation institutes announced to date and supported by the federal government. LIFT receives its funding from the U.S. Department of Defense administered by the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research. Approximately 44% of the estimated $1.34 million costs for this melt processing technology acceleration project will be paid for by the federal government, the other 56% will be shared by industry and research partners.
"We expect to be seeing results from this first project in about a year. And with nearly 90 industry and academic partners in our consortium, we expect to be announcing more technology projects on a regular schedule, as well as important education and workforce development initiatives to make sure we have people well trained in the innovations we are generating," says Brown.
Grede will work with Michigan Technological University, others to bring thin-wall ductile iron castings to high-volume production.
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