Novelis invests $4.5 million to upgrade aluminum rolling/recycling facility in Warren
December 7, 2017 Source: ASM International
Novelis Inc., Atlanta, announces a $4.5 million manufacturing investment at its aluminum rolling and recycling facility in Warren, Ohio.
Continue readingAlcoa to restart three potlines in Indiana to supply Warrick aluminum rolling mill
July 20, 2017 Source:
Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces plans to restart three of five potlines at its Warrick Operations aluminum smelter near Evansville, Indiana, an action that will further improve the competitiveness of the on-site rolling mill.
The process to restart the three lines, with 161,400 metric tons of annual capacity, will begin immediately and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2018. The three potlines will directly supply the Warrick rolling mill, which serves the North American market with flat-rolled aluminum for the food and beverage can packaging industry. The smelter's molten metal will supplement purchased scrap metal and other raw materials that the Warrick site will continue to procure.
"By restarting a portion of the Warrick smelter, we will provide an efficient source of metal for the co-located rolling mill and help it meet an anticipated increase in production volumes," said Tim Reyes, President of Alcoa's Aluminum business unit. "The action will enable us to more fully utilize the assets at this integrated site."
The smelter at Warrick closed in March of 2016. Two of the five smelting potlines will be classified as curtailed capacity and will remain idle. After this partial restart, Alcoa will have approximately 886,000 metric tons idled of its total smelting capacity of 3.4 million metric tons.
Alcoa Warrick Operations is comprised of the smelter and the rolling operations, which includes state-of-the-art casting, hot and cold rolling, slitting and coating capabilities. The operations also include the power supply for the smelter and rolling operations, consisting of a coal mine that fuels four generating units with a combined net capacity of about 750 megawatts. Three of those units are wholly-owned by Alcoa Power Generating Inc. A fourth unit, Warrick Unit 4, with 300 megawatts of net capacity, is owned in a 50-50 partnership with Vectren, a utility headquartered in Evansville.
Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces plans to restart three of five potlines at its Warrick Operations aluminum smelter near Evansville, Indiana, an action that will further improve the competitiveness of the on-site rolling mill.
Continue readingWisconsin Oven steam-heated ovens have temperature uniformity of ±5°F at 240°F
May 5, 2017 Source:
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped two steam-heated batch ovens to a leading manufacturer of industrial products for curing a water-based adhesive applied to rolls of sandpaper. The adhesive is needed for the sand to stick to the paper, and curing the adhesive provides for a more durable product. These ovens are a duplicate of a previous order, and were needed to meet increased production demands.
The curing ovens have a maximum operating temperature of 300°F and work chamber dimensions of 17.5x21.3x7.5 feet. The customer required temperature uniformity of ±5°F at 240°F for each batch oven, with uniformity verified by a twenty-point profile test. These ovens have sufficient capability to heat 35,000 pounds of product from 70°F to 240°F within two hours, and cool the load down to 140°F within three hours.
These batch ovens feature top-down airflow that is distributed through the work chamber by factory preset nozzles. Jumbo suction fans draw hot air through all the layers of the sandpaper rolls. The airflow arrangement provides optimum air flow efficiencies along with maximizing heating rates and temperature uniformity.
"At Wisconsin Oven, we pride ourselves on new and innovative designs," says Tom Trueman, Application Engineer. "For this project, large suction fans were used in the design to ensure that the hot air was drawing through all layers of the roll for a uniform cure of the adhesive."
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped two steam-heated batch ovens to a leading manufacturer of industrial products for curing a water-based adhesive applied to rolls of sandpaper.
Continue readingWisconsin Oven four-zone conveyor furnace heat-treats AR-15 forged aluminum parts
March 29, 2017 Source:
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped a natural gas-fired four-zone solution treatment conveyor furnace for treating forged aluminum parts for AR-15 rifles prior to quenching in water. The maximum operating temperature is 1100°F, and the work chamber dimensions are 4 1/6 ft. wide x 60 ft. long X 1 ft. high.
Each of the four work zones has dimensions of 4 1/6 ft. wide X 15 ft. long X 1 ft. high. The design capacity of the furnace is 1500 pounds per hour of aluminum. The equipment achieves temperature uniformity of +/-10°F at 750°F and 1100°F.
The conveyor furnace shell features "CAN" type, double-wall construction and includes two inches of 14# density high temperature industrial mineral wool insulation, backed with six inches of 6# density, industrial board type insulation, for a total of eight inches. The shell, including the roof, consists of Wisconsin Oven's patented high-efficiency Expandable Surface Design. The solution treatment furnace utilizes a flat wire belt to transfer parts through the work zones.
"Temperature control and uniformity was a critical feature in the design of this system," says Mike Grande, Sales Manager. The equipment achieves the tightest temperature tolerances available in the industry for a furnace of its type."-
The conveyor furnace was fully factory tested and adjusted prior to shipment from our facility. All safety interlocks are checked for proper operation and the equipment is operated at the normal and maximum operating temperatures. An extensive quality assurance check list was completed to ensure the equipment met all Wisconsin Oven quality standards.
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, Wis., has shipped a natural gas-fired four-zone solution treatment conveyor furnace for treating forged aluminum parts for AR-15 rifles prior to quenching in water.
Continue readingC.I. Hayes Solitaire conveyor belt furnace designed for annealing of small parts
January 20, 2017 Source:
C.I. Hayes, a Gasbarre Furnace Group company, Cranston, R.I., recently installed multiple Solitaire conveyor belt furnaces for annealing of precious metals for the jewelry industry. In total, this project consisted of three identical conveyor belt furnaces, all manufactured and installed for the same customer.
Named for its compact design, and initially developed for brazing and bright annealing of jewelry pieces, the Solitaire conveyor belt furnace has found great acceptance in other markets requiring brazing and bright annealing of small intricate parts.
C.I. Hayes continues to enhance the proven design of its Solitaire furnace line by improving the overall lifetime value. Its robust and simple design allows for ease of manufacture, installation, and maintenance, ensuring success for processes that are driven by both technical and commercial demands.
The Solitaire is equipped with belt widths of 6 to 12 inches and effective heat lengths of 27 to 72 inches. Four-sided heat surrounding the muffle provides excellent uniformity and power input with temperature capabilities to 2100°F (1148°C). The furnace remains compact and may be shipped as a single piece, fully assembled, with single point connections for power, water, and atmosphere.
C.I. Hayes designs, manufactures and services industrial vacuum and atmosphere heat treating equipment and has been delivering custom solutions to the heat treating industry for 112 years.
www.cihayes.com
C.I. Hayes, a Gasbarre Furnace Group company, Cranston, R.I., recently installed multiple Solitaire conveyor belt furnaces for annealing of precious metals for the jewelry industry.
Continue readingRussian scientists develop strong shape memory alloy based on Fe-Ni-Co-Al
November 7, 2016 Source:
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/
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.
Continue readingNatural-gas three-zone conveyor oven cures adhesives at 350 parts/hour
July 6, 2016 Source:
Wisconsin Oven, East Troy, Wis., has shipped a natural gas direct-fired three-zone conveyor oven with cool down, to a leading supplier of flooring products for curing adhesives at a rate of 350 parts per hour.
The curing conveyor oven was designed with three heating zones and one cooling zone. Each zone includes a personnel access door for maintenance and service. The curing oven has a maximum temperature rating of 600°F and total work chamber dimensions of 5x45x1 ft.
Guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±10 degrees at 400°F was verified through a temperature profile test using measurements from 30 inches from each opening, in a stabilized oven. An infrared pyrometer monitors the part temperature at the exit of both the final heating and the cooling zone. If the product temperature exceed its setting, an alarm will sound. The conveyor oven is rated for Class A use as defined by NFPA 86, with a solvent rating of 0.14 gallons per hour.
"We strive to design our equipment to provide the best quality part results for our customers," says Gene Vetter, Application Engineer. "In this case, three heating zones followed by a cool down zone resulted in the highest quality cure for their product, while the conveyor system maximized their production rate."
This conveyor oven was fully factory tested and adjusted prior to shipment to and from the facility. All safety interlocks were checked for proper operation, and the equipment was operated at the normal and maximum operating temperatures. A 150-point quality assurance check list was completed to ensure the equipment met all Wisconsin Oven quality standards.
Wisconsin Oven, East Troy, Wis., has shipped a natural gas direct-fired three-zone conveyor oven with cool down to a leading supplier of flooring products for curing adhesives at a rate of 350 parts per hour.
Continue readingLiquidmetal Technologies to make guitar parts by injection molding amorphous alloys
February 11, 2016 Source:
Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., Rancho Santa Margarita., Calif., has entered into a development agreement with C.F. Martin & Co. (Martin Guitar) to design a guitar component to be made of Liquidmetal amorphous alloys and manufactured by the Liquidmetal injection molding machine.
"Liquidmetal has been associated with leading, world-class companies in various markets, including consumer electronics and watches," says Tom Steipp, CEO of LQMT. "Martin Guitar has a century long history distinguished by its contributions to and innovations in stringed acoustical instruments. We are pleased to collaborate with the Martin Guitar team."
Under the terms of their agreement, Martin Guitar will provide its expertise in design and innovation for producing acoustic instruments that have been acknowledged to be among the finest in the world. In collaboration with the Liquidmetal engineering team, the companies aim to identify, design, and manufacture guitar components that benefit from the unique material properties and manufacturing methods of Liquidmetal amorphous alloys.
Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., Rancho Santa Margarita., Calif., has entered into a development agreement with C.F. Martin & Co. (Martin Guitar) to design a guitar component to be made of Liquidmetal amorphous alloys and manufactured by the Liquidmetal injection molding machine.
Continue readingC.I. Hayes installs pusher furnace for brazing and heat treating
February 10, 2016 Source:
C.I. Hayes, a Gasbarre Furnace Group Company, Cranston, R.I., announces the recent installation of a Model BA-M atmosphere pusher furnace for brazing and general heat treating of stainless steel materials by a dedicated processor of select cutlery product lines. This is the third C.I. Hayes furnace in use by this customer.
The furnace is equipped with a rigid chain indexing drive, silicon carbide heating elements, and a controlled atmosphere system that includes an analyzer for dewpoint and oxygen level monitoring plus purge verification. The furnace design has a maximum operating temperature of 2100°F. For automatic load and unload queuing of work, the furnace is complete with a powered roll return conveyance system with right angle transfers.
A pusher furnace is type of continuous furnace in which the stock to be heated is charged at one end, carried through a sequence of one or more heating zones, and discharged at the opposite end.
C.I. Hayes designs, manufactures and services industrial vacuum and atmosphere heat treating equipment and has been delivering custom solutions to the heat treating industry for 109 years.
In furnace brazing, temperatures of 2050 to 2100°F and above are not uncommon, especially when brazing stainless steels with nickel-based filler metals or carbon steel with copper filler metal. Other very high temperature brazing applications include molybdenum with pure nickel as the filler metal and cobalt with a cobalt alloy filler metal.
C.I. Hayes, a Gasbarre Furnace Group Company, Cranston, R.I., announces the recent installation of a Model BA-M atmosphere pusher furnace for brazing and general heat treating of stainless steel materials by a dedicated processor of select cutlery product lines.
Continue readingLiquidmetal amorphous alloy in hybrid knife is 25% harder than stainless steel
January 13, 2016 Source:
Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., has developed the Liquidmetal Hybrid Knife, manufactured of LM105 amorphous alloy by the Liquidmetal process. The 5.25-inch-long hybrid knife embodies a geometry that is not practical to produce with any other metalforming process. A 0.0005-inch fit between the blade and protector is made possible with the ultra-precise Liquidmetal process that can produce parts with features down to eight ten-thousands of an inch.
The barrel hinge implemented utilizing Python programming results in an easy-to-assemble and disassemble two-piece knife with no weak points throughout the open-and-close rotation. The alloy provides as-molded 563 Vickers hardness (25% greater than 17-4PH stainless steel), 1524 MPa yield strength (twice that of titanium), and 1.8% elasticity (four times that of hardened 420 stainless steel). Cultivated by an abundance of scientific data, the hybrid knife and Liquidmetal process stand in a league of their own. Not to be overlooked, the artistic and distinctive design brings a powerful process and set of material properties to life.
Liquidmetal also announces that it has shipped a pre-production order to CoNextions Medical for a key component to be used for suture-based tendon repairs. The initial parts delivery will be used to complete various tests, and will be followed by a full production shipment currently scheduled for early 2016. This delivery represents the ongoing manufacturing solutions for CoNextions design efforts that are taking advantage of the Liquidmetal materials and molding technology.
In addition, Liquidmetal has received its formal ISO 9001:2008 certification, adding an important quality accreditation to the company.
"Our business has a strong commitment to ongoing quality and customer satisfaction. Receiving our ISO certification exemplifies that," said Paul Hauck, Vice President of World-Wide Sales and Marketing. "Our ISO certification will help build customer confidence in our attention to quality."
"The Liquidmetal organization did an admirable job implementing the ISO 9001 standard and passing its certification audit in an impressive 9 months," said Tom Steipp, CEO and President of Liquidmetal Technologies. "Achieving this result was no small undertaking. Every individual in the company played a critical role and it's a testament to the organization's focus on quality."
Liquidmetal Technologies Inc., Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., has developed the Liquidmetal Hybrid Knife, manufactured of LM105 amorphous alloy by the Liquidmetal process.
Continue reading