Ipsen AvaC two-chamber gas/oil furnace doubles carbon availability
January 1, 2016
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., recently shipped an AvaC (acetylene vacuum carburizing) two-chamber gas/oil quench vacuum furnace to a facility in Connecticut, where it will be used to process sports equipment. This horizontal-loading furnace utilizes oil or 2-bar gas quenching, as well as low-pressure carburizing. It features a graphite hot zone dimensions of 24 x 36 x 24 inches, with a 1000-pound load capacity.
The AvaC process produces twice the carbon availability as traditional carburizing agents, resulting in excellent carbon transfer into the parts. It also has the advantage of producing an oxidation-free surface microstructure while allowing complex-geometry components to be evenly carburized.
This was one of more than 25 furnaces recently shipped around the globe for a variety of applications and industries. The remaining shipments were comprised of Titan furnaces, including Titan DS and Titan LT (low-temperature) furnaces, as well as horizontal and vertical MetalMaster, TurboTreater, VFS, Global Vertical, Horizontal External Quench, Liquid/Gas Oil Quench and vacuum aluminum brazing vacuum furnaces.
The equipment was sent to international customers in Canada, China, England, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, as well as sites within the U.S., covering a range of 15 different states.
www.ipsenusa.com
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., recently shipped an AvaC (acetylene vacuum carburizing) two-chamber gas/oil quench vacuum furnace to a facility in Connecticut where it will be used to process sports equipment.
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Constellium launches Aeral aluminum for aerosol cans
October 28, 2015
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Constellium N.V., Amsterdam, has launched Aeral, an aluminum solution designed for making aerosol containers by the "drawn and ironed" technology currently used to produce beverage cans. Aeral enables a minimum of 30% weight savings versus traditional impact-extruded containers, all while maintaining the same level of performance in terms of ductility and resistance to pressure.
According to the company, Aeral is based on an alloy that can be used efficiently throughout the D&I canmaking process, including the necking operation, while meeting the pressure resistance and aesthetic requirements of cosmetics companies.
Aeral is said to demonstrate Constellium's commitment to sustainability and the development of innovative, lighter, and infinitely recyclable solutions. It was developed through a combination of cutting-edge research at C-TEC, Constellium's world-class technology center in Voreppe, France, and strong industrial capabilities at the company's rolling mill in Neuf-Brisach, France, which has long experience in manufacturing light-weighting products, including beverage cans. Constellium is already in advanced discussions with some key players in the market.
www.constellium.com
Constellium N.V., Amsterdam, has launched Aeral, an aluminum solution designed for making aerosol containers by the “drawn and ironed” technology currently used to produce beverage cans.
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Bodycote expands hot isostatic pressing capacity
October 21, 2015
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Bodycote, England, is expanding its high pressure hot isostatic pressing (HIP) capability with the addition of a new mid-range vessel to increase its volume capacity.
The new HIP system, scheduled to enter service in 2015, will be focused on high- pressure developments in aerospace and advanced materials. Located in the eastern United States, it will be capable of processing at pressures up to 30,000 psi and temperatures up to 3632°F. This vessel added to the fleet is complementary to the company's extensive range of installed capacity across North America and Europe.
This new capacity further enhances the company's ability to respond to future market requirements, particularly those needing high-pressure processing. The new unit complements the company's extensive line of high-pressure equipment serving the medical, aerospace & defense, consumer products, and sputtering targets markets, and strengthens Bodycote's position as the world's leading provider of HIP services.
Bodycote operates a global HIP business with the largest equipment network in the world and continues to invest in greater capacity in recognition of growing demand for HIP technology. Having established HIP expertise over decades, Bodycote has over 50 HIP vessels of varying sizes in multiple locations.
Processing capability can accommodate components which are nominally up to 2 m diameter by 3.5 m high; and weighing 0.1 kg to over 30,000kg. In addition to standard quality and environmental accreditations, Bodycote's HIP facilities hold ASTM, NORSOK, and Nadcap accreditations.
www.bodycote.com
Bodycote, England, is expanding its high pressure Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) capability with the addition of a new mid-range vessel to increase its volume capacity.
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Atomic structure model enables prediction of metal combinations that can form metallic glasses
September 23, 2015
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Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) announces that a research team has developed a method for predicting the combinations of metals that can form metallic glass alloys The method has enabled researchers to successfully predict more than 200 such alloys based on magnesium, silver, copper, zinc, and titanium. The photo shows magnesium-based bulk metallic glass castings.
The team includes Prof. Kevin Laws and Prof. Michael Ferry of the UNSW School of Materials Science and Engineering, and ASM Fellow Dr. Daniel Miracle, Chief Scientist in the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
They describe the method in "A Predictive Model for Metallic Glasses," published Sept. 15 in the journal Nature Communications. Here is the abstract:
"Great progress has been made in understanding the atomic structure of metallic glasses, but there is still no clear connection between atomic structure and glass-forming ability. Here we give new insights into perhaps the most important question in the field of amorphous metals: How can glass-forming ability be predicted from atomic structure?
"We give a new approach to modelling metallic glass atomic structures by solving three long-standing problems: we discover a new family of structural defects that discourage glass formation; we impose efficient local packing around all atoms simultaneously; and we enforce structural self-consistency.
"Fewer than a dozen binary structures satisfy these constraints, but extra degrees of freedom in structures with three or more different atom sizes significantly expand the number of relatively stable, ‘bulk' metallic glasses. The present work gives a new approach towards achieving the long-sought goal of a predictive capability for bulk metallic glasses."
The new structural model predicts the most stable binary metallic glass topologies, which allows scientists to predict the metal combinations that will have glass-forming ability.
"We will also be able to engineer these materials on an atomic scale so they have the specific properties we want," says Prof. Laws. "We can start to create many new useful metallic glass types and begin to understand the atomic fundamentals behind their exceptional properties."
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/futuristic-alloys-three-times-stronger-steel-yet-malleable-chewing-gum
Australia’s University of New South Wales announces that a research team has developed a method for predicting the combinations of metals that will produce metallic glass alloys.
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Alcoa 6013 aerospace aluminum chosen by Samsung for Galaxy S6 smartphone
June 9, 2015
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Alcoa, Pittsburgh, is supplying a high-strength aerospace-grade aluminum to Samsung for its latest smartphones — the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. The 6013 Alcoa Power Plate is 70% stronger than standard aluminum, enabling a thinner, lighter, sleeker design. Developed by Alcoa Technical Center metallurgists, the alloy combines high strength and corrosion resistance for products that require superior durability. Smartphones with metal frames are expected to grow almost 250% by 2016 from 2014, creating stronger demand for aluminum to protect mobile devices.
"Alcoa's Power Plate has been battle tested across aerospace, automotive, and military applications, proving it can withstand the heavy use and tough treatment endured by mobile devices," said Ray Kilmer, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Alcoa. Other Alcoa consumer electronics solutions include ProStrength, a proprietary surface-finishing technology for aerospace-grade aluminum.
www.alcoa.com
Alcoa, Pittsburgh, is supplying a high-strength, aerospace-grade aluminum to Samsung for its latest smartphones — the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.
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Cerium-cobalt alloy added to NdFeB magnets raises Curie temperature, cuts cost
April 28, 2015
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The U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, reports that ASM Fellow Karl A. Gschneidner and a team of researchers have developed a low-cost cerium-cobalt alloy that can be added to neodymium-iron-boron to improve magnetic properties in rare-earth magnets. The new alloy eliminates the need for dysprosium, one of the scarcest and most costly rare earth elements.
The result, an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron co-doped with cerium and cobalt, is a less expensive material with properties that are competitive with traditional sintered magnets containing dysprosium. The materials are at least 20 to 40% cheaper than the dysprosium-containing magnets.
Experiments demonstrate that the cerium-containing alloy's intrinsic coercivity — the ability of a magnetic material to resist demagnetization — far exceeds that of dysprosium-containing magnets at high temperatures.
"We found that this material works better than anything out there at temperatures above 150°C," says Dr. Gschneidner. "It's an important consideration for high-temperature applications."
Previous attempts to use cerium in rare-earth magnets failed because it reduced the Curie temperature, above which an alloy loses its permanent magnet properties. The research team discovered that co-doping with cobalt allowed cerium to substitute for dysprosium without losing magnetic properties.
Finding a comparable substitute material is key to reducing manufacturing reliance on dysprosium, because current demand far outpaces mining and recycling sources.
The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E REACT program (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy-Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies) which develops cost-effective alternatives to rare earths.
www.ameslab.gov
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, reports that ASM Fellow Karl A. Gschneidner and a team of researchers have developed a low-cost cerium-cobalt alloy that can be added to neodymium-iron-boron to improve magnetic properties in rare-earth magnets.
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Novelis Evercycle aluminum for food containers is made of 100% recycled aluminum
March 31, 2015
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Novelis, Atlanta, announces the first product in its Evercycle portfolio of certified high-recycled-content aluminum for specialty applications. It will enable customers to produce infinitely recyclable products with a lower carbon footprint. The first product is designed for aluminum food containers, and is certified by SCS Global Services to contain 100% recycled aluminum. It is made of 90% post-consumer content and 10% customer manufacturing scrap – the only material of its kind in the market. Commercially available now in North America, Evercycle is expected to become available globally as demand grows.
The new product adds to Novelis' growing portfolio of high-recycled-content aluminum sheet products, and is part of the company's plan to increase the overall recycled content of its products to 80% by 2020. In 2014, Novelis introduced its certified high-recycled-content Evercan product for beverage cans.
"We are pleased to have begun shipping Evercycle earlier this year to major producers of food containers in the United States," said Marco Palmieri, Senior Vice President of Novelis and President, Novelis North America. "This represents the first application, but we are already developing other uses across our specialty products portfolio, including appliances and cookware."
Already the world's largest recycler of aluminum, Novelis has made capital investments of close to $500 million in its global recycling operations since 2011, doubling its annual recycling capacity to 2.1 million metric tons. Recycling aluminum requires 95% less energy, and produces 95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), than manufacturing primary aluminum.
www.novelis.com
Novelis, Atlanta, announces the first product in its Evercycle portfolio of certified high-recycled-content aluminum for specialty applications.
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Fourth-generation Intel Core processor enables 50% longer battery life
December 12, 2014
Source: ASM International
Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif., has introduced the 4th generation Intel Core processor family, with power levels as low as 6 watts, up to 50% improvement in battery life over the previous generation in active workloads, and two to three times improvement in standby battery life.
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Wind turbine gearbox bearings improve 415% after cryogenic processing
October 9, 2014
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300 Below, Decatur, Ill., has pioneered an ultra-low temperature cryogenic process that the company says increases lifespan for 52100 stainless steel bearing components by an average 415% over current durability and wearability. Cryogenic processing reportedly goes beyond the typical heat treatment to affect molecular integrity throughout the metal component. It permanently rearranges molecular structures to prevent galling and spalling, while ultimately mitigating stress crack propagation.
The cryogenic process for bearings improves wearability and contact fatigue, and reduces failure while limiting the effects of surface wear and scuffing. The company has recently renewed its partnership with Millikin University to research additional maintenance improvements for wind power generation equipment.
Megawatt-class wind turbines subject tribology components such as bearings and gears to increasing demands for renewable electricity generation, creating operation and maintenance costs that are more than double the cost for natural gas-powered generation. Corrosive deterioration is also reduced as a result of the tighter grain structure and precipitation of micro-fine eta carbides following 300 Below's two-part cryogenic tempering process. High contact stresses from unsteady wind gusts, impact loads, and bearing skidding are significantly mitigated following the changes from cryogenics.
http://www.300below.com
300 Below, Decatur, Ill., has pioneered an ultra-low temperature cryogenic process that the company says increases lifespan for 52100 stainless steel bearing components by an average 415% over current durability and wearability.
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Ipsen’s Titan furnaces used for aerospace, automotive, and sporting goods
August 20, 2014
Source: ASM International
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that it shipped three Titan vacuum furnaces in a span of one week: two went to China for use in the aerospace and automotive industries, and the other was shipped to Arizona for an American company in the commercial sporting industry.
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