Dual chamber furnace designed for heat treating high-speed steels
January 13, 2017
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Lucifer Furnaces Inc., Warrington, Pa., has delivered a dual-chamber furnace built with 12-gauge sheet steel and reinforced throughout, designed for heat treating high-speed steels. The HS8 furnace heats to 2450°F in the upper chamber, and has silicon carbide heating elements mounted across the roof and below the hearth. Elements are a solid bar type with termination connections for easy service via removable covers on both sides of the furnace.
The upper chambers of these high temp furnaces are insulated with 6.5 inches of combined ceramic fiber hot face and mineral wool cold face insulation for lower power demand, with staggered seams to block direct heat flow to minimize outer shell temperature.
The lower chamber is a recirculating oven reaching up to 1600°F with a high volume rear-mounted fan directing air flow horizontally through the chamber for temperature uniformity. A stainless-steel liner isolates the coiled heating elements from the workload. Heating elements are mounted in removable holders for easy replacement. Lower chamber insulation consists of multilayered lightweight insulating firebrick hotface and mineral wool backup, dry fit to allow for thermal expansion.
The double pivot horizontal swing door on the upper chamber and lower chamber horizontal swing door are both insulated and secured with cam locks for a tight seal. Safety switches shut off power when doors open. Temperature sensing in the upper chamber is achieved with a type R platinum thermocouple for fast, accurate response and extended life at elevated temperatures; the lower chamber is standard with a type K thermocouple. Standard controls, mounted in a side mounted NEMA 1 panel, include a Honeywell DC2500 time proportioning controller for each chamber as well as an SCR power supply for the upper chamber to regulate power demand for steady state control, an alternative to tap switches.
This furnace, model HS82-M24 with inside chamber dimensions of 12 x 12 x 24 inches, will be used at a large corporation in a newly built tool room.
www.luciferfurnaces.com
Lucifer Furnaces Inc., Warrington, Pa., has delivered a dual chamber furnace built with 12-gauge sheet steel and reinforced throughout, designed for heat treating high-speed steels.
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One Minute Mentor: Active Screen Plasma Nitriding
January 6, 2017
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Recently, a process called active screen plasma (ASP) has been developed for the purpose of minimizing or avoiding some of the limitations of conventional plasma nitriding. One such limitation is the edge effect, in which the regions near the edges of the pieces may not be nitrided to the same standard as the rest of the part.
In the conventional glow-discharge process, the plasma is produced by the voltage between the wall of the chamber (positive potential) and the workpieces (negative potential). By contrast, in the ASP process, the plasma is produced by the voltage between the chamber (positive) and a screen (negative) placed around the parts. The nitriding species produced on the screen are then transferred and deposited on the part, which is then heated to the treatment temperature by radiation from the active screen, which itself is under ion bombardment.
The schematic shows active-screen plasma nitriding equipmernt. (a) Floating potential (b) Anodic potential.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Nitriding of Stainless Steels ⇒ Thermochemical Nitriding Treatments
Recently, a process called active screen plasma (ASP) has been developed for the purpose of minimizing or avoiding some of the limitations of conventional plasma nitriding.
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Intermetallic Ti3Au is four times harder than pure titanium, more biocompatible
January 5, 2017
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Researchers at Rice University, Houston, report that they have developed a titanium-gold-intermetallic (Ti3Au) said to be four times harder than titanium. The team, led by physics Prof. Emilia Morosan, measured the hardness in conjunction with colleagues at Texas A&M University's Turbomachinery Laboratory and at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.
Because titanium and gold by themselves are among the most biocompatible metals and are often used in medical implants, the team believed Ti3Au would be comparable. In fact, tests by colleagues at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston determined that the compound was even more biocompatible than pure titanium, and its wear resistance is also higher.
According to Prof. Morosan, "This compound is not difficult to make, and it's not a new material."
In fact, the atomic structure of the material — its atoms are tightly packed in a "cubic" crystalline structure that's often associated with hardness — was previously known. It's not even clear that Prof. Morosan and former graduate student Eteri Svanidze, the study's lead co-author, were the first to make a pure sample of the ultrahard "beta" form of the compound. But due to a couple of lucky breaks, they and their co-authors are the first to document the material's remarkable properties.
"This began from my core research," says Prof. Emilia Morosan,. "We published a study not long ago on titanium-gold, a 1-to-1 ratio compound that was a magnetic material made from nonmagnetic elements. One of the things that we do when we make a new compound is try to grind it into powder for X-ray purposes. This helps with identifying the composition, the purity, the crystal structure, and other structural properties.
"When we tried to grind up Ti3Au, we couldn't," she recalled. "I even bought a diamond (coated) mortar and pestle, and we still couldn't grind it up."
Prof. Morosan and grad student Eteri Svanidze decided to do follow-up tests to determine exactly how hard the compound was, and while they were at it, they also decided to measure the hardness of the other compositions of titanium and gold that they had used as comparisons in the original study.
What the team didn't know at the time was that making the compound at a relatively high temperature produces an almost pure crystalline form of the beta version of the alloy — the crystal structure that's four times harder than titanium. At lower temperatures, the atoms tend to arrange in another cubic structure — the alpha form . The alpha structure is about as hard as regular titanium. It appears that labs that had previously measured the hardness of Ti3Au had measured samples that largely consisted of the alpha arrangement of atoms.
Read the full-length article, "High hardness in the biocompatible intermetallic compound β-Ti3Au," in Science Advanced.
http://news.rice.edu/2016/07/20/titanium-gold-new-gold-standard-for-artificial-joints/
Researchers at Rice University, Houston, report that they have developed a titanium-gold-intermetallic (Ti3Au) said to be four times harder than titanium.
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Alcoa secures contract to export bauxite from its Western Australia mine
January 4, 2017
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Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals has secured its first major third-party contract to supply approximately 400,000 bone dry metric tons (bdmt) of bauxite from its Huntly mine in Western Australia, furthering Alcoa's strategy to grow its third-party bauxite business.
The Western Australia state government has also granted approval for Alcoa to export up to 2.5 million metric tons per annum of bauxite for five years to third-party customers.
"Bauxite exports have the potential to generate greater value from our mineral lease, creating additional revenue streams for Alcoa and the state of Western Australia (WA), while maintaining supply to our three refineries," Mr. Dixon said.
The WA contract is one of three bauxite agreements recently signed worth a total of $126 million to deliver approximately 2.2 million bdmt of bauxite to customers in China in 2017. In addition to the WA contract, Alcoa will supply bauxite from its two mines in Brazil—Juruti and Mineração Rio do Norte — where Alcoa and AWAC hold an 18.2% equity investment. The two supply agreements for Brazil bauxite replace 2016 contract volume.
The contracts increase the total value of Alcoa's 2016 and 2017 third-party bauxite supply agreements to nearly $600 million.
Alcoa, the world's largest bauxite miner with 45.3 million bdmt of production in 2015, has mines in proximity to major markets and holds a first quartile cost curve position. Alcoa projects that the market for third-party bauxite demand will double between 2015 and 2024, with China as the biggest importer of bauxite.
www.alcoa.com
Alcoa Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals has secured its first major third-party contract to supply approximately 400,000 bone dry metric tons (bdmt) of bauxite from its Huntly mine in Western Australia, furthering Alcoa’s strategy to grow its third-party bauxite business.
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Buehler Diamet hardness testing software features automatic symmetry calculation
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Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., offers Diamet hardness testing software, which includes an automatic symmetry calculation for both Knoop and Vickers as a standard feature. The software is optimized for Macro-Vickers, Micro-Vickers, Knoop, and Brinell indents according to ISO 6507, ISO 4545, ASTM E384, ISO 6506, and ASTM E10 standards. This extra validation, with clear visual indication, helps to ensure that the results conform to standards.
The macro view function enables creating a composite image of the specimen. The shape and size of the specimen is irrelevant, since the DiaMet software can scan any area within stage limits. Blend in the navigation mini map to navigate quickly and efficiently from test location to test location.
Navigation within the DiaMet software is made easy by its clean design, and is supported by simple and intuitive actions. Virtual tabs on top of the screen let you navigate between to Home, Program Testing, and Reporting. Comprehensive feedback is shown on the status bar, which makes interactions clear and efficient. Designed for touch panels, with an entirely new look and feel, DiaMet enables fast and simple operation to satisfy the needs of operators with little training, while maintaining the flexibility and high level of features required by experts.
www.buehler.com
Buehler, Lake Bluff, Ill., offers Diamet hardness testing software, which includes an automatic symmetry calculation for both Knoop and Vickers as a standard feature.
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Precision-controlled pit furnace tempers hardened steel dies
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Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., announces that Dorssers Inc. has purchased two of its pit style air temper furnaces to process pellet dies. The pellet dies are large-diameter, hardened steel dies with a multitude of holes gun-drilled for compressing various feed stocks in the agriculture, waste, and pulp industries. The environment is harsh, so exact heat treating is a must.
ʺWe have worked with Seco Warwick for years, and we know they understand our need for rugged furnaces, along with our need for uniformity and precision controls for our expensive dies," says Dorssers president Peter Timmermans. ʺWe have owned and operated Seco Warwick vacuum furnace equipment for many years, and find the control systems to be one of the best on the market."
Seco Warwick pit furnaces feature a rugged, heavy-duty industrial design for uniform convective heating. The furnaces, sold in two sizes, are offered as electrically heated or gas-fired, with PLC control system and friendly HMI.
www.secowarwick.com
www.dorssers.com
Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., announces that Dorssers Inc. has purchased two of its pit style air temper furnaces to process pellet dies.
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One Minute Mentor: Plasma Nitriding
January 3, 2017
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Plasma nitriding is a surface-hardening process in which glow-discharge technology introduces nascent (atomic) nitrogen into the surface of a metal part for subsequent inward diffusion. The process takes place in a vacuum chamber, with the workpiece as the cathode (negative potential) in a nitrogen/hydrogen atmosphere at pressures between 100 and 1000 Pa (0.015 and 0.15 psi).
A voltage in the range of 500 to 1000 volts is applied between the metal part and the chamber wall, resulting in the formation of a plasma through which positive nitrogen ions are accelerated against the negative-biased part to be treated. This ionic bombardment heats the piece to the treatment temperature, cleans the surface by sputtering, and provides active nitrogen species for the nitriding process.
The diagram shows the schematic of a device used for glow-discharge plasma nitriding. 1 and 2, gas introduction; 3, thermocouple; 4, cathode; 5, pressure sensor, 6 to 8, needle valve; 9, diaphragm valve; 10, solenoid; 11, vacuum pump; 12, sample holder; 13, sample; 14, anode; 15, sealing ring; 16, stainless tube; 17, window and 18, insulator.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Nitriding of Stainless Steels ⇒ Thermochemical Nitriding Treatments
Plasma nitriding is a surface-hardening process in which glow-discharge technology introduces nascent (atomic) nitrogen into the surface of a metal part for subsequent inward diffusion
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Electron beam additive manufacturing system to build titanium aircraft parts for Airbus
December 31, 2016
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Sciaky Inc., Chicago, announces that Airbus has taken delivery of a state-of-the-art electron beam additive manufacturing EBAM 110 system to build large structural parts of titanium.
Sciaky's EBAM process combines computer-aided design, additive manufacturing processing principles, and an electron beam heat source. Starting with a 3D model from a CAD program, Sciaky's fully articulated, moving electron beam gun deposits metal via wire feedstock, layer by layer, until the part reaches near-net shape. From there, the near-net shape part requires heat treatment and post-production machining.
Sciaky brings quality and control together in one step with IRISS – the Interlayer Real-time Imaging and Sensing System. IRISS is the only real-time monitoring and control system in the metal 3D printing market that can sense and digitally self-adjust metal deposition with precision and repeatability. This closed-loop control is the primary reason that Sciaky's EBAM 3D printing process delivers consistent part geometry, mechanical properties, microstructure, and metal chemistry, from the first part to the last.
EBAM utilizes wire feedstock of a wide variety of metals and refractory alloys, such as titanium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, Inconel, and stainless steels. Sciaky's EBAM 110 system has a work envelope of almost six feet by four feet.
www.sciaky.com
Sciaky Inc., Chicago, announces that Airbus has taken delivery of a state-of-the-art electron beam additive manufacturing EBAM 110 System to build large structural parts of titanium.
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Linde and Praxair announce intention to merge
December 23, 2016
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Linde AG, Germany, and Praxair Inc., Danbury, Conn., announce that the companies intend to combine in a merger of equals that would bring together two leading companies in the global industrial gas industry, leveraging the proven strengths of each. The transaction would unite Linde's long-held leadership in technology with Praxair's efficient operating model, creating a global leader. The combined company would have strong positions in all key geographies and end markets and create a more diverse and balanced global portfolio. Additionally, it would enable the development and delivery of more innovative products and services to customers.
The companies have signed a non-binding term sheet and expect to execute a definitive Business Combination Agreement as soon as practicable. Based on 2015 reported results, the combination would create a company with pro forma revenues of approximately $30 billion, prior to any divestitures, and a current market value in excess of $65 billion.
Under the proposed merger, existing Linde and Praxair shareholders would each own about 50% of the combined company, and its chief executive would be based in the United States.
Chairman and CEO of Praxair, Steve Angel, will become CEO, while Linde's supervisory board Chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle, will take the role of chairman of the new group.
"Under the Linde brand, we want to combine our companies' business and technology capabilities and form a global industrial gas leader. Beyond the strategic fit, the compelling, value-creating combination would achieve a robust balance sheet and cash flow and generate financial flexibility to invest in our future"
"The strategic combination between Linde and Praxair would leverage the complementary strengths of each across a larger global footprint and create a more resilient portfolio with increased exposure to long-term macro growth trends," said Steve Angel, Praxair's Chairman and CEO. "We consider this to be a true strategic merger, as it brings together the capabilities, talented people and best-in-class processes of both companies, creating a unique and compelling opportunity for all of our stakeholders."
"Under the Linde brand, we want to combine our companies' business and technology capabilities and form a global industrial gas leader. Beyond the strategic fit, the compelling, value-creating combination would achieve a robust balance sheet and cash flow and generate financial flexibility to invest in our future," says Professor Dr. Aldo Belloni, CEO of Linde.
www.praxair.com.
www.linde.com
Linde AG, Germany, and Praxair Inc., Danbury, Conn., announce that the companies intend to combine in a merger of equals that would bring together two leading companies in the global industrial gas industry, leveraging the proven strengths of each.
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CVD Equipment acquires chemical vapor deposition technology from Tantaline
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CVD Equipment Corp., Central Islip, N.Y., has purchased certain tantalum chemical vapor deposition technology formerly owned by Tantaline A/S, Nordborg, Denmark, and now owned by a CVD subsidiary operating under the name Tantaline CVD A/S. The innovative tantalum chemical vapor technology, called Tantaline treatment, is used to create a tantalum surface alloy on parts such as valves, fittings, autoclaves, process chambers, flow reactors, fasteners, mixers, flowmeters, and medical devices, as well as other parts that are susceptible to corrosion in harsh environments.
These parts are used across a broad range of industries including chemical processing, oil & gas, mining, pharmaceutical, and medical. In hot corrosive acidic environments (>150°C) such as sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids, Tantaline treated parts outperform most high priced specialty alloys and function nearly at the level of solid tantalum parts. Tantaline treatment thereby provides solid tantalum-like superior corrosion resistance at a lower part cost.
With this strategic acquisition, CVD Equipment gains access to new markets and applications," says Leonard Rosenbaum, President and CEO. " Additionally, sales and manufacturing operations in Denmark expand our geographic footprint. Plans are also under consideration for additional coating facilities in the United States and elsewhere. This is part of our strategic plan to leverage our equipment know-how and proven ability to scale up deposition processes into offering high value-added materials, products, and services. This is the first step in our combined organic and acquisition growth initiative for 2017."
CVD Equipment Corp. designs, develops, and manufactures a broad range of chemical vapor deposition, gas control, and other state-of-the-art equipment and process solutions to develop and manufacture materials and coatings for research and industrial applications.
www.tantaline.com
www.cvdequipment.com
CVD Equipment Corp., Central Islip, N.Y., has purchased certain tantalum chemical vapor deposition technology formerly owned by Tantaline A/S, Nordborg, Denmark, and now owned by a CVD subsidiary operating under the name Tantaline CVD A/S.
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