Kobe Steel to build aluminum extrusion plant in Kentucky
May 9, 2016
Source:
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.
Continue reading
One Minute Mentor: Tempering Corrosion-Resistant Tool Steels
May 6, 2016
Source:
The graph shows the tempering behavior of two corrosion-resistant tool steels: AISI 420 and the nitrogen-alloyed M333 (AISI 420 Mod). During tempering, the combination of properties such as hardness, toughness, and corrosion resistance, as well as residual stresses, can be adjusted within a wide range. Very low tempering temperatures (<300°F) are uncommon, as they result in very low impact toughness and high internal stresses.
With increased tempering temperatures, toughness properties can be improved significantly with only limited loss in hardness, as shown in the graph.
The precise behavior strongly depends on the uniformity of the microstructure and on chemical composition, with advantages shown by nitrogen-alloyed lower-carbon grades. Typical tempering temperatures for small and simple-shaped tools vary between 390 and 750°F. In the case of large and complex dies, such tempering temperatures can still lead to very high internal stresses, resulting in early tool failure despite good impact toughness.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Tool Steels ⇒ Heat Treating of Mold Steels and Corrosion-Resistant Tool Steels ⇒ Recommended Heat Treating Practices
During tempering, the combination of properties such as hardness, toughness, and corrosion resistance, as well as residual stresses, can be adjusted within a wide range
Continue reading
Highlights of the 2016 ASM/IFHTSE Congress
May 4, 2016
Source:
Sponsored by Houghton International and Linde Gas, the International Federation for Heat Treating and Surface Engineering Congress was held April 18 - 21 in Savannah, Georgia.
The conference was well attended, with 171 heat treaters and 20 exhibitors from 20 countries and every continent. The keynote speakers were industry leaders who covered topics of great importance to advancing heat treating technology and expanding applications.
The first keynote presenter was HKDH Bhadeshia, Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. The recipient of the IFHTSE Medal, he presented an excellent talk on "Very Short and Very Long Heat Treatments in the Processing of Steel." His thought-provoking and humorous talk showed a real connection with the audience, and demonstrated some fundamental concepts in a unique manner.
The second keynote was by Tobias Steiner, of Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart, the 2014 winner of the Linde Tom Bell Young Author Award in Munich. His enlightening discussion of "Alloying Element Nitride Development in Ferritic Fe-Based Materials upon Nitriding," demonstrated fully why he was chosen for the Tom Bell Award.
The final keynote was by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Rolf Zenker of Zenker Consult in Mittweida, on "Surface Treatment by Electron Beams in Combination with Other Heat Treatment Technologies." His presentation demonstrated the value of understanding technologies in addition to heat treating to improve surface properties.
Other presentations covered quenching, modeling, nitriding, and other advanced thermal processing technologies. One interesting paper was "Life Extension of Furnace and Fixture Alloys by Surface Engineering in Carburizing Atmospheres," by Mr. Anbo Wang of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Student of Prof. Rick Sisson). This paper examined the practical benefits of prolonging the life of expensive high-nickel alloy fixtures.
The winner of the Linde Tom Bell Young Author Award for this Congress was Dr. Matteo Villa, Technical University of Denmark, for "The Sub-Zero Celsius Treatment of Stainless Steels: Experiments and Perspective."
A special symposium on Residual Stress Prediction, Control, and Measurement was held in conjunction with the IFHTSE Congress. This symposium brought together many experts from the aerospace industry, including the USAF Materials Laboratory, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, as well as experts from IWT Bremen, including Prof. Hans-Werner Zoch, and others from the automotive industry. It was a very exciting symposium with a excellent exchange of ideas between very different industries. A great deal of networking was accomplished.
A special thanks to the Domestic and International Organizing Committees; ASM Staff (Jeanelle Harden and Lindy Good); and sponsors Houghton International and Linde Gas, for an event that was well attended, well organized, and very informative.
— D. Scott MacKenzie, Houghton International Inc.
The conference was well attended, with 171 heat treaters and 20 exhibitors from 20 countries and every continent, while the keynote speakers were industry leaders who covered topics of great importance to advancing heat treating technology and expanding applications.
Continue reading
Olympus videoscope provides resilient insertion tube and ultrabright illumination
Source:
Olympus Corp., Tokyo, has launched its new Iplex NX videoscope, featuring excellent image quality, maneuverability, and intuitive operation to streamline the location, identification, and measurement of previously undetectable flaws.
It combines a high-pixel CCD chip, an ultra-bright laser diode light system, and the Olympus PulsarPic processor, to reduce signal noise and deliver clear, bright images. Operators can identify and measure flaws from twice as far from the specimen as possible with conventional videoscopes.
The image quality and ultrabright illumination make it easy to inspect a large area for small, subtle flaws. The videoscope can capture crisp images even in hard-to-access spaces, such as the interior of gas turbines, where external lighting cannot reach. Furthermore, by illuminating a wide area, the Iplex NX improves an inspector's efficiency and productivity.
The resilient TaperedFlex fine tungsten mesh insertion tube combines superb scope maneuverability with optimized rigidity and flexibility, making it easy to navigate in tight spaces while maintaining outstanding abrasion resistance. The distal end of the insertion tube is highly flexible and capable of making complex bends to arrive at hard-to-reach areas.
TrueFeel electric articulation is enhanced with reduced mechanical lag and greater sensitivity, giving the NX ultra-responsive articulation and an increased range of articulation in four directions. The TrueFeel design maximizes the use of buttons and a joystick, so that the device is comfortable and easy to use, even for long periods of time.
www.olympus-ims.com
Olympus Corp., Tokyo, has launched its new Iplex NX videoscope, featuring excellent image quality, maneuverability, and intuitive operation to streamline the location, identification, and measurement of previously undetectable flaws.
Continue reading
ASM forms strategic alliance with SVC
Source: ASM International
The new strategic alliance brings the complementary strengths of both organizations together to better serve their global members and the community at large.
Continue reading
Commercial Metals to build steel micromill in Oklahoma for long products
May 3, 2016
Source:
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.
Continue reading
Ipsen Argos low-pressure carburizing plus 20-bar nitrogen quenching increases hardness
Source:
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.
Continue reading
Space telescope boasts a dozen flight mirrors
Source:
One dozen flight mirrors are now installed on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, out of the eighteen mirror segments that make up the primary mirror. The assembly of the primary mirror is an important milestone for the Webb telescope, but is just one component of this huge and complex observatory.
Since December 2015, scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to install all the primary mirror segments onto the telescope structure in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The twelfth mirror was installed on January 2, 2016.
"This milestone signifies that all of the hexagonal shaped mirrors on the fixed central section of the telescope structure are installed and only the three mirrors on each wing are left for installation," says Lee Feinberg at NASA Goddard. "The incredibly skilled and dedicated team assembling the telescope continues to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently."
Each hexagonal-shaped segment measures just over 4.2 ft (1.3 m) across and weighs approximately 88 lb (40 kg). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-ft (6.5-m) mirror. The primary mirror will unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. The mirrors are placed on the telescope's backplane using a robotic arm, guided by engineers. The full installation is expected to be completed soon.
The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman, Falls Church, Va., for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corp., Rochester, N.Y. Harris Corp. leads integration and testing for the telescope.
While the mirror assembly is a very significant milestone, there are many more steps involved in assembling the Webb telescope. The primary mirror and the tennis-court-sized sunshield are the largest and most visible components of the Webb telescope. However, there are four smaller components that are less visible, yet critical. The instruments that will fly aboard Webb—cameras and spectrographs with detectors able to record extremely faint signals—are part of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently undergoing its final cryogenic vacuum test and will be integrated with the mirror later this year.
The near infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) has programmable microshutters which enable observation up to 100 objects simultaneously. The near infrared camera (NIRCam) is equipped with coronagraphs, instruments that allow astronomers to take pictures of very faint objects around a central bright object, like stellar systems.
The Webb telescope also has a cryocooler for cooling the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) to a very cold 7 K so they can work. MIRI has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths that are longer than our eyes see. There's also the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) allows Webb to point precisely, so that it can obtain high-quality images.
Over the next two years in preparation for launch, various components of the Webb telescope will endure rigorous environmental and optical testing. The sunshield will be joined with the spacecraft bus (main structure) followed by more testing. The Webb telescope is planned for launch in 2018.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
Image caption — One dozen (out of 18) flight mirror segments that make up the primary mirror on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been installed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Courtesy of NASA/Chris Gunn.
One dozen flight mirrors are now installed on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, out of the eighteen mirror segments that make up the primary mirror.
Continue reading
One Minute Mentor: Effect of Cooling Rate on Toughness of Mold Steels
April 29, 2016
Source:
This graph shows the effect of different cooling rates on the toughness properties (un-notched samples) of AISI 420 and the nitrogen alloyed M333 (AISI 420 Mod). The cooling parameter used is λ8/5, which is the cooling time from 1470 to 930°F in seconds, divided by 100.
Besides the general trend of falling toughness with rising cooling time, it is clearly evident that the nitrogen-alloyed steel grade M333 (420Mod), which has a lower carbon content, shows significantly higher toughness values. These can be further improved by lowering the austenitizing temperature. This behavior correlates well with the reduced tendency to form proeutectoid carbides at grain boundaries. A similar correlation can be found for the steel grades AISI 440B and, for example, the nitrogen-alloyed M340 (440Mod).
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Tool Steels ⇒ Heat Treating of Mold Steels and Corrosion-Resistant Tool Steels ⇒ Recommended Heat Treating Practices
This graph shows the effect of different cooling rates on the toughness properties (un-notched samples) of AISI 420 and the nitrogen alloyed M333 (AISI 420 Mod).
Continue reading
Rick Sisson Wins Trustees Research & Creative Scholarship Award
April 28, 2016
Source:
ASM Fellow Richard D. Sisson has received Worcester Polytechnic Institute's 2016 Board of Trustees' Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Scholarship. The award recognizes continuing excellence in research and scholarship by faculty members over a period of at least five years.
Prof. Sisson is the George F. Fuller Professor of Mechanical Engineering, director of Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Manufacturing and Materials Engineering Programs, and technical director of the WPI Center for Heat Treating Excellence.
He is internationally recognized for his research in materials science and engineering, as well as manufacturing. His pioneering work spans several areas of physical metallurgy, and he has written more than 250 journal articles and 250 technical presentations.
Prof. Sisson is currently principal investigator for a multi-million-dollar, multi-institution project aimed at developing new metallurgical methods and new lightweight alloys to help the military build more effective and durable vehicles and systems. He has won numerous national and international awards, and has served as president of the ASM Heat Treating Society.
wpi.edu/+chte
ASM Fellow Richard D. Sisson has received Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s 2016 Board of Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Scholarship.
Continue reading 