Seco Warwick supplies vacuum furnace to Wisconsin heat treating company
December 2, 2014
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Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., announces that it has sold a standard Vector 2 bar vacuum furnace to Service Heat Treating, Milwaukee, a provider of case hardening and vacuum processing of medium to large production runs. Vector high-pressure quench furnaces are available in 2, 10, 15, or 25 bar, and are designed for hot, cold, and high-speed steels.
In addition to patented vacuum carburizing technology, these furnaces can be used for tempering, annealing, solution heat treating, brazing, and sintering. With the FineCarb and PreNit (high speed) carburizing options, a SimVac process simulation package is included at no extra charge.
Service Heat Treating offers standard stainless steel and tool steel processing quickly and cost effectively, and has the capability to design vacuum carburizing processes for the most distortion-critical applications.
www.secowarwick.com/en/products/vacuum-heat-treatment/
Seco Warwick, Meadville, Pa., announces that it has sold a standard Vector 2 bar vacuum furnace to Service Heat Treating, Milwaukee, a provider of case hardening and vacuum processing of medium to large production runs.
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CHTE project tests induction tempering versus furnace tempering
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The Center for Heat Treating Excellence, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., is working on a research project to test the benefits and limitations of induction tempering versus furnace tempering. The goal is to develop a fundamental understanding of the induction tempering process in terms of the effects of power and frequency on the microstructure and properties of the part. Results will enable companies to decide on the optimal technology required to reduce cycle time and process costs while maintaining or improving product quality.
The expectation is that CHTE members will be able to eliminate trial-and-error experimentation and apply the data to process designs, thus improving efficiency and productivity. The project will provide information on the best recipe to maximize the performance of parts.
A detailed comparison will be made between parts that are tempered using the "less than optimum" parameters from induction heating equipment designed for annealing. In addition, a comparison of the microstructures, residual stress distribution, and mechanical properties (hardness, impact toughness, and torsional properties) of several induction-tempered steels with furnace-tempered steels will be made.
At this point, the furnace tempering experiments have been completed.
It was found that the hardness could be predicted with the Hollomon-Jaffe relationship with a constant of C=14 for AISI1045 and C=13 for AISI4140.
Preliminary experiments to determine the effect of phase transformations during heating were completed. It was found that the tempering process had begun during the first 20 minutes of the heat-up to the tempering process.
Induction tempering experiments at Thermotool will be completed in May or June.
Detailed metallographic analysis will be conducted to compare furnace and induction heating.
http://wp.wpi.edu/chte/project-portfolio/induction-tempering/
The Center for Heat Treating Excellence, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass., is working on a research project to test the benefits and limitations of induction tempering versus furnace tempering.
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U.S. Steel announces new Pittsburgh headquarters location
November 26, 2014
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United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that the company will relocate its corporate headquarters to the former Civic Arena site in Pittsburgh's lower Hill District. This announcement assures that the company will help anchor new development in the region while sustaining more than 800 jobs in Pittsburgh at the headquarters location. To be completed in 2017, the new 250,000 ft2 headquarters will promote collaboration and best practices for U.S. Steel employees in the advanced work environment. Additionally, by housing employees from a number of locations under one roof, the new headquarters location will provide significant cost savings for the company.
Adjacent to CONSOL Energy Center, the building will be owned and operated by a joint venture between Clayco and Pittsburgh Arena Real Estate Redevelopment LP, an affiliate of the Penguins.
As part of U. S. Steel's and the Penguins' commitment to environmental stewardship the building will be constructed with sustainable building practices for U. S. Green Building Council LEED version 3 certification. Sustainability practices will include using U. S. Steel products where appropriate. Steel supports sustainable building practices by reducing the carbon footprint of building materials through its inherent recyclability – as steel is the most recycled material globally, exceeding other metals, paper and glass, combined.
www.ussteel.com
United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, announces that the company will relocate its corporate headquarters to the former Civic Arena site in Pittsburgh’s lower Hill District.
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ATI to supply nickel-base alloy plate for a pipeline project
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Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, has received an additional order for its nickel-base alloy plate for a large oil and gas pipeline project. ATI previously announced that it had booked initial orders for this project. Shipments are scheduled to begin in late fourth quarter 2014 and continue through the first half of 2015.
"Total expected revenue of approximately $145 million from these orders represents the largest participation in a project in ATI's history," said Rich Harshman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "For perspective, expected revenue from these orders is greater than 25% of ATI's sales to the Oil & Gas/Chemical Process Industry for the first nine months of 2014. We received a large share of this project due to the quality of our nickel-based alloy plate that is enabled by ATI's unique supply chain, including our Flat Rolled Products segment specialty alloy plate facility."
www.ATImetals.com
Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, has received an additional order for its nickel-base alloy plate for a large oil and gas pipeline project.
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Alcoa acquires Firth Rixson for its isothermal forging and ring production
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Alcoa, Pittsburgh, announces that it has completed the acquisition of Firth Rixson, a global leader in aerospace jet engine components. Accelerating Alcoa's transformation to a multi-material enterprise, the acquisition increases its offerings made of nickel-base superalloys, titanium, stainless steel, and advanced aluminum alloys, all produced by the most advanced isothermal forging technology and ring production capabilities.
Firth Rixson strengthens Alcoa's robust aerospace portfolio and positions the company to capture greater profitable growth from its expanding value-added business. The transaction doubles Alcoa's average revenue content on high-growth engine programs.
The company closed the transaction, which was announced in June, after receiving all of the required global regulatory approvals, and arranging financing for the deal.
With this acquisition, Alcoa's revenues are expected to increase by $1.6 billion with an additional $350 million EBITDA in 2016, and to increase by $2 billion in revenues by 2019. Approximately 70% of this growth is secured by long-term agreements.
A majority of these new revenue streams come from aerospace sales, enabling Alcoa to further capitalize on strong growth in the commercial aerospace sector. Alcoa projects a compounded annual commercial jet growth rate of 7% through 2019, and sees a current 9-year production order book at 2013 delivery rates.
Alcoa is implementing a robust integration plan to realize significant synergy cost savings, primarily driven by purchasing and productivity improvements, optimizing internal metal supply, and leveraging Alcoa's global shared services. These cost savings are expected to reach approximately $100 million annually by year five. The transaction is expected to be neutral to earnings the first year and accretive thereafter, and will generate a return in excess of cost of capital. Firth Rixson's businesses will be integrated into Alcoa's Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS) segment.
www.alcoa.com
Alcoa, Pittsburgh, announces that it has completed the acquisition of Firth Rixson, a global leader in aerospace jet engine components.
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Wisconsin Oven builds horizontal quench furnace for heat treating facility
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Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, announces the shipment of a horizontal quench system for solution heat treating of forged aluminum gun parts. Two total solution heat treating ovens were purchased along with three total aluminum aging ovens. The solution heat treat system has a maximum temperature rating of 1250°F and a work chamber of 4 x 4 x 4 feet, and is designed to heat a 1000-lb load of aluminum to 950°F.
The system is electrically heated with 144kW of heat input and zero-fired SCR power control. The recirculation system utilizes a 15,000 CFM blower with combination air flow design to maximize temperature uniformity. This horizontal quench system features guaranteed temperature uniformity (+/-10°F at 800°F and 1100° F) and meets the requirements of AMS 2750E Class 2.
The quench tank is a 12 gauge 304 stainless steel construction, 304 stainless steel removable quench tank covers (utilized to minimize heat loss), and utilizes a pneumatically actuated quench elevator with 304 stainless steel wheel rollers and lift structure. The tank has a 2,400 gallon capacity and agitation pump rated for 200 gallons per minute with galvanized steel distribution piping and horizontal style water agitation design. The tank volume is designed for a 15°F maximum water temperature rise (when load is quenched). The tank water temperature capability is rated for 140°F to 180°F normal use (with a 210°F maximum temperature capability).
The customer provides heat treating services to a large gun manufacturer. Prior to purchasing the solution heat treating system, they were outsourcing the work to a commercial heat treating company. The yearly cost savings they realized by bringing the heat treating process in house was well worth the investment in the equipment.
www.wisoven.com
Wisconsin Oven Corp., East Troy, announces the shipment of a horizontal quench system for solution heat treating of forged aluminum gun parts.
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Can-Eng Furnaces to build four furnace systems for mining supplier
November 19, 2014
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Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd., Niagara Falls, Ontario, has received an order from a large international mining and materials supplier with locations spread throughout North America, South America, and East Asia. The order consists of four turn-key high-temperature rotary hearth and chain conveyor tempering furnace systems, with capacities ranging between 10 and 30 tons/hour, and staggered deliveries.
The equipment includes the latest in energy-efficient/low-emissions combustion, and state-of-the-art drive systems, refractories, and automation. This includes atmosphere monitoring, pressure and temperature control, high-temperature cameras, safety systems, and level II automation.
Can-Eng's rotary hearth furnace systems have been utilized in a wide variety of applications for both reheating and heat treating operations. System capacity ranges up to 60 tons per hour, and consists of both rotary table and rotary ring designs. Start-up for each project is planned to begin the first quarter of 2015.
www.can-eng.com
Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited, Niagara Falls, Ontario, has received an order from a large international mining and materials supplier with locations spread throughout North America, South America, and East Asia.
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Keystone spiral welding technology enables taller wind turbines
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Keystone Tower Systems, Somerville, Mass., is developing a system that adapts a traditional pipe-making technology to make wind turbines on location at wind farms, making taller towers more economical. A modification of spiral welding, the system involves a process in which steel sheets are fed into a machine in which they are continuously rolled into a spiral, while their edges are welded together to create a pipe.
The process allows the steel rolls to be tapered and made of varying thickness, to create a conical tower. The automated process uses about one-tenth the labor of traditional construction, because it is made of steel to make the entire tower, instead of concrete.
With Keystone's onsite fabrication, manufactures can make towers that reach more than 400 feet. Wind that high can be up to 50% stronger and is not blocked by trees. A 460-foot tower, for instance, could increase energy capture by 10 to 5% compared with today's more common 260-foot towers. For 450-foot, 3-megawatt towers, a base 20 feet in diameter will suffice. (Increasing diameters by even a few feet can make towers almost twice as strong to handle stress.)
Keystone is now conducting structural validation of towers built by its system in collaboration with structural engineers at Northeastern University and Johns Hopkins University. For the past year, the startup has been working toward deploying a small-scale prototype (about six stories high) at the MIT-owned Bates Linear Accelerator Center in Middleton, Mass., by early 2015.
www.keystonetowersystems.com
Keystone Tower Systems, Somerville, Mass., is developing a system that adapts a traditional pipe-making technology to make wind turbines on location at wind farms, making taller towers more economical.
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Aerojet Rocketdyne partners with NASA to advance copper 3D printing
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NASA, Washington, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, Sacramento, Calif., successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests on an advanced rocket engine Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) using copper alloy additive manufacturing technology. The hot-fire tests used Aerojet Rocketdyne's proprietary Selective Laser Melting copper-alloy enhanced-heat-transfer design chamber, which demonstrated a significant increase in performance over traditional combustion chamber designs and material systems.
"In all, NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne conducted 19 hot-fire tests on four injector and TCA configurations, exploring various mixture ratios and injector operability points. At the conclusion of the tests, the injector and chamber hardware were found to be in excellent condition, and test data correlated with performance predictions," said Lee Ryberg, lead project engineer on Aerojet Rocketdyne's Additive Manufacturing development team.
This testing, conducted for the first time in the industry, was done with cooperation between Aerojet Rocketdyne, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate Game-Changing Development Program, and NASA Glenn Research Center, under a Space Act Agreement.
"This work represents another major milestone in the integrated development and certification of the materials characterization, manufacturing processes, analysis and design-tool technologies that are required to successfully implement Selective Laser Melting for critical rocket engine components," said Jay Littles, director of Advanced Launch Programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne.
"Aerojet Rocketdyne continues to expand the development of novel material and design solutions made possible through additive manufacturing, which will result in more efficient engines at lower costs. We are working a range of additive manufacturing implementation paths - from affordability and performance enhancement to legacy products such as the RL10 upper stage engine. We also are applying the technology to next-generation propulsion systems, including the Bantam Engine family, as well as our new large, high-performance booster engine, the AR1."
www.Rocket.com and www.GenCorp.com.
NASA, Washington, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, Sacramento, Calif., successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests on an advanced rocket engine Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) using copper alloy additive manufacturing technology.
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Solar Atmospheres extends contract to inspect Boeing 787 titanium seat tracks
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Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, Hermitage, announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with RTI Claro, a business unit of RTI International Metals Inc., to extend its contract for the vacuum stress-relieving and fluorescent liquid penetrant inspection of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner titanium seat track system until December 2021. Solar Atmospheres anticipates the agreement will include work on more than 1000 of the Boeing 787 aircraft.
Fluorescent liquid penetrant inspection (FPI) is a low-cost inspection method used to locate surface-breaking defects in metals. The technology is based on capillary action, in which low-tension dye penetrates into clean and dry surface-breaking discontinuities. The part is placed under ultraviolet light, where the developed dyes emit a brilliant yellow-green light that contrasts strongly against the dark background. Solar Atmospheres of Western PA is capable of inspecting product that is up to 40 feet in length.
"RTI Claro's decision to continue our relationship for another seven years can be attributed to the extraordinary past performance of our employees, plus our overall corporate commitment to supply RTI Claro and Boeing with the straightest, cleanest, and most defect-free seat tracks in the industry," says Robert Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA.
www.solaratm.com
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, Hermitage, announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with RTI Claro, a business unit of RTI International Metals Inc., to extend its contract for the vacuum stress-relieving and fluorescent liquid penetrant inspection of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner titanium seat track system until December 2021.
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