Facility dedicated to heat treating Mg and Al aerospace parts is Nadcap certified
July 12, 2016
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Wallwork Heat Treating Co., England, announces that it has a dedicated, Nadcap-certified heat treatment facility for magnesium and aluminum components ranging from small parts to large fabrications. Aluminum and magnesium are seen by some thermal processors as difficult to treat, but over the last four years Wallwork has increased capability and steadily expanded these services.
Starting with commercial work and now extending Nadcap approvals to meet the needs of aerospace customers, the company treats a wide variety of parts, from small metal pressings to large cast, fabricated, or machined components. These are destined for applications as varied as aerospace and satellites, to sports cycles.
The main furnace has a capacity of up to 1760 pounds and can process components occupying up to 70 cubic feet. Variable quench facilities including air, water, and polymers are available to meet different technical requirements. With these methods, quench cycles can be as short as ten seconds.
In aerospace particularly, post treatment validation is vital. Our in-house laboratories are able to perform key tests and provide documentation to certify conformance to specifications. With a dedicated fleet of over 40 vehicles, we provide a national service.
www.wallworkht.co.uk
Wallwork Heat Treating Co., England, announces that it has a dedicated, Nadcap-certified heat treatment facility for magnesium and aluminum components ranging from small parts to large fabrications.
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Test instrument with friction-free motor integrates with torsion actuator
July 7, 2016
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TA Instruments, New Castle, Del., introduces the ElectroForce 3310, which delivers 1 kN of force capacity and can be integrated with a torsion actuator that provides simultaneous axial-torsion loading. For static tests that require displacements that exceed 25 mm, the 3310 can incorporate extended stroke (ES) capability.
In addition, environmental chambers such as saline baths or hot/cold chambers, can be used in conjunction with the 3310 to test a range of materials under a variety of conditions. Utilizing its patented, friction-free, electromagnetic linear motor, the 3310 provides the control needed to run a wide range of material characterization and fatigue testing protocols.
Although capable of running cyclic tests to 1000 N, the ElectroForce 3310's capability extends to much lower forces, controlling applied force to less than 1 N. The 3310 also utilizes TA's High Accuracy Displacement sensor (HADS), which provides a calibrated displacement accuracy of ±5 microns and a resolution of one nanometer.
"ElectroForce technology has consistently set the standard for leveraging electromagnetics in materials testing," says Troy Nickel, TA Product Manager. "With the ElectroForce 3310, we again deliver unmatched ability to test over a wide range of forces and a wide range of frequencies. This versatility can now enable even better results for tests that previously landed between our smaller and larger test systems."
http://www.tainstruments.com/new-electroforce-3310-test-instrument/
TA Instruments, New Castle, Del., introduces the ElectroForce 3310, which delivers 1 kN of force capacity and can be integrated with a torsion actuator that provides simultaneous axial-torsion loading.
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Ipsen delivers heat-treating solutions across the United States
July 6, 2016
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., has shipped 11 heat-treating systems to eight different states from California to Massachusetts over the past quarter, for processing parts for companies in the aerospace, energy, commercial heat treating, and coating industries.
Among the equipment was a Titan H6 vacuum furnace, which was rented to fill a company's immediate need for increased capacity. Two other Titan systems were shipped with Ipsen's PdMetrics software platform, which provides advanced predictive maintenance and connects customers to critical information they need to optimize operations and minimize unplanned downtime.
These recent equipment shipments also included a horizontal MetalMaster vacuum furnace with a 72x 156x92-inch radiation-shielded hot zone. This custom vacuum furnace system delivers cleanliness and uniform cooling for efficient, high-quality results.
Other furnaces shipped included VFS HEQ (external quench) and HIQ (internal quench) furnaces, as well as Titan LT (low temperature) furnaces and H2-, H6-, and H8-size furnaces from Ipsen's Titan line.
In addition to multiple vacuum furnaces, Ipsen also shipped a complete atmosphere heat-treating system designed to provide increased flexibility and help streamline production. This system included an Atlas integral quench batch furnace and its ancillary equipment: temper, washer, loader, endo generator, and load table.
Regardless of the industry, requirements, or location, the global Ipsen Customer Service Team facilitates system installations and provides expert training, startup assistance, and 360-degree support throughout the entire lifespan of the equipment.
www.IpsenUSA.com/Products
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., has shipped 11 heat-treating systems to eight different states from California to Massachusetts over the past quarter, for processing parts for companies in the aerospace, energy, commercial heat treating, and coating industries.
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Natural-gas three-zone conveyor oven cures adhesives at 350 parts/hour
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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.
www.wisoven.com
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.
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Bodycote adds nitrocarburizing service at its new Georgia plant
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Bodycote, U.K., announces that it will add nitrocarburizing to its heat treatment services at its new 60,000-square-foot heat treatment plant in Covington, Ga., which replaces the plant in Conyers.
The brand new facility will primarily serve automotive and general industrial customers, offering all of the processes and capabilities which had been offered at the Conyers location, as well as the addition of ferritic nitrocarburizing.
At more than double the size of the plant it replaces, the new Covington facility immediately increases the capacity available to serve the Georgia and Florida marketplaces with a wide range of heat treatment processes.
This investment is part of Bodycote's further expansion in the Southeast United States. Bodycote is committed to offering world-class heat treating services and is investing in improvements as part of an ongoing strategy to provide the best possible capabilities, mix, and geographical network to better serve customers.
www.bodycote.com
Bodycote, U.K., announces that it will add nitrocarburizing to its heat treatment services at its new 60,000-square-foot heat treatment plant in Covington, Ga., which replaces the plant in Conyers.
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Roger Jones of Solar Atmospheres nominated as ASM Trustee
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Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, Pa., announces that Roger Jones, corporate president, has been nominated as a trustee for the ASM International Board of Trustees, effective October 2016. The board of ASM is comprised of four officers and nine trustees. Three new trustees are elected by the membership every year, and each serves a three-year term.
Roger attended Hocking Technical College (Nelsonville, Ohio) where he studied heat processing technology as a member of the class of 1974. He has also taken selective metallurgical courses from ASM and other technical organizations.
Roger joined Abar Corporation in 1975, and worked in the heat treating division until 1978. He then started work at Vacuum Furnace Systems Corporation at its inception in 1978, along with his father, William R. Jones, FASM, who founded the company. Roger's primary duties included manufacturing vacuum heat treating and brazing furnaces, as well as hot zone installation and field service work.
In 1983, Roger assisted in the founding of Solar Atmospheres Inc., where he held the position of Vice President. He was promoted to President of Solar Atmospheres Inc. in 1993. With the addition of Solar's facility in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, in early 2001, Roger was then promoted to the position of Corporate President. In 1995, he established a strategic management team within Solar Atmospheres. Today, Solar is the largest privately owned vacuum heat treating company in North America, with four facilities: Souderton and Hermitage in Pennsylvania, and Fontana in California. The newest facility is in Greenville, South Carolina, operational in May 2015.
As a member of the Metal Treating Institute since 1983, Roger served as the Chairman of the Atlantic Coast Chapter in 1994. Roger has served as a co-chair of the Program Committee. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 1998 and was President of the Institute from 2004-2005. He was called back onto the Board in 2009 for a third term and completed that role in 2012, however remaining as an active Past President including committee involvement.
Roger has been a member of ASM Philadelphia "Liberty Bell" Chapter since 1983, and chaired nine committees during that time. He became his company's sustaining member representative in 1986. he was Philadelphia Chapter Chairman for the 1993-1994 chapter years. Also, he was an instructor for the chapter-sponsored MEI courses, and he continues to support the local chapter in many ways.
At the ASM International level, Roger chaired and served on numerous committees. He chaired the Membership Committee from 1996-1997; the Heat Treating Society (HTS) Immediate Needs Committee; and the HTS Education Committee. He was a founding member of HTS in August 1994.
Roger served on the Nominating Committee for two separate terms. He is also a member of the HTS T&P Committee, and was co-chair for the Technical Program for the 2011 Heat Treating Conference and Exposition in Cincinnati. In 2005, Roger was appointed to the HTS Board, and served as Vice President from 2011 to 2013, and as the President of HTS 2013-2015.
Roger was presented local awards from the Philadelphia Chapter, including the Young Members Award, 1989, and the Delaware Valley Materials Person of the Year Award, 1998. Roger was the recipient of the Philadelphia Chapter William Hunt Eisenman Award in 2001 and the Distinguished Service Award in 2004.
In 2009, he received the President's Award. Most recently he received the Adolph Schaefer Special Achievement Award in May 2015. Awards from MTI include the President's Award and the Program Service Award in 2002. In 2009, he received the Distinguished Service Award. Other awards from MTI also included the Award of Merit in 2011, and the Exemplary Service Award in 2012. Roger has given talks and published various technical papers in Industrial Heating, Advanced Materials and Processes and Heat Treating Progress.
Since becoming Corporate President of Solar Atmospheres, the company has also received various awards. In 1997, Solar Atmospheres was honored by Industrial Heating and MTI as "Commercial Heat Treater of the Year – Master Craftsman Award." Through Roger's leadership and involvement in the ASM Philadelphia Chapter, Solar Atmospheres received the "Outstanding Company Support Award" in 1996 and again in 2006.
Roger is a life member of Perkasie Fire Company #1. He has held various executive and line officer positions with the company. He is a Past President of the department, serving in that position from 2009 to 2014. Currently he serves as an Engineer, a position he has held for 26 years, and he is currently also a Trustee. In 2006, he received the Burpee Emergency Services Award from the Central Bucks County Chamber of Commerce, Doylestown.
He is a member of Immanuel Leidy's Church in Souderton, and serves on the Lay Visitors Committee and as an usher. Roger has been married to his devoted and supportive wife, Patti, for 40 years. He has three children, and two sons are employed at Solar Atmospheres, making this a third generation business.
www.solaratm.com
Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, Pa., announces that Roger Jones, corporate president, has been nominated as a trustee for the ASM International Board of Trustees, effective October 2016.
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Juno carries nine instruments, a titanium vault, and 3D printed brackets
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Developed by Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, Calif., the Juno spacecraft is hexagonal in shape, is 3.5 meters tall and 3.5 meters in diameter, and has a liftoff mass of about 8000 pounds. It carries a suite of nine instruments capable of observations from radio and microwave through infrared, visible, and ultraviolet frequencies, in addition to particle sensors and magnetometers. To protect the sensitive spacecraft electronics, Juno has a unique titanium vault with walls one centimeter thick, mounted between the spacecraft main structure and its high gain antenna.
The vault acts as shielding to protect the critical spacecraft computers and instrument computers from the high energy particles it encounters when the orbit comes close to the planet. Juno is also the first planetary spacecraft to fly 3D-printed parts. A dozen 3D-printed wave guide brackets are made of a titanium alloy.
Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft to operate at Jupiter, and it also holds the record as the farthest spacecraft from the sun to operate on solar power.
To power the computer, instruments, and heaters, Juno has three 30-foot-long solar arrays with a combined 18,698 individual solar cells covering an area of 535 square feet. On Earth, the arrays would be capable of generating over 14 kilowatts, yet will provide only about 500 watts at Jupiter.
The spacecraft is designed for one-year science operations with 33 elliptical orbits, and it will purposely de-orbit into Jupiter in early 2018 to protect Jupiter's moons from any spacecraft debris that could impact them.
http://spaceflight101.com/juno/spacecraft-information/
Developed by Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, Calif., the Juno spacecraft is hexagonal in shape, is 3.5 meters tall and 3.5 meters in diameter, and has a liftoff mass of about 8000 pounds.
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Three Lego aluminum astronauts travel to Jupiter on Juno
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The Lego Group, Sweden, provided three 1.5-inch figurines milled out of a single block of aluminum to ride to Jupiter on the Juno spacecraft: the astronomer Galileo, and the Greek gods Juno and Jupiter. The Juno figure holds a magnifying glass to signify her search for the truth, while Jupiter holds a lightning bolt. Galileo holds both a model of the planet and his telescope.
The figurines were milled out of a single block of aluminum rather than plastic, in order to allow the figures to withstand the extreme temperatures encountered during the journey.
The Lego figurines have set records for the fastest-traveling Legos on record. The spacecraft blasted away from Earth in 2011, and reached Jupiter five years later, on July 4.
The Lego pieces are part of a joint agreement between the Lego company and NASA that is aimed at engaging the public in science education. The space agency is encouraging the public to use Lego pieces to construct models of the future of space exploration, and submit these to NASA as part of a competition.
You can read the 2011 Lego news release here: http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2011/august/lego-minifigures-on-a-mission-to-promote-space-research
Many other sites report on the Lego figures. Here are two.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/6/12105878/nasa-juno-mission-aluminum-lego-figures-jupiter
www.sciencealert.com
The Lego Group, Sweden, provided three 1.5-inch figurines milled out of a single block of aluminum to ride to Jupiter on the Juno spacecraft: the astronomer Galileo, and the Greek gods Juno and Jupiter.
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One Minute Mentor: Annealing of Austenitic Stainless Steels
June 29, 2016
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The graph shows isothermal precipitation kinetics for detrimental σ/χ phases for the 254 SMO (S31254), 904L, and 317LMN alloys. For comparison, the stability curve for the formation of chromium carbide in type 316 stainless steel is presented.
As the alloying content increases, the time to precipitate these undesirable phases decreases, and the more highly alloyed superaustenitic grades have very limited time (less than a minute) before the onset of precipitation at temperatures in the 1470 to 1700°F range.
Because of this, cooling from the anneal temperature must be controlled to maximize the quench rate and minimize the time in the 1020 to 1920°F temperature range. This is particularly a problem with thick sections, for which rapid cooling rates are difficult to achieve in the center section.
Annealing temperatures for these more highly alloyed austenitic grades tend to be higher than those of the conventional austenitic grades. These high annealing temperatures ensure dissolution of undesirable secondary phases and promote homogenization of as-solidified structures.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Heat Treating of Austenitic and Duplex Stainless Steels ⇒ Annealing
The graph shows isothermal precipitation kinetics for detrimental ?/? phases for the 254 SMO (S31254), 904L, and 317LMN alloys.
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Xiaoqing Cai Receives 2016 HTS/Bodycote Best Paper in Heat Treating Award
June 27, 2016
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Xiaoqing Cai was presented the 2016 HTS/Bodycote Best Paper in Heat Treating Award by Dean Hoffmann (left) of Bodycote at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Center for Heat Treating Excellence on June 15 during their spring meeting. The award includes a plaque and a $2500 prize endowed by Bodycote Thermal Process North America.
She received assistance on her winning paper, "Microstructure Development in AISI 4140 Steels During Tempering," from her advisor, Dr. Richard D. Sisson Jr., FASM. Ms. Cai is a Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering at WPI. She is currently working on a research project focused on furnace and induction tempering of steel.
Xiaoqing Cai was presented the 2016 HTS/Bodycote Best Paper in Heat Treating Award by Dean Hoffmann (left) of Bodycote at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Heat Treating Excellence on June 15 during their Spring meeting.
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