Ipsen ships Titan furnace by air for the first time
November 12, 2014
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that for the first time it has shipped a Titan vacuum furnace by air. This Titan H2 with 2-bar quench was shipped to a company located near Shanghai, China, as part of a collaborative 3-D printer-furnace package. This company is part of the continuous casting industry, and the Titan furnace is to process printed steel prototypes and to assist in furthering the company's new Research & Development projects.
The Titan vacuum furnace's journey began at Ipsen's Cherry Valley facility, where it was assembled. During that time, the customer visited Ipsen's facility to receive hands-on installation and operation training. The furnace was then shipped to Kentucky's CVG Airport. From there, its modular and compact size allowed it to be easily loaded upon a plane and shipped to China.
Even though this is the company's first 3-D printer and first vacuum furnace, Ipsen's global presence – including an office located nearby in Shanghai – gives its engineers immediate access to support whenever necessary. Customers can also take advantage of Ipsen's Global Support Team, which facilitates on-site installation, expert training, and start-up assistance from the moment of delivery through the entire lifespan of the equipment.
Ipsen's Titan line is a self-contained, skid-mounted system that installs in just one day. Designed for ease of use, the Titan is perfect for first-time heat treaters and experts alike. Its standardized, simple-to-master control system operates in 20-plus languages, meets global industry standards, switches easily between units of measure and stores up to 1000 recipes. Overall, the Titan is able to handle a number of different processes, including annealing, hardening, brazing, sintering, tempering and more.
www.IpsenUSA.com/Titan
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., announces that for the first time it has shipped a Titan vacuum furnace by air.
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United Technologies Research Center wins R&D 100 Awards
November 11, 2014
Source: ASM International
United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), East Hartford, Conn., has been recognized by R&D Magazine as a recipient of R&D 100 Awards for two breakthrough eco-friendly technologies: Ecotuff corrosion inhibitor for high-strength aluminum alloys, and a portable aluminum deposition system for field repair of large structures.
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Mix tapes make a comeback thanks to 3D printing
November 6, 2014
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Back by popular demand, the MakerBot Mixtape is making a resurgence—this 3D printed version of the iconic DIY music mixtape is available in different color combinations and a retro way to listen to your favorite music, but with a modern 3D printed twist. MakerBot,Brooklyn, is known for bringing the future to the present with its MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers.
But this combines modern 3D printing technology with the allure of something totally retro—a mixtape. The MakerBot Mixtape was one of the first items the company recreated through 3D printing. The company is now gearing up for this blast from the past by 3D printing a variety of color combinations to appeal to music lovers of all kinds, from rock ‘n' rollers to those with a more classical leaning.
The redesigned MakerBot Mixtape is an all-new 3D printed cassette tape with an MP3 player embedded inside. With an improved user interface, the device offers drag and drop files just like a USB drive. It has 4GB of storage and holds favorite tunes and playlists and will even store 3D printing STL files giving easy access to 3D prints.
Image caption — The MakerBot Mixtape, available in different color combinations, is a retro way to listen to your favorite music, but with a modern 3D printed twist. Courtesy of Business Wire.
This is so old school, it is totally cool. Back by popular demand, the MakerBot Mixtape is making a resurgence.
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ASM International Elects Sunniva R. Collins ASM Board President
Source: ASM International
Case Western Reserve University professor and former ASM Board Vice President to assume Presidency.
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ASM International Welcomes Jon Tirpak as ASM Board Vice President
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ASM International (ASM), Materials Park, Ohio, announced that Jon Tirpak, senior program manager for the SCRA Applied R&D Advanced Materials Division, was elected as the ASM Board Vice President during the annual ASM business meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa.
In his current role at SCRA Applied R&D, Tirpak is directly involved in materials-dependent technologies and helps to support customers and clients through information generation and dissemination. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Forging Industry Association – Department of Defense Manufacturing Consortium and Senior Program Manager of the Defense Logistics Agency's PRO-FAST program. He has been a member of ASM since 1980.
Tirpak said he first joined ASM to contribute and give back to the profession. "The sense of community and networking opportunities that ASM offers is outstanding," he said. "My membership has enabled me to establish numerous professional and personal connections along with access to valuable content. During this year as Vice President, I look forward to supporting our ASM president, Sunniva Collins, and working shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Collins to help advance ASM for all members and stakeholders."
"Jon Tirpak's service to his community, profession and country is a true embodiment of what ASM stands to deliver to its members," said Thom Passek, managing director at ASM International. "We greatly look forward to his expanded involvement and influence in the Society as Board Vice President."
Tirpak is a licensed metallurgical engineer in South Carolina and past trustee of ASM International and has chaired the New Products and Services and the Federal Affairs Committees. He currently serves on the Finance and Investment Committees, concurrently with becoming Vice President-Elect of the Society. After his one year term as ASM Board Vice President in 2014-2015, Tirpak will then succeed current ASM President, Sunniva Collins, and will take on a one year term as ASM Board President for 2015-2016.
About ASM International
ASM International is the world's largest association of materials-centric engineers, scientists, technicians, educators and students. A member and volunteer based organization, ASM serves as a central resource that gathers the latest applied information from the field and disseminates it back to industry, academia and government through published content, classes, conferences, expositions, and local chapter engagement. ASM fuels a passionate sense of community, energizes members to aspire to new levels of success and satisfaction, advances the development of materials, and ultimately elevates the importance of the industry. To learn more visit: asminternational.org.
Senior program manager of SCRA Applied R&D brings decades of experience to ASM.
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ASM International Elects 2014-2015 ASM Board Officers and Trustees-Elect
Source: ASM International
President, Vice President, Treasurer and three Trustees elected by ASM membership.
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Harper partners with University of Colorado to process magnesium for auto parts
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Harper International, Buffalo, N.Y., has finalized a contract for a research-scale high-temperature reactor to support the University of Colorado Boulder's development of magnesium for lightweight vehicle parts. Harper's system is based on an advanced carbothermal reaction of carbon and magnesium oxide, which are heated to high temperatures to produce magnesium vapor and carbon monoxide gas. While the magnesium vapor is converted into a solid metal, the carbon monoxide is combined with steam and excess heat recovered from the solar-electric reactor to shift the carbon monoxide into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the syngas building blocks that can be catalytically reacted into diesel fuel or gasoline.
CU-Boulder was awarded a three-year, $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency in September of 2013. CU-Boulder Professor Alan Weimer and his research team will utilize the Harper reactor to produce both magnesium and synthesis gas, or syngas, a precursor for synthetic gasoline.
One of the most advanced customizations of the Harper system includes the hybrid utilization of both electric energy and renewable, concentrated solar power for heating. The current leading process to produce magnesium involves using electricity 24 hours a day, a method that is particularly expensive because of high energy consumption during daylight hours. The CU-Boulder team will use solar energy to power the reactor in the daytime and use electricity only at night during off-peak hours.
"Harper's custom system will enable us to not only make magnesium, a high value and strategic material, but also to make fuel, and in a more energy-efficient manner," said Professor Weimer. "Our partnership with Harper throughout the design process yielded a one-of-a-kind hybrid solar/electric cavity reactor that will propel our critical research for producing magnesium as well as future materials."
Magnesium is 75% lighter than steel and 33% lighter than aluminum. By 2020, magnesium parts will allow cars and trucks to weigh 15% less, leading to fuel savings of 9 to 12%, according to the U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership, an industrial coalition of the Chrysler Group LLC, the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Co. The Weimer research lab has been engaged in solar-thermal processing for the past 17 years and is the largest academic solar-thermal chemistry research team in the United States.
www.harperintl.com
Harper International, Buffalo, N.Y., has finalized a contract for a research-scale high-temperature reactor to support University of Colorado Boulder’s development of magnesium for lightweight vehicle parts.
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Imaging innovation could detect acoustically invisible cracks
November 4, 2014
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The University of Bristol, U.K., announces that its researchers have developed a nonlinear acoustic imaging technique that can detect cracks that cannot be seen by conventional acoustic imaging methods. Imaging of acoustic nonlinearity is achieved by exploiting differences in the propagation of fields produced by the parallel and sequential transmission of elements in ultrasonic arrays.
It has long been understood that acoustic nonlinearity is sensitive to many physical properties, including material microstructure and mechanical damage. The lack of effective imaging has, however, held back the use of this method.
Currently engineers are able to produce images of the interior of components using ultrasound, but can only detect large problems such as cracks. This is like detecting only broken bones in a medical environment.
The nonlinear imaging method would enable intervention before cracks have even begun to form, as well as predicting the remaining life of an engineering structure. The technique has been achieved using standard inspection equipment, which will allow for the implementation of the technique in numerous applications.
The University of Bristol, UK, announces that its researchers have developed a nonlinear acoustic imaging technique that can detect cracks that cannot be seen by conventional acoustic imaging methods.
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Crystal growth furnace can produce 660-lb sapphire boules
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ARC Energy, Nashua, N.H., has announced the CHES 500 crystal growth furnace, designed to produce the world's largest-ever sapphire boules with a mass of 660 lb and diameter of 500 mm. This new furnace will also have the lowest cost per unit for critical growth markets, yielding up to 6000 smartphone covers, up to 5600 mm of 4-inch LED wafers, or up to 2500 mm of 6-inch LED wafers per boule.
In 2009, ARC's first-generation Ches furnaces yielded 75% crystal utilization by growing on the C-axis for the emerging LED solid-state lighting market. Ches technology focused on enabling lower-cost production of large diameter wafers. Advances included ease of installation, precision controls, automated re-start and power-off modes, and full safety interlocks for low operator costs.
Another market for sapphire is durable transparent material for mobile devices, such as smart phones and watches. CHES 500's 660-lb/500-mm diameter boule is set to give the standard throughput with a yield of up to 6000 smartphone covers per run.
In addition, the new field-tested CHES HZ technology, which handles the process of melting sapphire above 2040°C and re-solidifying it, has reduced both consumable material and energy costs, and delivered the repeatable and reproducible performance required for large scale materials manufacturing.
ChES 500 will provide the lowest cost of ownership for sapphire boules on multiple axes (A, R, or C) for all applications including mobile, LED, optical, RFIC, and power electronics. The new Ches 500 crystal growth furnace, will be available starting Q2 2015.
www.arc-energy.com
ARC Energy, Nashua, N.H., has announced the CHES 500 crystal growth furnace, designed to produce the world’s largest-ever sapphire boules with a mass of 660 lb and diameter of 500 mm.
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Ipsen ships furnaces worldwide for aerospace, automotive, energy, and more
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Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that in recent months it has shipped more than 30 furnaces around the globe for a variety of applications and industries. The equipment was sent to international customers in Germany, Mexico, China, Tunisia and South Korea, as well as sites within the United States, covering a range of 12 different states. These shipments were designated for use in a diverse range of applications and industries, including aerospace, automotive, energy, mint (currency), commercial heat treating, medical, commercial sporting and surface engineering.
More than half of these shipments were from Ipsen's Titan line and included horizontal and vertical Titan furnaces with a variety of hot zone sizes, as well as Titan Temper furnaces. Other equipment models delivered included horizontal and vertical Metal Master furnaces, Turbo Treater furnaces, and vacuum aluminum-brazing furnaces.
Of the furnaces sold, five companies bought more than one to handle their varied processes. Overall, these shipments represent Ipsen's ability to provide heat-treating solutions through a product line that supports various applications and processes.
http://www.ipsenusa.com
Ipsen, Cherry Valley, Ill., reports that in recent months it has shipped more than 30 furnaces around the globe for a variety of applications and industries.
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