Solar Atmospheres presents vacuum heat treating course at ASM

March 4, 2014
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Solar Atmospheres Inc., Souderton, Pa., announces that it has partnered with ASM International, Materials Park, Ohio, to offer a new Vacuum Heat Treating course.  This new course provides students with a means to combine basic vacuum heat treatment theory with hands-on instruction using the new ASM laboratory vacuum furnace donated by Solar Atmospheres and manufactured by Solar Manufacturing.

The first class of the new ASM course offering was taught in December 2013, with subsequent courses scheduled for April 2014 and September 2014.  The course was developed by Solar Atmospheres' consultant in chemistry and metallurgy, Virginia Osterman, PhD, who works closely with Solar Atmospheres Research and Development group.

This course covers the background of vacuum measurement, vacuum furnace design, and vacuum technology as it applies to various metallurgical processes. Dr. Osterman noted, "Having a basic understanding of vacuum theory and its application in heat treating in itself is valuable, however with the added benefit of the new "Mentor" Vacuum Furnace, students now can see how to put theory into practice and get a better understanding as to why the use of vacuum heat treat processes add value to a product."

www.solaratm.com

White House Announces ASM as Member of Lightweight Metals Institute

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President Obama is hosting an event at the White House today to announce new steps in a partnership with the private sector to boost advanced manufacturing and strengthen U.S. defense capabilities. ASM International's (Materials Park, Ohio) managing director Thom Passek will attend to represent the technical society at today's ceremony.

The President will announce two new manufacturing innovation institutes led by the Department of Defense and supported by a $140 million Federal commitment combined with more than $140 million in non-federal resources: (1) Detroit-area headquartered consortium of businesses and universities, with a focus on lightweight and modern metals manufacturing; (2) Chicago headquartered consortium of businesses and universities that will concentrate on digital manufacturing and design technologies.

ASM will be part of the consortium focusing on lightweight modern metals manufacturing. The $70 million award for the LM3I (Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation) is going to the Edison Welding Institute (EWI), Columbus, Ohio, as the lead proposer. The new consortium will involve 60 members, including leading manufacturers of aluminum, high strength steel, and titanium, along with universities and laboratories involved in research and development of lightweight metals. The Institute will seek to accomplish advanced research through partnerships among key players in industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, and energy. ASM's specific role within the consortium will be defined over the coming months.

For more information, visit www.asminternational.org.

Fast tracking “frozen smoke”

February 20, 2014
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One day, Union College's (Schenectady N.Y.) Aerogel Team's novel way of making "frozen smoke" could improve some of our favorite machines, including cars.

"When you hold aerogel it feels like nothing—like frozen smoke. It's about 95 to 97% air," says Ann Anderson, professor of mechanical engineering. "Nanoporous, solid and very low density, aerogel is made by removing solvents from a wet-gel. It's used for many purposes, like thermal insulation (on the Mars Rover), in windows or in extreme-weather clothing and sensors."

Together with Brad Bruno, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Mary Carroll, professor of chemistry and others, Anderson is studying the feasibility of commercializing their aerogel fabrication process. A time and money-saver, it could appeal to industries already using aerogel made in other ways.

During rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE), chemicals gel together (like Jell-O) in a hot press; the resulting wet-gel is dried by removing solvents (the wet part). The remaining aerogel (dried gel), is created in hours, rather than the days or weeks alternative methods take.

RSCE, Anderson said, is also approximately seven times cheaper, requiring one hour of labor for every eight hours the other methods need. A good place for such a process, and Union aerogel, is the automotive industry.

"Our 3-way catalytic aerogels promote chemical reactions that convert the three major pollutants in automotive exhaust—unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide—into less harmful water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide," Anderson said. "Because aerogels have very high surface areas and good thermal properties, we think they could replace precious metals, like platinum, used in current catalytic converters."

Indeed, the surface area of one 0.5-gram bit of aerogel equals 250 m². "That's a lot of surface area for gases to come in contact with, facilitating very efficient pollution mitigation," Anderson said.

The team's work has received support from the National Science Foundation, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund and the Union College Faculty Research Fund.

More information:
Union College

Vac Aero commissions horizontal vacuum furnace for South Korean university

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Vac Aero International Inc., Burlington, Ontario,  recently commissioned a horizontal vacuum furnace at a major South Korean university metallurgical research center. The VAH5058 HV-8 furnace chamber is 36 x 36 x 58 in. long. It has a hot zone comprised of high-efficiency graphite felt, carbon composite, and curved graphite elements. It is equipped with a gas quench system capable of quickly cooling the workload from processing temperatures, at quench pressures of up to eight bar.

The furnace operating system is based on Vac Aero's versatile HC900 interactive hybrid control package with SCADA and complete network integration capabilities and remote monitoring and control.

www.vacaero.com