Kateeva doubles space to manufacture inkjet printing equipment for OLED displays
March 12, 2017
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Kateeva, Newark, Calif., is expanding its headquarters by leasing an adjacent building at its Newark campus to facilitate production ramp-up of its Yieldjet inkjet printing manufacturing equipment for the global flat panel display industry. With the new building, Kateeva doubles its manufacturing footprint to 150,000 sq. ft., providing ample space to accelerate production.
Leading flat panel display manufacturers use Kateeva's precision deposition equipment for cost-effective mass production of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays. Already, OLED screens curve around edges to enable unique form factors. Soon, when tablets, notebooks and smartphones can bend, roll and even fold without breaking, it will be thanks to OLED technology. OLED technology enables the production of displays on plastic (entirely free of glass), making them flexible and paper-thin.
Kateeva's first product, the Yieldjet Flex system, enabled a rapid transition from glass encapsulation to Thin Film Encapsulation (TFE) in new OLED production lines. The "freedom from glass" technology leap was the gateway to flexible displays.
Each Kateeva inkjet printer is highly customized and built to extremely exacting specifications. Measuring approximately 2000 sq. ft., the tool contains thousands of precision parts, and is differentiated by myriad innovations that are protected by 200 issued and pending patents. With the system, customers can achieve dramatically higher TFE yields and lower mass-production costs than what was previously possible with other deposition techniques. On an OLED mass-production line, Kateeva printers work in concert with tools from other leading equipment companies to process the panels.
Kateeva's tools are designed and engineered in Newark, so the expansion will support the company's growing R&D team. In addition, since Kateeva manufactures a majority of its products and components in Newark, the expansion will also support a large increase in its U.S. manufacturing capacity.
www.kateeva.com
Kateeva, Newark, Calif., is expanding its headquarters by leasing an adjacent building at its Newark campus to facilitate production ramp-up of its Yieldjet inkjet printing manufacturing equipment for the global flat panel display industry.
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Dynacast to acquire Signicast, the world’s largest investment casting manufacturer
March 9, 2017
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Dynacast International, Charlotte, N.C., has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Signicast LLC, a highly automated and vertically integrated manufacturer of precision investment cast parts. The company is the largest commercial investment casting manufacturer in the world, and is respected for its superior product quality and value, speed and flexibility, and customer services.
Combining the companies' offerings will provide customers even more design freedom, with expanded choices of materials, part complexity, and volume. As part of the merger, Signicast will remain as a separate operating division, ensuring business as usual for customers.
"Given Signicast's complementary manufacturing technology, this acquisition will expand our existing customer offerings and accelerate our strategic vision for growth," says Simon Newman, Dynacast's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "I look forward to working closely with the Signicast team to ensure that the combined company continues to provide our customers with unparalleled technology, quality, and service."
Once the transaction is closed, the acquisition is expected to add over 800 employees from Signicast's two campuses in Wisconsin. This addition will expand Dynacast's footprint to more than 9500 employees in 27 locations. The merger will allow Dynacast to continue growing both businesses, with intentions to globalize the Signicast division in the coming years.
This transformative acquisition is the next step of Dynacast's strategic vision toward becoming a $1 billion-plus organization over the next two to three years, and furthers Dynacast's position as the foremost global manufacturer of precision metal components.
www.dynacast.com
www.signicast.com
Dynacast International, Charlotte, N.C., has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire Signicast LLC, a highly automated and vertically integrated manufacturer of precision investment cast parts.
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Meridian, Birmingham City U. partner to cut cost of diecast magnesium parts
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Birmingham City University, England, has signed an exclusive partnership with Meridian Lightweight Technologies, Plymouth, Mich., to showcase magnesium diecast components as viable alternatives for luxury car makers and the aerospace industry.
As part of the new partnership with Meridian, academics from Birmingham City University's Faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment, and personnel from the company, will be investigating new ways to offer more sustainable goods for low-volume manufacturers, while making production financially viable for Meridian and its potential clients.
The two organizations will work together in the education, research, and development of magnesium applications that will improve fuel efficiency through weight savings and sustainability. At 1.8 g/cm³, magnesium is the lightest of all structural materials, 75% lighter than steel and 33% lighter than aluminum.
Meridian opened its UK facility in July 2003. Today, its Nottinghamshire plant produces around 5000 net metric tons of diecast products annually, serving automotive clients such as Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volvo. However, current magnesium manufacturing processes create the same amount of waste as product, resulting in high cost.
To address this issue, the University has established the Magnesium Innovation Group to investigate ways to add value to the excess material. Some ideas being considered include reacting magnesium with oxygen and water to create hydrogen, which can be used in the fledgling fuel cell industry to power cars and smartphones going forward. Although magnesium is 100% recyclable, currently no plants in the UK can process the waste.
Research findings will be published ahead of a major international magnesium conference, which will be held at Birmingham City University in July this year.
"The strategic partnership we have signed with Birmingham City University is very much a first for us," says Meridian's Randy Chalmers, "but is one which we hope will pave the way for future expansion with the institution as we seek to work together on our shared strengths in fuel efficiency and sustainability."
www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/news/magnesium
www.meridian-mag.com
Birmingham City University, England, has signed an exclusive partnership with Meridian Lightweight Technologies, Plymouth, Mich., to showcase magnesium diecast components as viable alternatives for luxury car makers and the aerospace industry.
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3D printing enables 50% less mass in titanium and graphite satellite structures
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Space Systems Loral (SSL), Palo Alto, Calif., announces that it has successfully introduced additive manufacturing techniques for titanium and graphite structural components into its geostationary satellite platform. The highly optimized strut-truss antenna tower consists of 37 printed titanium nodes and more than 80 printed graphite struts. The strut-truss design methodology is now standard for SSL spacecraft, with 13 additional structures in various stages of design and manufacturing, and has resulted in SSL using hundreds of 3D printed titanium structural components per year.
Its first antenna tower designed through additive manufacturing was launched last December on the JCSAT-15 satellite, which was designed and built for SKY Perfect JSAT, a world leading satellite operator based in Japan. The satellite, renamed JCSAT-110A, has completed in orbit testing and is performing according to plan.
For SSL, optimizing at the system level with additive manufacturing has enabled an average of 50% reductions in mass and schedule for large and complex structures. The savings over conventionally manufactured structural assemblies is much greater than what is possible with the optimization of an individual part.
Since the launch of JCSAT-110A, SSL has completed assembly and testing on several other strut-truss structures and continues to expand its use of additive manufacturing and other next-generation design and manufacturing techniques.
"SSL is an innovative company that continues to evolve its highly reliable satellite platform with advanced technologies," said Dr. Matteo Genna, chief technology officer and vice president of Product Strategy and Development at SSL. "Our advanced antenna tower structures enable us to build high performance satellites that would not be possible without tools such as 3D printing."
www.sslmda.com.
Space Systems Loral (SSL), Palo Alto, Calif., announces that it has successfully introduced additive manufacturing techniques for titanium and graphite structural components into its geostationary satellite platform.
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Spray Tips: Porosity in Coatings
March 8, 2017
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Porosity creates poor coating cohesion and allows for higher wear and corrosion rates. Porosity is generally associated with a high number of unmelted or resolidified particles that become trapped in the coating, as shown in the diagram.
Open porosity can interconnect to the coating interface, enabling corroding or oxidizing elements to attack the base material. Porosity can thus "short-circuit" the inherent corrosion resistance of a coating. For hardface or wear-resistant coatings, porosity lowers coating hardness and contributes to poor surface finishes, thus decreasing wear resistance. Porosity in wear coatings can also lead to the generation of coating fragments that break away and become abrasive cutting agents, increasing coating wear rates.
Volume 5A, Thermal Spray Technology ⇒ Thermal Spray Processes and Coatings ⇒ Coating Structures, Properties, and Materials ⇒ Coating Structures
Porosity is an important coating feature that strongly influences coating properties.
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GE Aviation invests more than $4 billion in the United States over five years
March 5, 2017
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GE Aviation, Evendale, Ohio, announces that its investments in the United States have reached $4.3 billion in expanding operations during 2011-2016, thanks to record production on a new generation of jet engines, engine components, and aircraft systems. The company has also invested $1.1 billion at its international sites.
The U.S. investments include $214 million to establish five new plants in Ellisville, Mississippi; Auburn, Alabama; Asheville, North Carolina; Lafayette, Indiana; and Huntsville, Alabama. About two million square feet of new manufacturing floor space is being created.
In addition, GE Aviation has upgraded current U.S. operations, including expansions in West Jefferson, North Carolina; and Hooksett, New Hampshire; and created centers for emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing, digital engine monitoring, ceramic matrix composites, and electrical distribution.
The first company to introduce heat-resistant, lightweight CMC components into the hot section of commercial jet engines, GE Aviation is creating America's first fully integrated supply chain to mass produce components from this advanced material: From a CMC raw materials plant in Huntsville to CMC manufacturing research labs in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Newark, Delaware; to full-scale CMC production in Asheville.
In advancing additive manufacturing, GE Aviation has created an Additive Development Center in northern Cincinnati and a component production operation in Auburn, where more than 40 additive machines are mass producing commercial and military engine components.
www.geaviation.com
GE Aviation, Evendale, Ohio, announces that its investments in the United States have reached $4.3 billion in expanding operations during 2011-2016, thanks to record production on a new generation of jet engines, engine components, and aircraft systems.
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Sandia develops kinetic deposition of ceramic nanoparticles to build thin films
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Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, N.M., reports that its scientists have developed an aerosol deposition process in which ceramic nanoparticles form coatings when deposited at high speed at room temperature. Instead of high temperatures, this process is based on nanoparticles with high kinetic energy.
In the Sandia process, a nozzle accelerates room-temperature submicron particles suspended in a gas toward the surface. Particles impact and stick, building up a coating layer by layer. The process works because ceramic particles display plasticity at the nanoscale. Plastic deformation, or plasticity, allows a substance to permanently change size or shape under applied stress. The plasticity of submicron particles causes consolidation of subsequent deposition layers and generates the continuous surface that layers are built upon.
Another key is deposition in a vacuum, which helps alleviate the effects of reflected gases on the flying particles. Reflection of the high-velocity carrier gas from the deposition substrate can create so-called bow shock, a gas boundary layer that's difficult for the smallest of particles to penetrate. But in a vacuum, reflected gases are diffused, so the bow shock layer is thinner. The smaller particles traveling fast have high momentum and can get through the thin bow shock layer. Without a vacuum, the bow shock layer is large and particles don't have enough momentum to penetrate to the substrate.
By making high-velocity submicron ceramic particles slam onto surfaces at room temperature, Dr. Pylin Sarobol and colleagues avoid high temperatures. The kinetic process produces nanocrystalline films that are very strong and could serve as protective coatings against wear, corrosion, and oxidation. It could also efficiently build electronic circuits that combine hybrid materials or tiny capacitors or sensors.
"The ability to put down ceramics at room temperature means you can process ceramics and lower-melting temperature materials at the same time," says Dr. Sarobol. "You can now put ceramics on copper, for example. Until now, you had to make the ceramics first, then put the copper down on it. This process is really about being able to integrate materials, especially ceramics, with other materials."
www.sandia.gov
https://share-ng.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/kinetic_coatings/#.WLmr62_ytdg
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., reports that its scientists have developed an aerosol deposition process in which ceramic nanoparticles form coatings when deposited at high speed at room temperature.
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Oerlikon Metco acquires technology to make high-temperature/high-purity powders
March 3, 2017
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Oerlikon Metco, Switzerland, has acquired assets, technologies, and key people from Recentis Advanced Materials Inc., Canada, which has developed novel technologies to master materials manufacturing at high temperatures.
This acquisition enables Oerlikon Metco to produce high-purity powder materials that require melting or alloying temperatures above 5800°F. The company also acquired the knowhow and IP rights for the production of fully alloyed carbides that can be tailored in density to pair with a metal matrix, making a composite with excellent impact wear properties in combination with high abrasion resistance.
"This unique technology expands our manufacturing capabilities," says Dr. Montia Nestler, Oerlikon Metco's VP Global Materials Product Management. "It will open new applications in key markets such as oil & gas, mining, steel, power, and aviation, and increases our ability to offer enhanced solutions to critical wear problems."
Oerlikon Metco has an extensive background in surface technology development and manufacturing, with over 80 years of expertise in specialized materials for critical applications. The company has a long history of serving the needs of customers who require tailored materials for critical applications in markets such as aviation, power generation, automotive, mining, petrochemical processing, oil & gas exploration and extraction, as well as in the general industry.
www.oerlikon.com/metco
Oerlikon Metco, Switzerland, has acquired assets, technologies, and key people from Recentis Advanced Materials Inc., Canada, which has developed novel technologies to master materials manufacturing at high temperatures.
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One Minute Mentor: High-Temperature Nitriding for Deeper Case
March 2, 2017
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High-temperature nitriding or solution nitriding at temperatures of 2010 ± 90°F is a new treatment available to produce cases with nitrogen concentrations in the range of 0.4 to 0.9 wt%, which is low compared to plasma nitriding treatments at low temperature (up to 16.9wt% N), but the resulting case is up to 100 times deeper (2 mm, or 0.08 in.). The lower nitrogen concentration implies a lower surface hardness (360 HV for solution nitriding of austenitic steels).
The graph shows a time-temperature transformation (TTT) curve for the precipitation of Cr2N, from which it can be estimated that, to avoid CrN precipitation, the temperature must drop from 2010°F to below 1650°F in approximately 20 seconds. That is feasible only in relatively thin parts (large area/volume ratio) that cool sufficiently to cope with the TTT curve time limitations to avoid precipitates, and only for a small number of parts at a time.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels ⇒ Heat Treated High-Alloy Steels ⇒ Nitriding of Stainless Steels ⇒ Thermochemical Nitriding Treatments
High-temperature nitriding or solution nitriding at temperatures of 2010 ± 90°F is a new treatment available to produce cases with nitrogen concentrations in the range of 0.4 to 0.9 wt%, which is low compared to plasma nitriding treatments at low temperature (up to 16.9wt% N), but the resulting case is up to 100 times deeper (2 mm, or 0.08 in.).
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Immersion-tube lead holding/melting furnaces designed for auto battery plates
March 1, 2017
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Lindberg MPH, Riverside, Mich., has shipped two 18-tube gas-fired immersion tube lead melting and holding furnaces to a supplier of the battery industry. The immersion tube furnaces will be used in the production of lead plates for automotive batteries.
The maximum temperature rating for each furnace is 900°F. The front process wells are 30 in. x 15 ft 2 in. x 39 in. The carbon-steel plate welded design of this system facilitates energy-efficient melting and holding of the lead, and precise temperature control of the casting process.
Each furnace incorporates eighteen immersion tubes, each with its own burner and ratio regulator control. The molten lead capacity is equivalent to 290,000 pounds, and the system is rated at 6,000,000 BTU/hr. Each furnace is controlled by a programmable logic controller and includes a touchscreen HMI. These furnaces include a sow platform for safe loading of the lead ingots and sows into the bath.
"We designed these immersion tube furnaces to give the customer precise temperature control over the process and to run efficiently to save on energy costs," says Andrew Paul, Sales Engineer.
Each burner has its own gas/air ratio regulator, assuring the correct air and gas mixture for dependable ignition and efficient combustion. On-off firing allows for a wide input range, virtually eliminating temperature creep. The sow cradle protects the immersion tubes from possible damage from charging of large and heavy lead hogs. The hog ramp feeding onto the sow cradle allows for automatic loading of lead hogs and gently slides the pigs into the bath.
www.lindbergmph.com
www.thermalproductsolutions.com
Lindberg MPH, Riverside, Mich., has shipped two 18-tube gas-fired immersion tube lead melting and holding furnaces to a supplier of the battery industry.
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