Alcoa to acquire RTI International Metals
March 11, 2015
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Alcoa, Pittsburgh, announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire RTI International Metals Inc., to grow its value-add businesses and to further strengthen its aerospace portfolio. RTI will expand Alcoa's range of titanium offerings and add advanced technologies and materials, increasing the company's position as a leading industrial innovator.
The acquisition will offer Alcoa financial benefits with realized net synergies of about $100 million in 2019, primarily driven by procurement and productivity improvements, leveraging Alcoa's global shared services and driving profitable growth. Alcoa expects RTI to contribute $1.2 billion in revenues in 2019, up from $794 million generated in 2014, with 65 percent of revenues supported by contracts over the next five years. RTI is expected to reach profitability of 25 percent EBITDA margin in 2019, up from 14.5 percent in 2014.
This transaction is expected to enable Alcoa to capitalize on strong growth in the commercial aerospace sector. Alcoa projects a compounded annual global aerospace market growth rate of 5 to 6 percent through 2019 and sees a current 9-year production order book for commercial jets at 2014 delivery rates.
RTI grows Alcoa's pro forma 2014 annual aerospace revenues by 13 percent, up from $5 billion to $5.6 billion. RTI is expected to increase Alcoa's 2014 pro forma aerospace revenues to 37 percent of value-add sales, up from 35 percent. Alcoa's aerospace business is the largest contributor to Alcoa's value-add businesses.
Eighty percent of RTI's revenues in 2014 were from the aerospace and defense industries, with the balance mainly split between other markets including energy and medical devices, complementing Alcoa's growth markets.
www.alcoa.com
Alcoa, Pittsburgh, announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire RTI International Metals Inc., to grow its value-add businesses and to further strengthen its aerospace portfolio.
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Hardide Coatings invests $7 million in new plant in Virginia
March 8, 2015
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Hardide Coatings, England, announces that it will invest $7 million in a new Virginia manufacturing plant to expand its range of specialized nanostructured CVD coatings throughout North America. The company has signed a lease on a 26,000 sq. ft. facility in Martinsville to service customers in the oil and gas, aerospace, flow control, and advanced engineering markets.
The new facility is located within an Enterprise Zone in a state where more than 230 aerospace companies, the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, and two Rolls-Royce facilities are based. It will house CVD coating reactors as well as the latest pre-treatment, inspection, quality assurance, and finishing equipment.
Hardide coatings are a family of nanostructured tungsten- carbide based coatings that that are highly resistant to abrasion, erosion, corrosion, and chemicals, while also being tough, ductile, and impact-resistant. Applied by low temperature chemical vapor deposition, they can coat internal surfaces and complex shapes, and are ideal for parts requiring tight tolerances.
The facility is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2015 and to create up to 29 jobs in the first three years. The investment follows Hardide's recent increase in capacity at its U.K. facility in Bicester.
www.hardide.com
Hardide Coatings, England, announces that it will invest $7 million in a new Virginia manufacturing plant to expand its range of specialized nanostructured CVD coatings throughout North America.
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Oerlikon Metco now produces superalloy powders for additive manufacturing
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Oerlikon Metco, Switzerland, has expanded its materials portfolio with novel superalloy powders optimized for additive manufacturing processes. It has expanded its R&D and materials engineering competency to support laser sintering, laser melting, laser metal deposition, and electron beam melting.
To take advantage of high growth opportunities in the aerospace, defense, and automotive industries, AM parts must exhibit mechanical properties comparable to those of traditional manufacturing methods. For key applications, superalloy materials are preferred for their strength and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. Oerlikon Metco has been involved in multiple projects to correlate materials, manufacturing processes, and metallurgical mechanisms to create tailored materials for additive manufacturing processes.
The company is equipped to custom-design materials, and currently markets optimized alloys such as MetcoClad 718, MetcoClad 625, and MetcoClad 625F. Aiding these activities is the ability to offer clients high-end testing and characterization services that ensure materials meet requirements.
Current powder manufacturing activities include initial prototype quantities, pilot production lots, and scale up to produce and deliver many tens of tons of materials per year suitable for laser-based and electron beam additive manufacturing applications.
www.oerlikon.com/metco
Oerlikon Metco, Switzerland, has expanded its materials portfolio with novel superalloy powders optimized for additive manufacturing processes.
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Sulzer acquires InterWeld for its weld overlay services
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Sulzer, Switzerland, has acquired the business of InterWeld Inc. Ltd., Belfast, to enhance the competitiveness of its tower field service activities by adding a full range of automated weld overlay services. With a global client base, InterWeld's skilled team provides cladding solutions to high value industries in a wide range of challenging environments. These include the subsea oil and gas, petrochemical, waste-to-energy, and biomassindustries , along with pulp and paper mills.
It will clearly enhance Sulzer Chemtech's offering of welding solutions, which are designed to improve the lifespan of critical components within the power industry, reducing downtime, lowering maintenance costs, and improving revenue streams.
The integration will start after closing, which is expected after the beginning of 2015. All employees will be retained, assuring ongoing customer dedication in the weld overlay marketplace.
www.sulzer.com
Sulzer, Switzerland, has acquired the business of InterWeld Inc. Ltd., Belfast, to enhance the competitiveness of its tower field service activities by adding a full range of automated weld overlay services.
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PComP-coated roller screens for iron ore pellets look like new after six months
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Abakan Inc., Miami, Fla., announces several recent developments related to its PComP protective coatings. At a steel company in Mexico, roller screens that separate green iron ore pellets were coated with PComP-W and installed alongside rollers protected with standard coatings. After six months, the PComP-coated screens looked as good as new, but the rolls protected with standard coatings showed a dimensional loss of 6 to 15 mm, and required replacement.
Abakan's agent in Mexico and Central America, Metallurgic Solutions, is now negotiating the terms of a commercial order. Abakan is also testing its PComP coatings in Taiwan, in cooperation with its partner in Asia, UP Scientech Materials Corp. In Western Canada, an Abakan customer who had been using PComP coatings primarily for pumps in oil sands production, now also coats mandrels, plungers, and other oilfield components for a large oilfield services company.
PComP materials are formed with a nanocomposite core and binder coating. The nanocomposite core provides high wear resistance, low friction, and light weight; the binders provide corrosion resistance, toughness, ductility, resilience, and improved deposition efficiency. This combination results in a high-toughness structure of high-hardness tiles separated by ductile binder laminates.
PComP cermet coatings impart wear and corrosion resistance, and reduce friction in sliding wear applications. They replace electrolytic hard chrome, electroplating, spray-and-fuse, and thermal spray carbides. They are designed to act as drop-in replacements for thermal-spray powders, and work with existing application systems.
www.abakaninc.com
Abakan Inc., Miami, Fla., announces several recent developments related to its PComP protective coatings.
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ASM International makes major update to alloy center database
March 5, 2015
Source: ASM International
ASM Alloy Center Database adds thousands of standards and commercial grades records.
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North American aluminum producers and fabricators ship 25.5 billion pounds in 2014
March 3, 2015
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The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Va., reports that the aluminum industry in the United States and Canada saw year-over-year demand growth of 5% through the end of 2014. The estimated 25.5 billion pounds of aluminum shipped by North American producers and fabricators is the largest shipment total for the industry since 2006. Total mill product shipments grew 4.5% in 2014, led by growth in the extrusion, foil and sheet, and plate markets.
"We're seeing steady demand growth across many of our key markets," said Ryan Olsen, Vice President of Business Information & Statistics for the Aluminum Association. "Orders of aluminum mill products are also on the rise, a leading indicator of continued growth for the industry into 2015."
"The growth in North American demand for aluminum in 2014 was all the more impressive given the harsh winter weather the region experienced at the start of the year, and the significant impact it had on operations," Mr. Olsen said. "Demand grew just eight-tenths of one percent year-over-year during the first four months (January – April), compared to a year-over-year increase of 7.1% over the final eight months."
According to this latest data, demand for aluminum has grown by 38.3% since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, and the industry continues to expand. Over the past two years, Aluminum Association member companies have announced domestic plant expansions and planned investment totaling more than $2.3 billion. These investments are intended to capture and meet anticipated demand growth for aluminum in the automotive sector as automakers strive to make lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles. The investments announced to date could increase industry auto sheet capacity by more than 2 billion pounds over the next decade.
http://www.aluminum.org
The Aluminum Association, Arlington, Va., reports that the aluminum industry in the United States and Canada saw year-over-year demand growth of 5% through the end of 2014.
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Centorr ships furnaces for production of aluminum nitride substrates
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Centorr Vacuum Industries, Nashua, N.H., has shipped orders for two high-temperature sintering furnaces for 2015 delivery to a leading firm in the production of aluminum nitride substrates for the LED market in China. The designs include a 2 ft3 graphite furnace for AlN sintering, and a refractory metal furnace rated to 1850°C for a secondary heating process. These new furnaces build on the success of CVI's experience in non-oxide ceramics, and include modifications made specifically for high-temperature sintering of advanced ceramics.
The graphite furnace includes robust graphite tube and block elements designed for service to 2250°C, with a four-sided hot zone and integral graphite retort for excellent temperature uniformity.
The rigid graphite insulation provides for long-term service even in the presence of process off-gassing and residual binder contamination. The new dual-flow Sweepgas system allows more effective "sweeping" away of the process offgassing. Furnace control is via PLC/Programmable Controllers with Centorr's custom-designed HMI visualization interface.
Centorr's Sintervac Non-Oxide furnace is available with volumes of 2, 3, 4.5, 9, 16, 24, and 54 cubic feet. The refractory metal furnace, sized at one cubic foot, will be used for a specific part of the AlN process in which a non-graphite hot zone is needed for material cleanliness. The system is rated to 1850°C and offers temperature uniformity under +/- 3°C.
www.vacuum-furnaces.com
Centorr Vacuum Industries, Nashua, N.H., has shipped orders for two high-temperature sintering furnaces for 2015 delivery to a leading firm in the production of aluminum nitride substrates for the LED market in China.
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SRI working to produce titanium powder in a single step by reacting TiCl4 with hydrogen
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SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., is reportedly developing an advanced process in which titanium tetrachloride and other metal chlorides are reacted with hydrogen to produce titanium or titanium alloy granules in a single step. The process is based on a multi-arc fluidized bed reactor (MAFBR) developed by SRI. If successful, the process will reduce the cost, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions associated with Ti alloy production.
In the process, plasma arcs facilitate reactions between molecules of hydrogen and titanium tetrachloride, a chemical produced from titanium ore. "Arcs, like lightning bolts, crack the hydrogen, producing atomic hydrogen that can readily react," says Barbara Heydorn, senior director of the Energy Center at SRI. The reactions produce titanium vapor that quickly solidifies and forms titanium powder.
With funding from ARPA-E's Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advances in Light-Metal Systems (METALS) Program, SRI built and tested a proof-of-concept system and conducted a techno-economic analysis.
The process could enable the production of alloys that cannot be produced with conventional technology, providing engineers with a larger portfolio of materials. The technology can be used to manufacture alloys other than Ti alloys, as well as composites based on a metal alloy matrix with dispersion of a ceramic phase.
SRI has so far demonstrated a small-scale version of the process for producing pure titanium. It's currently working on a two-stage process to improve yields and lower costs before attempting to scale it up.
www.sri.com
SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., is reportedly developing an advanced process in which titanium tetrachloride and other metal chlorides are reacted with hydrogen to produce titanium or titanium alloy granules in a single step.
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Tinius Olsen universal testing machines feature dual pressure and digital control
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Tinius Olsen, Horsham, Pa., introduces its all-new SL series of hydraulic universal testing machines that feature a patented dual-pressure hydraulic loading system and four-column construction for high loadframe rigidity. With advanced digital control, load accuracy has been enhanced and should be better than 0.1% of the displayed reading within the operating range of 0.2% to 100% of the frame capacity.
SL machines are controlled by a range of user interface options, including Bluetooth wireless, tethered interface, or a virtual interface running on a connected PC. Tinius Olsen's Horizon software can be added to any system for accessing a library of standardized test routines, for generating complete graphical results of a test, and for performing sophisticated powerful analyses on the test data to produce test reports. Horizon is networkable and scalable, so operators can manage equipment and review test results from multiple sources and locations.
A variety of standard capacities ensure accommodation of a range of testing needs. For rapid sequence production testing within the range of 150 to 1000 kN (30,000 to 200,000 lbf), Tinius Olsen offers SL versions with open-front crossheads and/or fixed position crossheads.
The SL series is also highly customizable for many other applications. For instance, columns and screws can be lengthened and crossheads can be made adjustable to meet specific requirements. The extensive range of grip designs ensures careful matching to application. Other options include hydraulically actuated lever grips, accordion-type, non-metallic screw covers, tooling for tension, compression, and other tests, a broad range of instrumentation, and furnaces.
www.TiniusOlsen.com
Tinius Olsen, Horsham, Pa., introduces its all-new SL series of hydraulic universal testing machines that feature a patented dual-pressure hydraulic loading system and four-column construction for high loadframe rigidity.
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