Alcoa, Pittsburgh, will invest $275 million over the next three years to expand and convert capacity at its rolling mill in Alcoa, Tenn. The project will convert some of the plant’s can sheet capacity to high-strength automotive aluminum, as well as install incremental automotive capacity. The Tennessee expansion is scheduled to be completed by mid-2015. Much of the volume for the automotive expansion is already secured under long-term supply agreements.
Ambrell, an Ameritherm company, Scottsville, N.Y., has released the flexible, 25 ft EasyCoil. It can be used with Ambrell Ekoheat induction heating systems-up to the 250 kW model-and is designed for large, oddly shaped parts that cannot be heated with a traditional copper coil. The EasyCoil is ideal for slow and bulk heating applications such as preheating, annealing, stress relieving, die heating, and much more.
Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan, report that they have developed a high-performance composite made of carbon nanotubes and copper. Ampacity represents the maximum current-carrying capacity of a material. The composite combines the high ampacity of carbon nanotubes with the high conductivity of copper. As a result, the composite has the conductivity of copper with 100 times the ampacity of copper.
The world’s first low cost Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has been developed in Beijing by a group of PhD students from University College London (UCL), Tsinghua University and Peking University – using LEGO.
ThyssenKrupp Aerospace North America, Hutchinson, Kan., announces that it has entered into a three-year contract extension with Cessna Aircraft Company to remain its service provider for aluminum sheet products and related supply chain services. The company will service Cessna’s facilities in Wichita, Kan., as well as Cessna’s key subcontractors throughout the North American region. ThyssenKrupp is a diversified technology and materials group based in Essen, Germany.
