15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current
Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
- Construction on an expansion recently broke ground for Premier Furnace/BeaverMatic's plant 1 facility in Farmington Hills, Michigan. This expansion will provide space for a state of the art testing and training facility, additional manufacturing capabilities, as well as increased office space to allow Premier/BeaverMatic to accommodate business growth and customer needs. The additional 22,000-square foot space is expected to be completed by fall 2018.
- Paul Banks as plant manager for Novelis Inc.'s recently announced $300 million automotive aluminum sheet manufacturing facility in Guthrie, Kentucky. Banks assumes the role of plant manager after previously serving as unit manager at Logan Aluminum, a Novelis joint venture in nearby Logan, Kentucky.
- Electroplating and heat treating specialists Electro-Spec, headquartered in Franklin, Indiana, is expanding its operations with a new plating facility in Lexington, South Carolina, that will serve the automotive, aerospace, telecommunication, military, radio frequency and microwave, and medical markets in the southeast U.S.
- A heat treating company based in Lima, Ohio, recently expanded its capacity with a new draw furnace and quench tank. Heat Treating Technologies expects the $3 million investment to boost the company's thermal processing offerings in carburizing, carbonitriding, annealing, hardening, normalizing, and carbon restoration.
- An industrial oven manufacturer based near Williamsport, Pennsylvania, recently added a second manufacturing facility to its operation. JPW Industrial Ovens and Furnaces' Plant 2, will produce the company’s expanding line of standard industrial ovens. Plant 1, located in Trout Run, will continue to craft custom-made industrial ovens and serve as the company’s headquarters. The new plant is expected to create 25 new jobs within the next two years.
Equipment Chatter
- Three natural gas-fired box furnaces were recently shipped to a parts manufacturer for the oil and gas industry by Lindberg/MPH, to be used to develop process control requirements for heat-treating and stress relieving of underground mining/drill heads. The goal is to double the life of the tooling through research which would revolutionize industry standards. The maximum operating temperature rating for the stress relieving box furnaces is 2050°F and work chamber dimensions are 36" wide x 20" deep x 24" high. The box furnaces were designed to meet a temperature uniformity of +/-15°F at 1700°F and 2050°F per the requirements of AMS 2750E, Class 3 furnaces and Instrumentation D.
- An aluminum casting company recently received shipment of an electrically heated horizontal quench system to be used for solution treating aluminum castings for the aerospace and automotive industries. The solution treating furnace was designed and manufactured by Wisconsin Oven Corporation to heat a 2,500-pound load of aluminum, plus basket and work grid to an operating temperature of 1,020°F. The maximum temperature rating for this horizontal quench system is 1,250°F, sized for a 5'0" wide x 5'0" long x 5'0" high basket. The horizontal quench system was designed to meet AMS2750E (Class 2, Instrumentation Type C) and with reporting to meet AMS 2771E requirements.
- A heat treating equipment manufacturer recently shipped ten furnaces to companies in California, Georgia, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin, and also to one location in Asia. This equipment will be used to process parts for companies in the aerospace, commercial heat treating, and medical industries. Ipsen USA shipped: two TITAN® furnaces – one H2 12-bar with a 18" x 24" x 18" (457 mm x 610 mm x 457 mm) work zone and one vertical 2-bar furnace; two MetalMaster® furnaces – one vertical 6-bar with a 96" D x 96" H (2,438 mm x 2,438 mm) work zone and 10,000 pound (4,500 kg) load capacity, and one horizontal 10-bar with a 96" x 84" x 96" (2,438 mm x 2,134 mm x 2,438 mm) work zone; one VFS® horizontal internal quench 10-bar vacuum heat-treating and brazing furnace; and several custom-built atmosphere furnaces that will process parts for the aerospace industry.
- A retort furnace was recently shipped by L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc., to a northeastern US manufacturer of motor laminations to be deployed on motors primarily for government-based aerospace products. The furnace has a work zone of 17" square with a typical load weight of 250 pounds and is built in accordance with ASTM standards. Annealing of silicon iron and similar laminations are treated in a pure dry hydrogen atmosphere. A pure dry hydrogen atmosphere is provided to balance strength and magnetics in these laminations. There is also an oxidization process that can provide a thin oxide coating layer for improved durability and resistance.
- A global manufacturer of environmental testing equipment announced the shipment of three fast change rate automotive test chambers. These test chambers, built by Tenney Environmental, will be used for temperature and humidity testing of automotive parts. The maximum temperature rating of the automotive test chambers is 180°C and the operating temperature range is -68°C to 180°C. The work chamber dimensions are 30” W X 28.8” D X 36” H. The fast change rate test chambers can transition the air temperature in remote chambers from 20°C to -40°C with a 30-minute transition rate.
Kudos Chatter
- Sintavia, LLC, a leading Tier One metal additive manufacturer, announced that it has achieved National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP) approval for its laser and electron beam powder bed fusion applications. The NADCAP accreditation is the latest quality certification achieved by the company and resulted from a year-long application process.
- AIM Aerospace has earned Nadcap Merit Status at their Orange City, Iowa, facility, for AC7118 Composites Processing. The company processes structural carbon fiber composites for key aerospace customers.
- Plastics Extrusion has been added to the growing list of audit opportunities available through MedAccred, the medical device industry’s collective approach to critical process supply chain oversight. This newest opportunity comprises audit criteria which covers Tubing/Profile, Sheet, Film, Blown Film, Over-Jacketing, Co-Extrusion and Ram Extrusion. The audit criteria are developed by leaders in the medical device industry who are part of the MedAccred program and are focused on improving product quality and patient safety.
- Sunlite Plastics of Germantown, Wisconsin, has become the first manufacturing facility in the world to achieve MedAccred Plastics Extrusion Accreditation, with a Scope of Accreditation covering Tubing/Profile Extrusion. Following the MedAccred audit, technical experts from leading medical device companies reviewed the audit findings and corrective actions before voting on granting each MedAccred Accreditation.
- Medical tools manufacturers increasingly commission SECO/WARWICK technologies for product quality and strict standards compliance, according to a recent company report. For example, a U.K. company installed a 6 Bar vacuum furnace for the production of medical tools such as those used for heart bypass procedures.
Heat Treat Today is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.
