NASA has selected Elementum 3D (a developer and supplier of metal additive manufacturing (AM) advanced materials, print parameters, and services) to be one of four companies that will produce and distribute GRX-810 material under a commercial co-exclusive license. This is a material that has undergone significant post-processing heat treat research.
The 3D printable high-temperature metal superalloy material has been noted as “breakthrough technology” and will be offered to original equipment manufacturers of airplanes and rockets as well as the entire supply chain.
NASA’s goal of the licensing agreement is to accelerate the adoption of GRX-810 to benefit U.S. technologies, industry, and space exploration. The 3D printer supplier notes that engineers are eager to print with a material capable of creating lighter and thinner engine parts, reducing fuel burn, lowering operating costs, increasing durability, and lowering the tolerance for failure for critical applications.
GRX-810 is an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy that can endure higher temperatures and stress. Its strength is derived from the dispersion of tiny particles containing oxygen atoms. The breakthrough superalloy was specifically developed for the extreme temperatures and harsh conditions of aerospace applications, including liquid rocket engine injectors, combustors, turbines, and hot-section components, capable of enduring temperatures up to 1,100°C. Compared to other alloys, GRX-810 can endure higher temperatures and stress up to 2,500 times longer. It’s also 3.5 times better at flexing before breaking and twice as resistant to oxidation damage.
Jeremy Iten
Chief Technology Officer
Elementum 3D
Source: LinkedIn
Over the past nine years, Elementum 3D has gained extensive knowledge and experience in developing, commercializing, and distributing “impossible-to-print” dispersion-strengthened materials similar to GRX-810.
“We are excited to be working with Tim Smith and NASA to bring this exceptional new alloy to the commercial market,” said Jeremy Iten, chief technology officer at Elementum 3D.
NASA’s investment in developing GRX-810 demonstrates its dedication to advancing additive manufacturing. Elementum 3D and the other co-exclusive licensees now assume the responsibility of investing the time and resources to supply the industry with a stronger, more durable superalloy.
EcoTitanium, a European plant for recycling and refining titanium alloys for critical applications, was opened in France in 2017. It was the first plant in Europe to melt titanium with a cold hearth furnace – a technology that allows users to recycle titanium reverts coming from forging and machining castings from the aerospace supply chain.
The SECO/WARWICK Group was chosen as the main supplier of advanced vacuum metallurgy technology for this strategic European project, securing the creation of an autonomous European titanium channel.
Sławomir Tomaszewski, director of the Vacuum Melting Furnaces Team in the SECO/WARWICK Group, comments, “The innovative VAR furnace will increase the Partner’s production capacity and can respond to the increased demand for titanium in Europe. EcoTitanium has created the first integrated titanium processing plants in Europe, which opens the door to European, ecological, and innovative solutions for the aerospace industry. We are glad that our Group is part of this strategic project and that Retech and SECO/WARWICK brand solutions constitute the core of the machine park.”
Earl Good Managing Director Retech Systems, LLC Source: Retech
“For EcoTitanium, we, as Retech and SECO/WARWICK, delivered two furnaces seven years ago: a plasma furnace (PAM) for consolidation and refining of titanium scrap using plasma torches operating in an inert gas atmosphere, and a VAR arc furnace for further refining of titanium ingots obtained from the PAM furnace. The current contract is a continuation of this project. We will deliver a second VAR furnace, which will significantly increase the Partner’s processing capabilities,” said Earl Good, managing director of Retech.
The new furnace’s advantage is its perfect fit into the customer’s existing infrastructure. For safe operation, VAR furnaces require complex construction work: a bunker, an explosive tunnel, as well as a dedicated control room located outside the furnace operating area.
This system is unique because current solutions in the field of furnace safety will be implemented at the design stage. These solutions result from both the experience gained by EcoTitanium and the SECO/WARWICK Group’s experience.
Source: SECO/WARWICK
“The delivery of this new VAR furnace will help us to secure our customer’s growing needs for producing titanium in the context of unprecedented production ramp-ups. We are pleased to open this new chapter of EcoTitanium’s history with our long-term partner SECO/WARWICK. SECO/WARWICK has indeed offered us best-in-class solutions in the field of vacuum metallurgy technology, in particular with its PAM systems from its Retech brand, which allows us to use around 75% of recycled materials and to divide by up to four the CO2 emissions created by titanium melting,” says Jean-François Juéry, president of EcoTitanium.
Titanium, a transition metal with unique properties, is valued for its strength-to-weight ratio. It has comparable durability to steel but is 50% lighter, making it an attractive choice for industries looking for strength without additional weight. The aerospace industry consumes over 30% of global demand, and the chemical sector another 40%. Additionally, titanium has found use in medicine, especially in joint replacement procedures, dental implants, and electronics.
This press release is available in its original form here.
IperionX Limited and Vegas Fastener Manufacturing, LLC (Vegas Fastener) have agreed to partner to develop and manufacture titanium alloy fasteners and precision components with IperionX’s advanced titanium products.
The commercial focus of this partnership is on developing and manufacturing titanium alloy fasteners and precision components for the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), which is the United States Armed Forces’ research and development facility for advanced technology in ground systems. GSVC’s research and development includes robotics, autonomy, survivability, power, mobility, intelligent systems, maneuver support and sustainment.
Additionally, the partners will design, engineer and produce titanium fasteners for critical sectors such as the aerospace, naval, oil & gas, power generation, pulp & paper and chemical sectors. These sectors demand fasteners that provide not only high strength-to-weight ratios but also exceptional corrosion resistance for high-performance applications.
Vegas Fastener, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of high-performance fasteners and custom machined components. Together with its allied company, PowerGen Components, Vegas Fastener serves a diverse array of customers in the defense, marine, power generation, oil & gas, nuclear, chemical, and water infrastructure sectors. Vegas Fastener develops and manufactures precision high-performance fasteners using specialized alloys to meet demanding quality specifications.
IperionX’s leading titanium technology portfolio includes high-performance near-net shape titanium products, semi-finished titanium products, spherical titanium powder for additive manufacturing and metal injection molding, and angular titanium powder for a wide range of advanced manufacturing applications. These innovative patented technologies allow for sustainability and process energy efficiencies over the traditional Kroll titanium production process.
Image above: High-performance fasteners manufactured by Vegas Fastener
This press release is available in its original form here.
Solar Atmospheres, Inc. announced their most recent acquisition, Certified Metal Craft (CMC) located in El Cajon (an East County suburb of San Diego). With nearly 55 years of serving the Southern California region, CMC and the Wiederkehr Family have established themselves as a source for heat treating and brazing services. With the addition of CMC to the Solar Family of Companies, CMC establishes Solar’s 6th nationwide location and bolsters their West Coast presence.
Derek Dennis President Solar Atmospheres California
CMC has extensive capabilities to include vacuum, aluminum, atmospheric, endothermic, salt bath and cryogenic processing and currently employs 25 dedicated employees. Servicing the aerospace, medical, and commercial markets, CMC is Nadcap-accredited and holds a long list of customer and prime approvals. Tim Wiederkehr will immediately assume the role of V.P. of Operations and report to Derek Dennis, president of Solar Atmospheres of California, Inc.
Derek Dennis states “Solar is excited to welcome the dedicated CMC team into the growing nation of Solar companies.” He adds, “Together, we will continue to grow our west coast footprint while solidifying our industry leading approach of being the ‘go-to’ choice for all heat treating & brazing needs with an unwavering commitment to honesty and integrity in all relationships.”
This press release is available in its original form here.
A custom-built vacuum induction melting (VIM) equipment is set to expand thermal processing for a manufacturer, whose operations already has two VIM solutions.
The furnace will be fabricated at the Buffalo headquarters of Retech, a SECO/WARWICK Group subsidiary, to capitalize on available schedule improvements. As custom equipment, the subsidiary’s furnaces are not dependent on assembly-line style construction, so they can be fabricated and assembled just in either location.
While this client prefers not to divulge this VIM’s application, Retech’s solution can handle casting a wide range of materials used in applications from automotive and consumer products to critical, high-value equiaxed, directionally solidified, or single-crystal aerospace parts. Almost every furnace Retech makes is modified to meet the specifications and associated applications of its clients.
VIM from the Retech Buffalo, NY location.
Source: SECO/WARWICK
Richard B. Conway Founder/Director/CTO DELTA H® Technologies, LLC Source: DELTA H
Multiple military facilities now operate more than 50 heat treat systems from a North American furnace and oven supplier. These facilities include Air National Guard bases, USAF bases stateside, Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii, Air Bases in Japan, Germany, United Kingdom – Royal Air Force, Middle East, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Army facilities.
The systems from DELTA H included either single, dual or triple chamber designs of both the heavy duty commercial aviation standard models DCAHT® / SCAHT® Series, the supplier’s Defender Series – developed for the armed forces, and aircraft composite walk-in ovens.
All systems are in full compliance to NAVAIR Tech Order 1-1A-9, and meet AMS2750 accountability standards for accuracy, temperature uniformity, calibration, and secure batch records.
Ellen Conway Merrill with USAF Metal Technology personnel Source: DELTA H TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Richard Conway, director & CTO of DELTA H®, shares: “It is a deep honor and humbling for the DELTA H team to support our armed forces. We take the utmost care to ensure the best of our craftsmanship and abilities are utilized to deliver the finest heat treating equipment for aircraft maintenance to our Warfighters.”
Military personnel are provided full operator and heat treating and maintenance training, as well as on-site qualifying assistance to meet and maintain the stringent pyrometry standards. Successful trainees receive Certificates of Training as qualified to use their DELTA H® furnace for heat treatment of aircraft parts.
This press release is available available upon request.
Find Heat Treating Products and Services When You Search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com
Sudosilo S.A., a commercial heat treatment service provider in South America, is bringing premier nitriding to the Argentine industrial sector with the recent commissioning of turnkey heat treat installation. This newly operational nitriding system represents a significant milestone as the first of its kind in Argentina, offering third-party heat treatment services to the region.
Source: Nitrex
The integration of this system from NITREX — a global supplier of heat treat systems with North American locations — is set to establish a new benchmark for quality and precision in nitriding treatments. Particularly, it will help Sudosilo cater to various sectors, including aluminum injection, aluminum extrusion, forging, and oil applications.
Jerónimo Alberto Colazo Production Manager Sudosilo
Jerónimo Alberto Colazo, production manager at Sudosilo, highlighted, “The competitive edge of this installation lies in its meticulous control and automation capabilities, ensuring process stability and the ability to generate specialized processes and recipes tailored to unique requirements of each application. This high level of customization and precision guarantees superior quality, meeting the intricate demands of industries served by Sudosilo.”
This press release is available in its original form here.
Kittyhawk, Inc., backed by the Dallas-based private equity firm Trive Capital, has acquired Stack HIP, LLC from Stack Metallurgical Group (SMG). The acquisition represents a significant expansion of capacity and capabilities in hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for aerospace, space, defense, and medical applications.
Operating from its facility in Albany, OR, Stack HIP provides HIP services to aerospace, defense, and medical clients by operating the largest high-pressure HIP vessels in North America. This enables them to process large, complex castings and additively manufactured metallic parts. Post-closing, SMG will continue to operate its classical heat treatment and aluminum special processing facilities in Portland, OR, Spokane, WA, and Salt Lake City, UT.
Brandon Creason President Kittyhawk
“We’re excited to welcome Stack HIP customers, employees, and suppliers into the Kittyhawk family,” said BrandonCreason, president of Kittyhawk. “Stack HIP will allow Kittyhawk to service mission critical parts up to 63” in diameter, enabling us to process the full array of components for our customers. At Kittyhawk, we commit every day to providing the best service and quality to our customers, and we’re thrilled to now do that with the added capabilities and dedicated employees of Stack HIP.”
Doug Puerta CEO Stack Metallurgical Group
Doug Puerta, CEO of SMG commented, “We look forward to continued collaboration with Kittyhawk to deliver a differentiated level of service, quality, and value to our shared customers. This transaction will allow both companies to further drive capacity, quality, and capabilities in our respective services to best serve the PNW market.”
“This is an important step in growing the platform specialized in this highly-differentiated HIP capability. [Kittyhawk] continues to benefit from strong industry tailwinds, and we are excited to support our customers by investing in capacity,” said David Stinnett, partner at Trive.
This press release is available in its original form upon request.
In a move aimed at elevating its manufacturing capabilities, a leading jet engine manufacturer is gearing up to integrate two vapor phase aluminizing (VPA) coating furnaces during the first half of 2024.
These high-capacity, low-maintenance automated retort VPA furnaces from G-M Enterprises, a Nitrexcompany, are purposefully engineered with moving bases and a fixed heat chamber, enhancing operational efficiency. Each retort is sealed to the moving bases, allowing for concurrent handling of two loads, each containing three coating cans. The result is a streamlined process that runs two cycles back-to-back, completing the treatment in just over 24 hours. The automated furnace supports unattended start-ups, empowering operators to focus on preparing loads for the second system which facilitates concurrent operations for heightened productivity.
VPA furnace from G-M Enterprises, a Nitrex company
Source: Nitrex
Robert Huckins, national sales manager at G-M Enterprises, emphasized that the "VPA furnaces ensure seamless operations, providing our customer with a competitive edge in production capacity. This is crucial in meeting escalating demand while delivering high-performance and longer-lasting blades and vanes vital for high-temperature fired engines.”
A feature of the VPA design is the raised fixed heat chamber, effectively shielding operators and the furnace room against potential heat exposure. This innovation eliminates the need for cumbersome protective heat suits. The hot retort remains securely housed within the insulated furnace, prioritizing operator well-being. Furthermore, this safety measure confines the load base and retort/coating load within the SAR/VPA furnace housing until the retort temperature drops below 150°C (300°F).
This strategic investment not only underscores the manufacturer’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements but also solidifies a lasting partnership.
This press release is available in its original form here.
Sometimes our editors find items that are not exactly “heat treat” but do deal with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing.
To celebrate getting to the “fringe” of the weekend, Heat Treat Today presents today’s Heat Treat Fringe Friday: an exciting development in metal 3D printing that one might even say is "out of this world."
Rob Postema Technical Officer ESA
Metal 3D printing will soon take place in orbit for the first time. A pioneering European-made metal 3D printer is on its way to the International Space Station on the Cygnus NG-20 resupply mission which launched January 30, 2024.
“This new 3D printer printing metal parts represents a world first, at a time of growing interest in in-space manufacturing,” explains ESA technical officer Rob Postema. “Polymer-based 3D printers have already been launched to, and used aboard the ISS, using plastic material that is heated at the printer’s head, then deposited to build up the desired object, one layer at a time.
“Metal 3D printing represents a greater technical challenge, involving much higher temperatures and metal being melted using a laser. With this, the safety of the crew and the Station itself have to be ensured – while maintenance possibilities are also very limited. If successful though, the strength, conductivity and rigidity of metal would take the potential of in-space 3D printing to new heights.”
Once arrived at the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will prepare and install the approximately 180 kg Metal 3D printer in the European Draw Rack Mark II in ESA’s Columbus module. After installation, the printer will be controlled and monitored from Earth, so the printing can take place without Andreas’s oversight.
Metal 3D printer in operation on Earth
Source: ESA
The Metal 3D Printer technology demonstrator has been developed by an industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space SAS – also co-funding the project – under contract to ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.
“This in-orbit demonstration is the result of close collaboration between ESA and Airbus' small, dynamic team of engineers,” comments Patrick Crescence, project manager at Airbus. “But this is not just a step into the future; it's a leap for innovation in space exploration. It paves the way for manufacturing more complex metallic structures in space. That is a key asset for securing exploration of Moon and Mars.”
The printer will be printing using a type of stainless-steel commonly used in medical implants and water treatment due to its good resistance to corrosion.
The stainless-steel wire is fed into the printing area, which is heated by a high-power laser, about a million times time more powerful than your average laser pointer. As the wire dips into the melt pool, the end of the wire melts and metal is then added to the print.
ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya from the ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, provided technical support to the project: “The melt pool of the print process is very small, in the order of a millimetre across, so that the liquid metal’s surface tension holds it securely in place in weightlessness. Even so, the melting point of stainless steel is about 1400 °C so the printer operates within a fully sealed box, preventing excess heat or fumes from reaching the crew of the Space Station. And before the print process begins the printer’s internal oxygen atmosphere has to be vented to space, replaced by nitrogen – the hot stainless steel would oxidise if it became exposed to the oxygen.”
Four interesting shapes have been chosen to test the performance of the Metal 3D printer. These first objects will be compared to the same shapes printed on ground, called reference prints, to see how the space environment affects the printing process. The four prints are all smaller than a soda can in size, weigh less than 250 g per print, and takes about two to four weeks to print. The scheduled print time is limited to four hours daily, due to noise regulations on the Space Station – the printer’s fans and motor of the printer are relatively noisy.
Once a shape has been printed, Andreas will remove it from the printer and pack it for safe travels back to Earth for processing and analysis, to understand the differences in printing quality and performance in space, as opposed to Earth.
Metal 3D printer test print
Source: ESA
One reference and 0xg print, which is a part of a dedicated tool, will go to the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. Another two will be headed to the technical heart of ESA, the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), where a team at the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory awaits the samples for macro and micro analysis of the printed parts. The final print will go to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), who proposed its shape, and will investigate its thermal properties in support of e.g. future antenna alignment.
“As a technology demonstration project, our aim is to prove the potential of metal 3D printing in space,” adds Rob. “We’ve already learned a lot getting to this point and hope to learn a lot more, on the way to making in-space manufacturing and assembly a practical proposition.”
One of ESA’s goals for future development is to create a circular space economy and recycle materials in orbit to allow for a better use of resources. One way would be to repurpose bits from old satellites into new tools or structures. The 3D printer would eliminate the need to send a tool up with a rocket and allow the astronauts to print the needed parts in orbit.
Tommaso Ghidini, head of the mechanical department at ESA, notes: “Metal 3D in space printing is a promising capability to support future exploration activities, but also beyond, to contribute to more sustainable space activities, through in-situ manufacturing, repair and perhaps recycling of space structures, for a wide range of applications. This includes in-orbit large infrastructure manufacturing and assembly as well as planetary long-term human settlement. These aspects are key focuses in ESA's upcoming technology cross-cutting initiatives.”
Thomas Rohr, overseeing ESA's Materials and Processes Section, adds: “This technology demonstration, showcasing the processing of metallic materials in microgravity, paves the way for future endeavours to manufacture infrastructure beyond the confines of Earth.”
This press release from The European Space Agency can be found in its original form here.
