Matching Gases with Vacuum Heat Treatment Operations
Source: VAC AERO International
Read more: “Types of Backfill, Partial Pressure, and Cooling Gases for Vacuum Heat Treatment”
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MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS
PA, Wash to See Increased Titanium Heat Treat Activity
A Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of specialty materials and complex components predominantly for aerospace & defense industries recently signed two new long-term pricing agreements (LTPAs) with General Dynamics (GD) Land Systems, a supply chain network provider for the U.S. military and its allies, based in Richland, Washington, to be the preferred supplier of titanium plate for the Abrams tank (United States) and the AJAX specialist vehicle (United Kingdom).
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) will begin production of titanium products at its melt facility in Richland and will complete it at ATI’s specialty plate facility in Washington, Pennsylvania.
“We are pleased to enter into these agreements with GD Land Systems, marking the beginning of a new relationship with this strategic global customer,” said Rich Harshman, ATI’s chairman, president, and CEO. “ATI is forging a strong technology connection with GD and together we are developing specialty materials and components for improved protection and light-weighting of next-generation military vehicles.”
“Revenue from these LTPAs will total approximately $75 million combined over the contract periods. This marks a significant increase in the Flat-Rolled Products segment’s strategic aerospace and defense market sales, which are an integral part of our ongoing portfolio transformation toward more high-value products,” said Bob Wetherbee, executive vice president, Flat-Rolled Products Group.
The Abrams LTPA runs through 2019 while the AJAX LTPA runs through 2021.
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Ellwood Forge Heat Treat Location to Expand Office Facilities
Source: EllwoodCity.org
Ellwood City Forge (ECF), a steel and heavy metals manufacturing group in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, with heat treating facilities in multiple locations, recently launched construction on the renovation and expansion of its office facilities at the same location on Second Street where the company broke ground and has been in operation since 1910.
The project will include renovation of ECF’s existing building and construction of a new, adjoining building and continue to house the offices of parent company Ellwood Group, adjacent to manufacturing operations, including bloom processing. Heat treating, forging, and machining operations are located at two of ECF’s other six plants — New Castle, Pennsylvania, and Corry, Pennsylvania.
Ellwood City Forge supplies open-die forgings for a broad range of applications, including oil & gas, power generation, mining, industrial machinery, metal processing, power transmission and gearing, aerospace, infrastructure and construction, defense, and shipbuilding.
Read more: “Groundbreaking — New ECF Office”
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Scissors Maker Goes for the Gold with Titanium Coating
William Whiteley & Sons, the oldest scissor-makers in the western world, has chosen a UK-based company that specializes in hard coatings, heat treatment, and vacuum brazing, among other services, to provide the Titanium Nitride PVD coating on their new EXO Gold scissor.
The EXO range has been developed with assistance from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield, using state of the art 3D tooling, surgical grade stainless steel and advanced coating materials, including TiN from Wallwork Cambridge. The scissors can cut through the toughest materials encountered by tailors and haberdashers, crafters and DIYers, boaters and interior designers.
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PA-Based Heat Treater Expands with New Vacuum Bay
A heat treater with facilities in Pennsylvania and Alabama was recently given the green light by township officials in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, to expand operations at its plant outside Philadelphia, including the construction of a new vacuum bay and the acquisition of vacuum furnaces needed for a new product line.
Rex Heat Treat provides thermal processing in Lansdale and Bedford, Pennsylvania, and in Aniston, Alabama, for customers from a broad range of industries.
“This facility improvement will provide the proper climate-controlled environment to enable Rex Heat Treat to offer lower cost vacuum heat treating solutions to the Philadelphia heat treating market and be a platform for further vacuum processing expansions,” stated Johnathan Rex, General Manager.
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Achieving Perfect Vacuum Sintering
Source: TAV: The Vacuum Furnaces Blog
Andrea Alborghetti, technical manager of TAV Vacuum Furnaces and contributor to the company’s blog, has provided a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of how to achieve “perfect vacuum sintering”, which includes an explanation of the metallurgic technologies involved; a review of debinding, “the first critical step of sintering”; and the factors to be taken into consideration when choosing what type of heat treatment process to use in order to obtain “a high quality of the end material in terms of density, porosity, and mechanical resistance.”
Read more: “Perfect Vacuum Sintering Step by Step #1”
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Texas Steelmaker Acquires Rebar and EAF Mills from Gerdau
Four electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills in Knoxville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Sayreville, New Jersey; and Rancho Cucamonga, California, as well as 33 rebar fabrication facilities are among the assets included in an acquisition agreement between steelmaker Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), located in Irving, Texas, and Brazil-based steelmaker Gerdau S.A..
CMC operates heat treating and related facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Alabama, in addition to steel mills, fabrication facilities, and other operations throughout the world. The mills and facilities included in Gerdau’s divestment have annual rolling capacity of 2.5 million tons, increasing CMC’s global melt capacity to 7.2 million tons.
“This acquisition aligns with our strategy to focus on our strength in concrete reinforcing products and leverages CMC’s core competencies in rebar production and value-added fabrication services to nonresidential construction customers,” said Barbara Smith, president and CEO of CMC. “In addition, these assets provide us the opportunity to optimize our product mix more fully in the U.S. As a leader in rebar manufacturing technology and customer service, we are excited to take advantage of our expertise to increase throughput, lower costs and improve the customer experience in our new operations.”
The deal, which is expected to close before the end of 2018, would leave Gerdau with three fabrication shops in the U.S..
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Alcoa Closes Rockdale, Italian Smelting Sites Sold
Global manufacturer of bauxite, alumina and aluminum products Alcoa Corporation recently announced its decision to close its Rockdale Operations facility in Texas, an action that expects a cash outlay of approximately $53 million over the next five years. The site, which has been fully curtailed since the end of 2008, includes a primary aluminum smelter and casthouse, an aluminum powder plant, and associated buildings and equipment.
The closure falls under an option to close or divest of smelting assets in the United States and Italy. In Italy, Alcoa has reached an agreement to divest the Portovesme primary aluminum smelter, fully curtailed since 2012 and closed since 2014, to Invitalia, the Italian government agency that manages economic development.
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Comparing Carburizing Technology and Furnace Features
Source: ECM-USA
Pierre Rousset and Vincent Lelong from ECM USA compare the significant differences between a conventional furnace and a low pressure carburizing furnace and provide guidelines for heat treaters to consider when determining which to use for metallurgical processing.
Read more: “Conventional Carburizing Furnace Versus Low Pressure Carburizing Furnace”
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Certified Heat Treating Acquired by Baltimore Investment Group
An Ohio-based company providing heat treatment for the general manufacturing market, Certified Heat Treating, has been acquired by Thermal Process Holdings, an investment vehicle formed by Calvert Street Capital Partners (CSCP).
“We are excited to announce the second acquisition in our strategy to build a best-in-class company that offers a range of advanced services. The Biehn family wanted to ensure the continued success of the business and to provide opportunities for their people. We are intent on carrying out those objectives,” said John Hubbard, chairman of Thermal Process Holdings.
Don Longenette, who has been director of facilities and maintenance with Diamond Heat Treat, another recent acquisition of CSCP, will serve as general manager of Certified during the transition, which will include overseeing vacuum heat treating, atmosphere heat treating, induction heat treating, carburizing, oil and neutral hardening, among other treatments, at the company’s Springfield, Ohio, facility.
“The operating history of Certified dates to 1959, and the company has a solid reputation in the broad spectrum of industries it serves. We look forward to building on that reputation and growing the business. I’m excited to work with Joe Biehn [president of Certified Heat Treating], who will immediately focus his full attention on driving additional sales. Our goal with Certified is to utilize the exceptional quality of the equipment, the expertise and experience of the employees, and to take advantage of the open capacity of the furnaces,” said Longenette.
Calvert Street is a Baltimore, Maryland-based private equity firm focused on investing in industrial service businesses in the lower middle-market. Thermal Process Holdings builds upon Calvert Street’s experience in other high-value add industrial sectors, including testing and inspection and precision machining.
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