A leading, Indiana-based materials manufacturer for medical devices recently acquired a titanium and specialty alloy company, adding alloy wire and bar drawing capabilities to their range of products and services for critical applications in the medical device industry.
Scott Glaze, Chairman and CEO of Fort Wayne Metals
Fort Wayne Metals, which provides components for both medical and non-medical critical applications, including aerospace and defense, industrial, and resistance wire industries, will expand with the acquisition of G&S Titanium and operate under the name G&S Bar and Wire, LLC.
“G&S is helping us increase our footprint even further, which will allow us to serve our customers better – for example by providing them with larger diameter materials,” said Scott Glaze, Chairman and CEO of Fort Wayne Metals.
The G&S operation in Wooster, Ohio, will remain in its current facilities. Fort Wayne Metals is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and has facilities in Columbia City, Indiana, and Castlebar, Ireland.
Researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology have collaborated with their counterparts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop a new material capable of retaining high transmissivity after annealing at 850°C (1562°F). The results address the challenge manufacturers face when combining different materials that react differently to heat treatment at certain temperatures.
Medin a.s., a Czech manufacturer of medical instruments and implants, recently unveiled its new heat treatment workshop in Nové Město na Moravě, which includes a vacuum oil quenching furnace — B55TH with oversized dimensions heating chamber with 900 x 1200 x 900 mm for a max load of 1200 kg — supplied by BMI. In order to treat large loads, this furnace was installed as an alternative to a vertical furnace or a pit-type furnace.
Medin’s workshop also houses a gas quenching furnace and a tempering furnace from other Tenova Group companies.
An Indiana-based manufacturer of wires for medical and non-medical markets recently announced plans to expand its operations, including in thermal processing, production, and maintenance.
Fort Wayne Metals, which was established in 1946 and now has locations in the U.S., Asia, Central America, and Europe, will invest $51.1 million to increase its Allen County operation, creating up to 337 new jobs by 2021. The project will include the construction of an addition to their corporate office building and revitalization of a 60,000-square-foot building, further bolstering the company’s production capacity for precision wire and wire-based components for the medical device industry and other non-medical critical applications, including aerospace and defense, industrial and resistance wire industries.
“Indiana has earned a reputation as one of the world’s leading medical device hubs,” Governor Eric J. Holcomb said. “Every day, Hoosiers are at work developing new life-saving solutions, and I’m excited to see that trend continue with the growth of our life sciences sector and industry-leading firms like Fort Wayne Metals.”
Troy Linder, CFO of Fort Wayne Metals
“As we continue to be innovative leaders of life-saving, high-quality material solutions, we are experiencing a global increase in demand,” said Troy Linder, chief financial officer of Fort Wayne Metals. “Our investment in facilities and people will help build the infrastructure necessary to meet this demand, and we are excited to be able to partner with the IEDC and Greater Fort Wayne Inc. to continue to expand our footprint in Fort Wayne.”
JoAnne Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer of APG
Alpha Precision Group (APG) recently announced acquisitions that will consolidate powder metal and metal injection molding operations under a single brand, providing integrated capabilities to the medical device, aerospace, and firearms markets.
Alpha Sintered Metals (ASM) of Ridgway, PA; Precision Compacted Components (PCC) of Wilcox, PA and St. Marys, PA; and Precision Made Products (PMP) of Brunswick, OH, now known as APG, will operate through two primary divisions:
1) APG Sintered Metals, which will consist of the powder metal operations of Alpha Sintered Metals and Precision Compacted Components, and
2) APG Metal Injection Molding, which will consist of the metal injection molding operations of Alpha Sintered Metals and Precision Made Products.
A reader whose company offers sintering and heat treating of medical devices recently submitted an inquiry regarding AMS2750 specifications and sintering.
READER QUESTION: “Does insipient melting of metal particles fall under these guidelines? Our temperatures go as high as 2650°F and finding cost-effective ways to utilize thermalcouples to verify TUS temperatures seems a difficult task in itself.” Heat Treat Today‘s resident AMS2750 expert Jason Schulze (Conrad Kacsik) provided the following response. Submit your AMS2750 questions to Jason at editor@heattreattoday.com.
Understanding whether AMS2750E should be implemented within your process can be confusing. In this post, we will focus on understanding when AMS2750E is applicable to a supplier and when this should be verified.
What is “Flow-Down”?
Within most industries, there exists some type of flow down with regards to specific requirements. When we purchase a car, there are loan terms which flow down to a purchaser via a loan contract, such as interest rates, the number of months included in the loan, the ratio at which payments are distributed to interest and principal, as well as the requirement to carry full coverage car insurance for the life of a vehicle loan. These details are requirements which flow down to the purchaser via a contract.
The same can be said of a manufacturer or processor in the aerospace, commercial, or automotive industry. Certain requirements flow down from a purchaser (PO holder) to the supplier (entity receiving the purchase order).
Order of Precedence
In the aerospace and automotive industry, the flow down of requirements typically will encompass three documents in a specific order of precedence: 1) purchase order, 2) part print, and 3) process specifications. This is considered the order of precedence with regards to specific requirements.
Let’s look at an example:
ABC Aerospace issues a purchase order for turbine blades to be manufactured at Ajax Machine. Ajax Machine has several multi-axis grinding machines as well as captive heat treating. ABC Aerospace issues a purchase order to Ajax Machine that states the following:
“Part Number 30925-96 – 1,050 pc. Due January 1st, 2050 per Rev B 30925-96 Print”
Ajax Machine obtains the PO as stated above, along with the part print stated on the purchase order. The part print states multiple dimensional requirements for the turbine blades, but it also states a heat treat requirement to an industry heat treat specification. This heat treat specification would identify multiple variables such as time, temperature, and atmosphere for heat treatment; it may also specify that all furnaces used for heat treatment shall conform to AMS2750E, if the PO holder (customer) does, in fact, require this.
For a supplier attempting to understand if AMS2750E applies to their specific process, flow down from the PO holder is where this requirement is established.
Establishing Flow Down via Contract Review
To become ISO certified, a company must have a contract review procedure. Contract review is typically used to establish flow down requirements to ensure that a supplier is able to meet the requirements a purchaser has requested. Utilizing the contract review process to establish flow down requirements ensures that the supplier will document, establish, and verify all flow down requirements stated on the PO, part print, and process specification prior to manufacturing.
Conclusion
Flow down, as it relates to AMS2750 as well as other variables, is an important step in successful manufacture and processing of aerospace, commercial, and automotive hardware.
Submit Your Questions
Please feel free to submit your questions and I will answer appropriately in future articles. Send your questions to editor@heattreattoday.com.
The human body has an amazing way to heal from injuries over time. Cut your hand, tear a muscle, break a bone and it typically returns to normal use over the course of time and treatment.
Now, researchers at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium are applying this same principle to soft robots developing mechanisms for these machines to self-heal.
A coating system that enables light and strong titanium alloy to replace steel based bearings in landing gear on the Airbus 350 and 380 passenger jets could soon be used in human hip and knee replacements. An advanced hard coatings specialist has been awarded funding from Innovate UK, the government backed sponsor of breakthrough technologies, to research the medical application of this process. The development has promise as an enabling technology that may lead to customised implants made by additive manufacturing leading to light, strong, safer and longer-lasting joint replacements with potentially huge savings for the National Health Service (UK).
Titanium is already widely used in orthopaedic surgery as bone splints, plates and other devices. The material has high strength, fatigue resistance, lightness and good biocompatibility, though long term use can cause staining to skin tissue. Unfortunately, it performs poorly in load-bearing situations due to its relative softness. When used in aircraft bearings, the company, Wallwork Cambridge, overcomes this with a duplex coating process where deep nitrided cases are created in the metal surface to make it more resilient. This is then followed by the application of a hard micro-thin and highly lubricious coating by physical vapour deposition (PVD). The company is one of the largest PVD processors in Europe.
Knee and hip replacements are usually made from an alloy of cobalt, chrome and molybdenum (CoCrMo) or from ceramics. These materials are sometimes used in hybrid structures in combination with high-density polymers. Issues have arisen of metal-ion leakage from CoCrMo devices, plastic degradation and breakage or chipping of the ceramic implants in active individuals. This can cause pain and discomfort to patients and be highly damaging to surrounding tissues.
A patented coating, Agilliant, is under development at Wallwork that will provide an effective barrier against the release of metal ions and which also includes a small proportion of silver to give active protection from postoperative infection. The material is super smooth, permitting the easy passage of tendons so that they do not become inflamed. The barrier is also effective against bio-tribo corrosion by the synovial fluid that still acts as a natural joint lubricant in artificial implants.
Head of research and development at Wallwork, Dr Jonathan Housden, explained, “The duplex coating process, incorporating Agilliant as the final coating, opens the way for the introduction of a new generation of durable titanium implants. These will be lighter and more comfortable for the patient with fewer complications caused by postoperative infection and mechanical wear. Early trials to simulate many years of use suggest that the joints will, in many cases, outlive the patient, leading to a £300 million annual saving for the NHS by allowing more efficient use of orthopaedic resources as rework of failed or compromised treatments are reduced.”
Wallwork anticipates the first patient trials for the new devices could commence in as little as four years, after completion of intensive laboratory simulations.
A climate-controlled environment for the daily operation of its brand new all-metal hot zoned vacuum furnace was constructed by Solar Atmospheres of Western PA for processing medical and aerospace parts. The critical climate within this room is controlled utilizing a high quality HVAC system and is equipped with dehumidifiers and customizable thermostats. A heavy duty insulation package was installed which ultimately helps to manage and stabilize temperature and humidity around the clock. The space also was constructed to produce a slight positive pressure environment, which will help eliminate dust and debris from entering the set-up and fixturing areas.
Kevin Bekelja, Vice President of Operations, stated, “With the new third party accreditation programs such as MedAccred gaining momentum, and knowing how detrimental high levels of humidity can be in the vacuum thermal processing of certain critical materials, we believe this venture is well worth the investment.”
Both medical and aerospace contractors are continuing to demand that environmental conditions be controlled, processes validated, and the risk of foreign object debris (FOD) be totally eliminated. This newly constructed environmentally controlled room will enable Solar Atmospheres of Western PA to pristinely thermally process critical components, which in turn will add even more value to the customer’s operations.
The global orthopedic worldwide market is about a $45 billion opportunity with a worldwide growth rate of around 9% while the foot and ankle sector – standing around $3 billion – is growing around 12% to 15% per year. Nextremity, a medical device manufacturer focusing on foot and ankles, recently relocated to Warsaw, Indiana, to be closer to its supply chain. Read more about this company and the medical device sector it serves.
