The Metal Treating Institute is excited to announce the Board of Trustees have approved the most progressive strategy in recent history for workforce development in the heat treating industry. This initiative, called Jobs of Tomorrow will help attract the next generation of workers to the heat treating industry. Jobs of Tomorrow is a 24-episode docu-series that plays on top streaming services, like Amazon Prime and Roku. Each season of Jobs of Tomorrow has six episodes from four different industries. Heat Treating will be one of the featured industries in the 2024 season. MTI has partnered with WorkerBee TV to develop a series of digital video assets and a distribution strategy that will be used by Members on three levels: to educate potential workers, retain current workers, and grow interest in the heattreating industry.
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May 24th the entire British Commonwealth celebrates the birthday of Queen Victoria of England. In Canada this means that Monday May 22 will be a national holiday. Regular news items from “The Monty Heat Treat News” will resume Tuesday May 22.
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“PTI Announces New Southeast HIP Facility in Alachua, Florida to Service Existing and New HIP Demand. Pressure Technology, Inc. (PTI), a leading provider of hot isostatic pressing services (HIP), announced that the company has recently completed a major expansion of their HIP services by establishing a new facility in Alachua, Florida. The new facility will provide local HIP service to its existing and new Southeast customers saving transportation costs and time. The new 12,000 sq. ft facility will initially be equipped with two of its well proven 30″ diameter HIP units with room for further capacity to be installed as demand increases. Completion of the initial phase will bring PTI’s capacity to Thirteen (13) HIP units, the majority being capable of high pressure processing up to 30,000psi at temperatures up to 2,550° F. “The expansion is in direct response to our growing customer base in the Southeast region” said David Bowles, General Manager of PTI. “Demand has been steadily increasing for the processing of parts for aerospace, space, industrial gas turbine and medical applications. In addition, the use of additive manufacturing (AM) techniques has taken hold which will further increase the demand for our hot isostatic pressing services,” he added.
The first two units in Florida became operational in 2022. In May of this year the company appointed Mr. Mark Haran Plant Manager of the Alachau location. Mark brings with him a wealth of experience in the heat treatment industry-most recently he was Production Manager at the Bodycote, Greenville, SC plant which interestingly enough is in the process of adding HIP capabilities. It is also worthwhile pointing out that Bodycote is the largest in the world when it comes to offering commercial “Hipping”.
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“In 2007, an indirectly heated roller hearth furnace (built by Wienstroth Wärmebehandlungstechnik GmbH) with energy-efficient REKUMAT® burners was put into operation at a Schaeffler plant in Germany. These burners were serviced last fall at WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH in Renningen and adapted in order to be operated with both natural gas and H2 as fuel with high efficiency and lowest emissions. The successful commissioning with natural gas has already been carried out by Wienstroth. Once the hydrogen infrastructure has been established, commissioning with H2 as fuel gas will proceed.
With this and other conversions as well as newly built projects, Schaeffler is demonstrating its comprehensive commitment to sustainability while investing in the long-term future of the respective plants. Due to the decades of experience at WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH with hydrogen as well as the patented FLOX® technology, the adaptation to H2 as fuel is possible for many existing plants with reasonable effort, without having to install new burners. In addition, significant efficiency gains can be realized for many plants. Until the necessary hydrogen infrastructure is available, continued operation on natural gas or mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen is possible.”
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NOXMAT USA, Inc. supplies industrial heating technology and services directly to US customers
The share of US business in NOXMAT’s total sales figures has risen steadily in recent years. Due to the continuing high demand of US customers for innovative, state-of-the-art heating solutions and burner technology “made in Germany”, the decision was made to drive further growth with a separate company for sales and service.
NOXMAT contact persons on site in the US will provide even more presence on the market and further improve customer orientation.
Zachary Spraggins becomes Business Development Manager at NOXMAT, Inc.
Zachary Spraggins joined NOXMAT USA as Business Development Manager in January 2023 and is responsible for building up the operational business. He has extensive experience in the heat treatment industry. In addition to his Master of Business Administration (MBA), he has expertise in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and quality management. Over the past 10 years, he has held various management positions at Bodycote Thermal Processing, most recently as Regional General Manager for the automotive sector.
“We are very pleased that we were able to win Zach Spraggins as an experienced manager for NOXMAT USA. With his extensive market and industry knowledge as well as contacts in the field of heat treatment, he will shape the development and expansion of our US business with great success”, Matthias Wolf, CEO NOXMAT, is convinced.
State-of-the-Art Heating Technology in Use all over the World
Since its foundation in 1992, NOXMAT has stood for state-of-the-art burner systems, which are developed, designed, and manufactured in-house in Oederan/Germany. Over the previous decades NOXMAT has successfully developed into a specialist for industrial heating technology. This is used in heat treatment plants of various manufacturers, including numerous US industrial furnace manufacturers. The NOXMAT product range includes recuperator and high-speed burners, control units for burner technology and radiant tubes for heating industrial furnaces. NOXMAT products are used in thermal processing plants in the heat treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
Increased Demand for Energy Efficiency and Alternative Heating Technologies
The gas heating technology mainly used in the market to date is increasingly being supplemented or replaced by electric heating and alternative heating systems, e.g. hydrogen-powered heating systems. Rising energy prices and initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint are playing an increasingly important role in retrofitting, maintaining and modernizing systems to increase their energy efficiency. For over ten years, NOXMAT has been a one-stop shop for this, from production and commissioning to preventive maintenance.
About NOXMAT
NOXMAT is a specialist for industrial heating technology, and develops, manufactures, and produces industrial gas burners as well as electric heating systems for thermal processing technology. NOXMAT’s product spectrum includes, among other things, recuperator and high-speed burners, control units for burner technology, radiant tubes for the heating of industrial furnaces, electric heating elements as well as the construction of a customer-specific switch cabinet. NOXMAT offers consulting and support for companies in over 35 countries all over the world, with great expertise and extensive service offers in the construction and optimization of heating elements for industrial thermal processing plants as well as maintenance and modernization to increase energy efficiency. NOXMAT was founded in 1992 in Oederan, Germany, and has subsidies in China, India and in the US. www.noxmat.com
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For a wide variety of reasons including higher costs, supply concerns and CO2 emissions associated with natural gas European heat treaters are continuing to look more and more at electrically heated furnaces. This interesting article originally printed by “The BMW Group” talks about an electrically heated, ring style (rotary hearth to North Americans) furnace and press quench system which recently entered production at the BMW facility in Dingolfing, Germany.
“Dingolfing, Germany May 16, 2023. For the first time, chassis and drive component production in Plant 02.10 at the BMW Group site in Dingolfing is operating an electrically heated ring hearth furnace. Compared with its conventional gas-powered equivalent, the latest electric furnace currently saves some 300 tonnes of CO2 a year.
“The new furnace has a planned service life of over 40 years, so it’s a future-focused piece of equipment that sets the course for our journey to net zero,” said Marc Sielemann, responsible for quality and production of powertrains, chassis and brakes with Purchasing, and director of the Dingolfing component plant 02.10. The BMW Group has set itself the target of being climate neutral along the entire value chain by 2050 at the latest. With its innovative power-to-heat technology, the hardening furnace came at an investment of approx. €7 million.
Plant 02.10 in Dingolfing produces chassis and drive components for BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles. To make them more hard-wearing, the parts are hardened in special furnaces. As electric mobility ramps up, more and more components are being manufactured, including for electric drives. Existing systems are gradually reaching the limits of their capacity, so a new ring hearth furnace with a fixture hardening press was needed.
Used to harden gear wheels for electric transmissions, the innovative system has production capacity of approx. 960,000 spur gears a year. What’s special about it is that unlike the two existing furnaces, which are powered by gas, a fossil fuel, this new solution is for the first time powered by electricity. Rather than using 33 gas flames in ceramic-jacketed pipes, as the older model does, the new furnace uses the same number of electric heating elements to heat up to 900 degrees Celsius.
Electric heat generation – or power-to-heat technology, as it is called – saves vast amounts of greenhouse gases, which are harmful to the climate. By running on electricity, the new hardening oven emits approx. 300 tonnes less CO2 a year than its gas-powered equivalent.
“Energy-intensive power-to-heat systems like this new electric ring hearth furnace support the decarbonisation of heat generation – an essential aspect of climate protection. They generate heat by climate-friendly means and can be powered among other things with excess energy from renewables,” said Sielemann. So, the new power-to-heat furnace not only reduces gas consumption at Plant Dingolfing but also supports the integration of renewable energies into the electricity grid. It is another component in BMW Group Plant Dingolfing’s transformation to a sustainable BMW iFACTORY. “For the future,” said Sielemann, “we are looking into converting the remaining hardening furnaces to electricity as well.”
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Based in China furnace builder PowerMax was acquired by Fengdong back in 2017-Fengdong is in turn a mammoth Chinese furnace builder, certainly one of the largest in China.
PowerMax is currently manufacturing a batch IQ furnace, with a controlled atmosphere and oil quenching with a capacity of 4.5 tons-an astonishing 9,000 poundload. The end user is a heat treater in Turkey and the furnace was sold by a local company by the name of 3E who provides software solutions for the heat treat industry.
Over the past number of years 3E has sold almost 100 PowerMax furnaces into Turkey, customers include the largest commercial heat treater in the world, Bodycote.
This is certainly not the first furnace of this size that PowerMax has built, going back to 2010 Dale Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” inspected exactly the same size furnace at the Powermax facility in China. With her is Mr. Andy Chen the founder of Powermax.
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Gary Reach, President of Lucifer Furnaces, commented, “We are thrilled to bring Brett on board. Brett’s extensive leadership and deep industrial equipment sales experience will help us further improve our customer service and accelerate the momentum we have recently built. We are all very excited to see what we will accomplish together with Brett’s help.” Brett added, “I’ve been so impressed by Lucifer Furnaces’ people, products, and customers. I’m looking forward to digging in and driving the next phase of growth for the company.”
About Lucifer Furnaces: Lucifer Furnaces is a private, family owned, company based in Warrington, PA. The company has been manufacturing some of the world’s most trusted industrial heat-treating furnaces and ovens in the USA for 80 years. Lucifer Furnaces serves a diverse range of customers from large, multinational corporations to smaller, sole proprietorships. The company’s industrial segments include aerospace, automotive, telecommunications, educational, government, military, and many more. For more information, visit www.luciferfurnaces.com
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As a long-term skills partner, AICHELN Service has been supporting Daimler Truck AG continuously with regular maintenance and repair works, as well as in projects regarding plant modernization and optimization. In Gaggenau, there are numerous heat treatment plants by different manufacturers, among them several AICHELIN plants. For the current project, the brickwork for a LOI Thermprocess plant needed to be renewed and optimized. The goal was to replace the entire brickwork in a rebuild time of only six weeks, including disassembly and reassembly, while increasing the energy efficiency of the plant and enabling significant energy savings. The result: Wall losses were reduced by 10-15 %. The optimized insulation thus contributes to higher energy efficiency.
Optimized Thermal Insulation for Plants with Gas and Electric Heating
Depending on the type and intensity of plant use, the thermal insulation and in particular the brickwork in industrial furnaces wears out after around 10 to 20 years and must be replaced entirely. The isothermal annealing system in question – a coherent, U-shaped installation consisting of one high-temperature and one low-temperature furnace – has been in use at the Gaggenau plant since 1971. The high-temperature furnace is gas-fired and achieves temperatures of up to 950° C; the low-temperature furnace is operated with electric heating elements and reaches temperatures of up to 700° C.
To increase energy efficiency, the brickwork of the two furnaces should not simply be replaced 1:1. In addition to the complete renewal of the brickwork, the wall structure was to be reinforced and thermally optimized. Moreover, further customer-specific energy optimizations had to be implemented. Temperature measurements on the systems before the start of the project provided additional indications of further optimization potential, including around insulation, the burner flanges, and the outlet and door openings.
AICHELIN Service Manages the Project as General Contractor
AICHELIN Service GmbH took over the complete project planning, coordination, and implementation as general contractor. The time constraints in this project were especially challenging, as a very narrow time window of only 30 working days including Saturday work had to be met. To achieve this, AICHELIN Service successfully coordinated four project partners in order to perfectly align and execute the various works.
The project started in November 2022. After the dismantling of the heating elements by Daimler Truck AG employees, the excavation work as well as other preparatory work was carried out by AICHELIN Service and its partners, such as the removal and reassembly of the burner flanges, welding work, weld seam tests, and more. This was followed by the new brickwork and the reassembly of the heating technology before the subsequent test run in cold operation. The brickwork with an optimized wall construction was carried out with a suitably strong service team, which put together over 100 m3 of material ‘brick on brick’. In total, around 20 workers from the various partners, as well as the project managers and coordinators from AICHELIN Service and the customer, were deployed during the project. The final work was completed in December. The inspection and approval by the customer were carried out after the successful return to operation in late January 2023.
About AICHELIN Service GmbH
AICHELIN Service GmbH in Ludwigsburg, Germany is the competence center for all services regarding AICHELIN heat treatment plants as well as plants by other manufacturers. The Ludwigsburg site also houses the central AICHELIN spare parts depot with the dispatch logistics department and the main scheduling office for service engineers. With around 100 technicians in office and field service, AICHELIN Service supports its customers with services such as spare parts, inspections, preemptive maintenance, modification and modernization, industry 4.0 solutions, but also with trainings and seminars.
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Uddeholm is known around the world as a leading manufacturer of tool steel for industrial tools and as such has state of the art heat treating facility around the globe. Just last week they held their “Business Academy – Heat Treatment” at their partners location, Ramada ACOS in Portugal.
We have spoken a number of times about how the Ramada facility in Ovar, Portugal is impressive by any standards. Below we have a summary of the company as reported by “The Monty Heat Treat News” after a visit in November, 2021 along with a photo showing Dale Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” in the vacuum department. The other photo is of the recent “Uddeholm, Business Academy -Heat Treatment” get together (PS; this facility recently invested in a number of Ipsen Sealed Quench furnaces).
“NOVEMBER 2021; Ramada ACOS is a captive/commercial heat treater located in the northern part of Portugal in the city of Ovar. The firm is another example of a company which offers some of the most “state of the art” heat treatment processes available anywhere in the world. Ramada has been in business for more than 75 years both as a heat treater and a distributor of steel for Uddeholm. The company has 13 vacuum hardening and vacuum nitriding furnaces all from French furnace builder BMI along with 8 sealed quench furnaces with oil quenching https://www.ramada.pt/pt/servi
The vacuum furnaces include a hardening furnace with dimensions of 1200 mm X 1200 mm X 1800 mm (48″ x 48″ x 72″) with 13 bar nitrogen quenching, a vacuum carburizing system, several tempering units and some nitriding systems. Every single one as mentioned previously was provided by BMI in Lyon, France and in many cases Ramada has been the testing ground for new processes being developed by BMI.”
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