Ever since Mr. Clif Coleman took over Mid-South Metallurgical in 2007 we have watched with interest as the commercial heat treater in Murfreesboro, TN, USA has modernized, added processes and more equipment and grown at a very impressive rate.
As an example we have these two very recent press releases from the firm, one about adding gas nitriding later this year and the second about the hire of Darren Cash as Sales and Business Development Manager.
“Mid-South Metallurgical to Offer Gas Nitriding in 2022; Mid-South Metallurgical will add gas nitriding heat treatment processes to its service offerings in the summer/fall of 2022. “We are excited to introduce this process to our line of heat-treating services to serve existing customers and new customers,” President/Owner Clif Coleman says, “This investment is yet another big step in the growth of Mid-South Metallurgical. Stay tuned for more updates.”
“Darren Cash Joins Mid-South Metallurgical; We are pleased to introduce and welcome Darren Cash as Sales and Business Development Manager at Mid-South Metallurgical. Darren’s responsibilities will encompass maintaining existing customer relationships, expanding and developing new business, and contributing to the company’s marketing and business strategies.
Darren joins Mid-South with an impressive technical sales background in diverse manufacturing related environments. Prior to his technical sales roles, Darren held technical leadership positions with Dupont and Alstom Power and has worked extensively with Heat Treating, Thermal coatings and Metallurgical analysis over the past several years. Said Clif Coleman, President of Mid-South Metallurgical, “Darren is an outstanding addition to our Mid-South Team, as he brings a deep diversity of technical experience and is proactive in identifying opportunities and helping customers reach their goals. We continue to focus on growing our business by building our Team and investing in equipment, capacity, and new processes. Darren’s technical and sales background and experience will have a significant impact on our long-term success. We are excited to have him onboard.”
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Furnace builder Surface Combustion of Maumee, Ohio, USA recently installed 2 new tempering furnaces at Vacu Braze in Quakertown, PA, USA; “Quakertown, PA – Vacu Braze has expanded its capacity for air atmosphere age hardening and tempering of critical components. Two brand new Uni-DRAW Surface Combustion tempers have been brought on stream to allow for larger volume processing that is in accordance with the requirements of AMS 2750. This equipment is intended for use primarily with critical components in the aerospace, defense, and fastener industries. With a qualified work zone of 36″ x 48″ x 36″, Vacu Braze has taken steps to add valuable capacity to serve their customers. Vacu Braze continues to look for opportunities to invest in infrastructure and equipment to provide more robust capabilities and reliable results.” https://www.vacubraze.net/
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Commercial heat treater “Thermi Lyon”, a multi location heat treater based in France very recently added more vacuum furnace capacity. The furnace was provided by “TAV” of Italy and has working dimensions of 1350mm x 900mm x 900mm (53” X 36” X 36”) with a load capacity of 1200 Kg (2700 pounds). It has a diffusion pump an all metal hot zone.
“Thermi Lyon” is estimated to be the second largest commercial heat treater in France and a few years back “The Monty Heat Treat News” interviewed Mr. Bernard Salvi, Sale Manger for “Thermi Lyon” an interview which can be found at Bernard Salvi, Thermi-Lyon | The Monty
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“May 31, 2022 Solar Atmospheres, a US commercial heat treater who will shortly be gracing our pages again as one of the 50 largest commercial heat treaters in North America announced that they had just commissioned a new Vacuum Oil quenching furnace. To commemorate this event the firm held an open house this past Wednesday and as it turned out it was standing room only. This photo shows Mr. Bob Hill of Solar introducing the new furnace to the 100 plus guests in attendance.
“Successful Vacuum Oil Quench Commissioning; Hermitage PA, May 31, 2022 – A newly designed Vacuum Oil Quench (VOQ) furnace, purchased by Solar Atmospheres of Western PA, recently entered into full production after passing a vigorous start up protocol. The initial temperature uniformity survey, compliant to AMS 2750 F, produced +/- 10°F results at all setpoints. Most importantly, the critical lift and place transfer mechanism worked flawlessly. This robustly designed system delivered hot 2000-pound loads to the internal oil quench tank seamlessly time after time. With a quench system that is entirely self-contained and vacuum tight, the typical positive pressure “flare and smoke-ups” during each quench cycle was nonexistent.
Other features of this unique furnace include the ability for the customer to attain the actual work temperatures within the 36” x 36” x 48” hot zone. Additionally, with an atmosphere totally devoid of oxygen there is no need to use problematic oxygen probes. Material surfaces are free from intergranular oxidation (IGO) along with zero evidence of decarburized or carburized surface conditions. Heat treated components emerge from the quench oil bright and clean! With carbon potential issues totally eliminated, alloys of dissimilar carbon contents with comparable cross sections and austenitizing temperatures, can all be treated within the same load!
Bob Hill President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA states, “Most recently insurance companies are reluctant to write policies for commercial heat treaters simply because they see a single flame or evidence of smoke. In the past, unfortunate accidents have occurred with explosive endothermic atmospheres and flammable oils. I am convinced that this new Solar Manufacturing furnace is a much safer and greener way to oil quench parts. In my opinion, this furnace is the future of oil quench heat treating”
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“Metalex Thermal Specialties in Berthoud, Colorado, USA just completed accreditation to provide its heat treating services for the aerospace industry complementing the long list of other industries it serves. “There’s a large aerospace industry here in Colorado, and there was no heat treater before us that’s certified to do that, so they’re shipped out of state,” said Chris James, co-owner and general manager of Metalex Thermal Specialties, 205 Turner Ave. “To grow our business, we wanted to get accredited to start processing that type of work and keep it in the state of Colorado.”
Metalex received the certification, AS9100, in May to be able to process parts used in the aerospace industry, including those for the engine and the fuel system and for the landing and other gears. “It shows we follow the strict quality system (controls) accepted in the aerospace industry,” James said.
James and his parents, Bruce and Debra James, purchased Metalex in September 2020, in business under that name since 2005, when the former owner purchased it. Before then it was called Thermal Specialties. “My mom and I worked for a heat treating company in California,” James said. “We were wanting to get our own business, and we wanted to move to Colorado.”
The James family didn’t make any major changes right away, but did immediately put a focus on customer service and improving the turnaround time to five days for parts. They heat treat knife blades, plungers and other parts for the oil and gas industry, parts for food processing equipment, and axle shafts and bearings and gears for automobiles. They also
heat treat metal molds used to make plastic parts. They heat treat an average of 90,000 to 100,000 parts a month.
Heat treating is a process that hardens metal to improve its toughness, wear-resistance and corrosion resistance. The metal is heated in a furnace to a specified temperature, then quenched, or rapidly cooled down to harden it.
“Then we temper the material to the hardness range the customer is wanting,” James said. “It’s really important because otherwise, metal wouldn’t hold up to the processes it’s used for. It would be too soft.”
Two months ago, the James family added a deep cryogenics process that in addition to the regular heat-treating process cools metal to -300 degrees Fahrenheit. Cryogenics improves the metallurgical properties of the metal and results in greater wear and corrosion resistance that can’t be achieved with heat alone.
“We use hardness to improve hardness resistance,” James said. “It’s one of the newer things to use in heat treating because of the improved benefits you get. That process gives you the best properties of the steel that you can achieve.”
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In this weeks cliff hanger edition of “The Heat Treat Podcast” our eloquent host, Mr. Carlos Torres talks oxygen probes with Mr. Steve Thompson of controls company SSi of Cincinnati, Ohio. Stay tuned for some very interesting upcoming Podcasts in which we talk about salt heat treating and in another episode heat treating in the additive manufacturing industry.
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In Houston, Texas, USA forging company Dril-Quip has closed a facility and is sending the assets to an auction which will be held June 28th, 2022. Amongst the items available are a number of large high themperature ovens and carbottom furnaces which will attract little interest from most heat treaters. However what will interest quite a few heat treaters are the cast base trays which will be included in the auction. With alloy pricing at very elevated levels “The Monty Heat Treat News” is constantly receiving inquiries about surplus cast fixturing-is there any available? The answer of course is that seldom does any usable cast alloy on the market. In this particular case Dril-Quip has available over 200 cast base trays in various sizes, designs and conditions although at first glance most of it appears to be in reasonably good condition. It is a guarantee that every single base tray will be sold at auction.
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This photo is courtesy of “The Monty Heat Treat News” and was taken during a visit to the Champaign facility a few years ago.
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“The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) recently announced its 2022-23 board of directors and executive officers. Serving as President is Jeff Valuck of Surface Combustion Inc., Vice-President is Brian Kelly of Honeywell Thermal Solutions, and Treasurer is Jeff Rafter of Selas Heat Technology Co. LLC. Scott Bishop of Alabama Power – a Southern Company assumes the Past President position.
IHEA President Jeff Valuck has been an active IHEA member for nearly a decade and has served as the Government Relations Committee chair for many of those years. When asked what goals he has for IHEA, Valuck said he plans to focus on “working on a strategic sustainability plan that puts IHEA in the forefront of emerging trends that are impacting our industry and gaining increasing interest from customers, governments, shareholders, and even employees.” Valuck continued, “I also look forward to increasing IHEA membership in all categories to give a greater fundamental 10,000-foot view of the industry.”
IHEA also welcomes a new face to the board of directors, Ben Gasbarre. Gasbarre is the Executive Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems. He has been involved in the sales, engineering and manufacturing of thermal processing equipment for nearly 15 years. He received his management and economics degree from Penn State University and his MBA from the University of Michigan. Gasbarre provides thermal processing equipment solutions for both atmosphere and vacuum furnace applications, as well as associated auxiliary equipment, and aftermarket parts and service. “Being a part of the associations that drive the industries we serve forward has always been a core value of Gasbarre and our leadership. I look forward to joining the IHEA Board of Directors and supporting the efforts that ultimately lead to improvements not only for member companies, but for the end users in our industries as well.”
To complete the board of directors for 2022-2023, the following members continue their service: Gary Berwick, Dry Coolers; Alberto Cantu, Nutec Bickley; Bob Fincken, Super Systems Inc.; Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Today; Francis Liebens, SOLO Swiss Group; John Podach, Fostoria Infrared; Jason Safarz, Karl Dungs Inc.; Michael Stowe, Advanced Energy; and John Stanley, Karl Dungs Inc. Learn about IHEA at www.ihea.org.”
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Since 1999 “The Monty” has been publishing annually a list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America based upon annual sales, our 2021 list can be found at https://themonty.com/articles/50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-2021-2/ This year readers will see we became much more ambitious and expanded the list to the 50 largest. In our 5th spot we have Bluewater Thermal Solutions.
Bluewater Thermal Solutions operates 12 different heat treatment and brazing facilities in the United States and Canada and this makes us one of the largest heat treating and brazing companies in North America. Each location has different capabilities and equipment that allows them to offer specialized different types of processing required by their local markets. Bluewater provides thermal processing and metal joining to over 2,000 customers. In addition to specialty heat treatments and brazing, most of Bluewater’s locations offer traditional heat treatments such as annealing, hardening, carburizing, carbonitriding, vacuum heat treatments, nitriding, nitrocarburizing, normalizing, solution treat and age hardening, stress relieve, and many more.
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