Mr. Laurent Pelissier, CEO of ECM certainly moves in exalted circles. In this photo he is meeting with Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic during the inauguration of the Genvia pilot plant for the production of high-temperature electrolysers. ECM based in Grenoble, France is one of the larger furnace manufacturers in the world and is best known for their vacuum carburizing systems.
We had the privilege of speaking with Laurent during a visit to ECM in 2019, the interview can be found at https://themonty.com/project/l
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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 48th spot we have Akron Steel Treating, Akron, Ohio.
The history of Akron Steel Treating in Akron, Ohio makes for fascinating reading. In 1943, the U.S. army helped Prosper P. Powell convert his garage at 654 Glenwood Avenue in the North Hill area of Akron into a mini-heat treating facility for firing pins. Operating in the secrecy of soaped windows and late-night deliveries, with overflow work conducted in the family’s kitchen oven, Powell launched a successful company. When World War Two was over Prosper asked the US government when they wanted the furnaces back. The answer was “they are yours now” and thus one of the oldest commercial heat treaters in the USA was born. Akron is still a family owned business and offers a very wide variety of heat treating.
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This week’s “The Heat Treat Podcast” features our very charismatic host Mr. Carlos Torres talking with a close friend of “The Monty Heat Treat News” Mr. Kyle Favors. Kyle is located in South Carolina, USA and operates two businesses, Heat Treat Services Unlimited a global field services and accredited testing and calibration laboratory specializing in the thermal processing industry and CF Thermal an independent manufacturers rep firm specializing in the thermal processing industry.
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Cast link belt furnace lines have largely fallen out of favor with most heat treaters around the world, a victim to the many advantages of a mesh belt furnace design. However when it comes to heavy parts there are instances where a cast link belt is the only way to go. In this particular case a fastener manufacturer in Michigan, USA is poised to receive a brand new cast link high temperature furnace from AICHELIN in Austria. The furnace (which weighs 49 tons and is 19 meters long-almost 60 feet) features an investment cast belt, oil quenching and a low temperature temper unit. This photo shows the furnace being loaded on to trucks for shipping.
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Cherry Valley, ILLINOIS (November 15, 2021) – Business levels continue to increase for Ipsen in the second half of 2021, with vacuum furnace orders surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
New equipment orders since the beginning of July have come from customers in ten states across the U.S., as well as four other countries—India, Japan, Mexico and Taiwan. Customers will be using the furnaces for processing a range of products including heat exchangers, jet engine components, fasteners and saw blades. Aerospace customers accounted for the majority of sales, but Ipsen also reports an increase in orders from emerging industries focused on electric vehicle production and additive manufacturing.
Many of these are long-standing customers who continue to purchase Ipsen equipment for the reliable service, quality products and technical expertise. Other customers cite process flexibility, turnkey solutions and adherence to industry standards as reasons for purchasing from Ipsen for the first time.
Ipsen anticipates ending the year strong with even more opportunities for growth in 2022.
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Montreal, November 10, 2021 – Nitrex Metal Inc. (“Nitrex”), provider of fully integrated surface treatment solutions and technologies, is pleased to announce that it has been selected for the “Global Thought Leaders” series broadcast on CBS News. The feature, found here, showcases the company as an industry innovator whose surface treatment solutions enhance the metallurgical properties of components increasing their durability, wear and corrosion resistance while contributing to a more sustainable future.
“We are pleased to be chosen by CBS News to demonstrate how Nitrex’s technologies and innovations make our customers’ products achieve superior quality results,” says Jean-François Cloutier, CEO of Nitrex.
A partner with several global companies in the aerospace, automotive, industrial and renewable energy sectors, Nitrex has been at the forefront of some of the most advanced surface treatment solutions that increasingly meet stringent requirements for close to 40 years. Nitrex’s revolutionary nitriding process, most reliable vacuum furnaces, services centers, proprietary software and controls make Nitrex the only fully integrated solutions provider in the surface treatment industry.
“Our commitment to continuous innovation has allowed us to help our customers bring more value, better performance and greater reliability and predictability to manufactured parts while operating in a greener way,” says Cloutier. “As the manufacturing industry continues to innovate and thrive, Nitrex will continue to help our customers build products that are stronger for longer than others dare to dream.”
Nitrex is a pioneer, being the first company to offer a fully automated software-controlled nitriding/nitrocarburizing system, allowing customers to achieve precise and repeatable quality. In the coming months, Nitrex will be sharing more news about new products and technologies that will change the face of the surface treatment industry and help shape tomorrow for the best.
About Nitrex. NITREX is the lead provider of fully integrated surface treatment solutions and technologies globally. The company was founded in 1984 in Montreal, Canada and operates three business units – Nitrex Turnkey Systems (NTS) a leader of turnkey nitriding, nitrocarburizing, and vacuum heat treat systems; Heat Treating Services (HTS) a worldwide network of commercial heat-treating service centers; and UPC, a leading provider of controls upgrade and automation solutions for surface treatment and combustion. NITREX serves its customers globally from 16 locations across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Italy, France and China, and sells in over 60 countries through a global network of representatives and licensees.
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This process consists of a fluidized bed system combined with a new bath medium (G4Q®) and a special gas fluidizing atmosphere. The standard operating range of the system is between room temperature and 1050 °C. The process offers extraordinary thermal performance resulting in a very uniform temperature distribution (< ±5 °C) over the entire temperature range – even during heating and quenching. The quenching performance is shown in Figure 1. The corresponding data are from the experimental setup in Figure 2. The Ti64 parts were quenched from 1020 °C to RT and the 100Cr6 parts were quenched from 850 °C to RT.
For many conventional heat treatment applications, the G4Q® process offers the perfect solution – also for additively manufactured metal parts with complex geometry. Due to its thermal properties, this process is also ideally suited for austempering processes. The G4Q® process has all the advantages of a salt bath but avoids its negative environmental effects. At the same time, during the quenching phase, it surpasses the temperature uniformity of any vacuum furnace with high-pressure gas quenching. The treated parts can transform uniformly, minimizing stresses within a component. With the G4Q® process, the two companies PEER Energy and Schwing Technologies aim to set new standards and pave the way for industrial transformation in heat treatment.
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Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems is pleased to announce the commissioning of an integral quench furnace line to a supplier of specialty nut and bolt assemblies in the eastern United States. The furnace line includes an integral quench furnace, parts washer, temper, and associated material handling and load storage. The system is designed to process 24” wide x 24” long x 20” tall loads weighing up to 1,500 pounds. The system includes custom designed material handing to eliminate the need for expensive cast base trays. Gasbarre was selected as the equipment provider based on their ability to provide a custom solution for the customer’s thermal processing needs, including special material handling, and fire suppression in the oil quench tank. Gasbarre’s design also enables the customer to increase their load size, allowing for higher throughput per load.
With locations in Livonia, MI, Cranston, RI, and St. Marys, PA, Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems has been designing, manufacturing, and servicing a full line of industrial thermal processing equipment for nearly 50 years. Gasbarre’s equipment is designed for your process by experienced engineers and metallurgists that understand your requirements.
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In our ongoing series entitled “Supply Chain Issues & The Heat Treatment Industry” we are looking at all of the issues facing our industry in these interesting and challenging times. To date we have looked at the rising cost of alloy components, long delivery times for various components and labor shortages combined with rising labor rates.
Having said that you couldn’t possibly look at supply chain issues and their effects on the heat treatment industry without also looking at energy pricing. Focusing on North America we can say that the vast bulk of heat treat furnaces are heated with natural gas (we will quality that statement by saying that this is atmosphere heat treat furnaces, vacuum furnaces are virtually always heated by electricity). With a few notable exceptions such as Quebec, the US Northwest and Tennessee natural gas is the energy of choice because of its low cost compared to electricity and its easy accessibility. Yes natural gas has been the energy of choice for heat treaters and it remains so, however while supply is not an issue costs are certainly rising.
This graph clearly shows that since early 2018 the price per million BTU has more than doubled to just over $5.00 USD with most of that increase occurring in 2021. For historical interest we deliberately chose a graph which covers the last almost 25 years-shocking to see that in 2006 we were paying almost 3 times the current rate (for an in depth analysis we would suggest https://www.eia.gov/naturalgas
The culprit if these is one in these rising prices is simple-increased demand. Increased demand as Pandemic restrictions are lifted combined with a growing need for natural gas for electrical generation means higher prices with no end in sight. The only good silver lining is that at least in North America supply is not an issue in the short to medium term, Europeans will undoubtedly feel differently.
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