Last week we posted an interview “The Monty Heat Treat News” recently conducted with Mr. Craig Mollner, an interview which can be found at Craig Moller, Chief Engineer at “Ipsen” Speaks to the “Monty Heat Treat News” | The Monty Craig has over 40 years experience in the heat treatment industry and it clearly showed in his thoughtful answers. Apparently we weren’t the only ones to think so, Mr. Bill Jones CEO of Solar Atmospheres and Solar Manufacturing (a competitor we will add), also felt the same way as you can see in these comments;
“Gord, The interview with the Chief Engineer from Ipsen was excellent. With his 40 plus years at Ipsen he has experienced many design innovations and expressed them well. Questions presented to him were well based and thought out. His answers were equally throught out and gave a broad overview of the state of our industry and major advancements over his 40 year history. I was particularly pleased with his comments re the round vacuum furnace hot zone which originated with Abar and now the accepted hot zone for vacuum furnace OEM’s world wide. William R. Jones, FASM.”
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With recent furnace sales in India, KGO based in Germany is pleased to announce that we have opened a Sales, Service and Spare Parts office based out of Pune. The office will be managed by Subhash Kanse who has over 25 years’ experience in Heat Treat Management of Maintenance and Projects with companies such as Bodycote and Kalyani Technoforge. We are excited to have Subhash join the team to help serve the India Heat Treat Market. Please contact Subhash directly for any inquiries you have on Vacuum Nitriding furnaces in India. [email protected]
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“To meet demand driven by a growing customer base of motor racing engine and transmission component suppliers, working across all Formulas including F1, Wallwork Heat Treatment have invested in a new advanced vacuum carburise furnace at their Greater Manchester site. This is a significant investment made during Covid challenges and brings the total number of vacuum furnaces across the group’s UK locations up to 29, with a total vacuum capacity to process over 40 tons of components per day.
Wallwork director, Simeon Collins, explains, “Motor racing is a punishing environment for metal components. These parts are expensive to manufacture and subject to immense forces. Speed is king but reliability is just as important. Component failure equals failure to finish and can be dangerous. The sector is characterised by rapid development cycles and relies upon equally experienced and responsive heat treatment services.”
In addition to hardening, precisely controlled heat treatment of components in the new vacuum carburise furnace will impart many improvements to the metal wear parts so they stand the stresses of continual high speed performance. In a typical process cycle, the metal surface will become free of oxide. This eliminates initial surface wear and enhances resistance to micro cracking which also increases fatigue resistance. Equally important to improving fatigue resistance, is the elimination of oxidation at a granular level, known as inter granular attack.
Many machined components will feature holes. Here the vacuum carburise furnace delivers excellent penetration by pulsing the gas pressure so fresh gas enters the holes frequently throughout the process cycle, ensuring more evenly applied heat treatment for the component.
Advanced machining methods make motor sport components to extremely fine tolerances. Any heat treatment process can cause component distortion, especially as the part is quenched (cooled), the new furnace excels at controlled cooling. As the process takes place in a vacuum chamber the component finish is excellent and takes less time due to the ability to apply higher carburising temperatures. Another time saving benefit is the elimination of the need for component post process cleaning.
Once the correct hardness profile for a metal part has been achieved, it can be stored and reproduced by the furnace to ensure future consistency and quality. Wallwork in-house experts can even help component designers at the design stage. Discussing with the heat treater what properties they need from their component can influence the design so the gains made at the heat treating stage are even greater.
Simeon concluded, “With a dedicated commercial pick-up and delivery fleet of over 50 vehicles, operating from five UK locations, we are ideally placed to provide a nationwide service to meet the rapid development cycles of the motor sport engineering sector. The affordability of the vacuum carburising process means it is not just for the big race teams. Self-funded privateers and smaller teams can also benefit from heat treating components and, if required, Wallwork can go a stage further and apply advance coatings for even greater part performance on track. The UK has a vibrant and world-envied position in engineering for motorsport and everyone wants winning reliability.”
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From commercial heat treater Braddock Metallurgical a multi location heat treater in the US Southeast we have this press release;
“The Jacksonville facility has received a Nadcap accreditation for demonstrating their ongoing commitment to quality by satisfying customer requirements and stringent industry specifications. Nadcap has also determined that Braddock Metallurgical has gone beyond the industry requirements and has earned the special recognition of Merit. Earning Merit demonstrates the trust that the aerospace industry has in Braddock Metallurgical. The achievement of earning Nadcap with Merit is a significant accomplishment and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees.”
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“SECO/WARWICK will deliver two furnaces to Budapest, Hungary. One of them will be the largest vacuum furnace in the country which will open new business chances. It is first-order from European Flansch-Tech, specializing in aluminum forging, steel forging and steel trade. VECTOR® ordered by Flansch-Tech is a customized vacuum furnace with horizontal charge loading. max. 15 bar nitrogen cooling gas pressure with production size 900x900x1200 mm (WxHxL). A furnace for heat treatment of tool steels – mostly dedicated to hardening and tempering.
Vector meets the cooling speed requirements defined, among others, in the NADCA standard (North American Die Casting Association). The furnace is equipped with a directional quenching option which allows to change the direction of the flow of the cooling gas – nitrogen. The flow direction can be 360 degrees, from the sides or only up and down. Vector’s gas blower is controlled by 400kW frequency drive. It allows for programmable cooling rate controlled against furnace or load temperature, ISO quench capability, no blower motor start-up overcurrent and saves electric energy by increasing cooling systems power factor.
The second furnace ordered is SECO/WARWICK’s Tempering Furnace with horizontal loading of the charge, with vacuum rinsing before the start of the heating process (vacuum purging), working area 600x600x900mm (WxHxL), dedicated mainly to tempering processes. This vacuum technology uses a unique system ideal for tempering. Along with the furnaces, all sub-components required for the proper operation of the furnaces will be delivered, i.e. closed loop water cooling system, forklift loaders and gas buffer tank.
“This investment allows us controlling our own heat treat processes with regard to time and quality. Until now, we have relied on outsourced heat treat services. The technology will be used for internal production as well as external service for other partners. Thanks to these two technologies from SECO/WARWICK we will gain autonomy and self-sufficiency in heat treat processes dedicated to Tool&Die”, says Zsolt Varga Technical Director of Flansch-Tech.
“This is probably the largest vacuum furnace with high pressure gas quenching in Hungary which provides us with competitive advantage on this market. It will allow processing much larger parts than in standard size furnaces typically of 600x600x900mm present in local commercial heat treatment facilities. We decided for such extreme product from SECO/WARWICK due to the company’s extended experience in vast numbers of customized solutions”, added Mr Faragó MD of Flansch-Tech.
Both technologies ordered by Flash-Tech are exemplary solutions for the whole Tool&Die Industry. They bring time and cost efficiency along with quality to the process. Their flexibility and scalability make them a popular choice among large Tool&Die global companies, commercial heat treaters as well as specialized departments in smaller companies.”
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Regular readers of “The Monty Heat Treat News” will know that we have always enjoyed printing rumors as long as they are “good news” rumors-such is the case today. Furnace builder Ipsen is based in Kleve, Germany and maintains a large facility in Rockford, Illinois, USA which concentrates on providing new vacuum furnaces as opposed to the Kleve plant which specializes in atmosphere furnaces. Rumor has it that the Rockford facility is having a record breaking year and that sales of new vacuum furnaces for January through May of 2021 totaled more than $40 million USD. If this is true and we have no reason to doubt that it isn’t, this is tremendous news not only for Ipsen but the heat treatment industry in general. Due to COVID the past year and a quarter has not been a good time for many in our industry, however if one of the largest furnace builders in the world is seeing this sort of demand it signals that perhaps we have turned a corner and that the good times are here or at least getting real close.
To close out this story we are including these 2 photos. The first was taken a couple of years ago by “The Monty” team and shows a vacuum furnace under construction in Rockford. The second was taken in 2019 and shows a pusher furnace line under construction at the Kleve facility.
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This weeks episode of “The Heat Treat Podcast” talks Quench Media and Oils with our good friend Mr. Greg Steiger of Idemitsu Lubricants America. Past “Podcasts” can be found at Magazine & Podcasts | The Monty and past interviews can be found at Articles & Interviews | The Monty
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From Quench Salt supplier Hubbard Hall whose banner ad can be found on the right side of this page comes this press release about a few “people” changes the company is making:
“With a Focus on Customer Experience and Future Growth, Hubbard-Hall Realigns the Sales & Technical Department
WATERBURY, CT – With a goal of best-in-class technical service and speed of response, Hubbard-Hall has transformed its Sales & Technical Departments and promoted several key staff. Larry Ensley, Director of Technical Applications is assuming company-wide responsibility for technical service teams and lab operations. Merging the north and south technical teams allows the company to create an efficient and cohesive approach to solving customer challenges – regardless of geography or product line. Ensley will oversee a team of 10 technical experts.
This includes Robin Deal – who is being promoted to Product Leader, AquaPure/Wastewater Treatment Specialties – and Faith Mierzejewski, Chemical Engineer, who is stepping up as Manager of NE Lab Operations and Quality.
Mike Valenti is also expanding his role. Currently, he is the organization’s Director of Cleaning Technology and is widely recognized in the market as an expert in aqueous cleaning. With his new role, Valenti will take on Product Development and lead strategic R&D for the company. Valenti, formerly with Milken, is a chemist with over 30 years of experience.
Also on the rise is Ted Saltzman, newly named Specialty Sales Manager & Business Development. In this role, Saltzman will direct the Specialty Sales group’s field account team and oversee the inside account management team. All three leaders will report to Scott Papst, Vice President of Specialty Sales and Business Development, a 30-year veteran in the industry.
“Customers want expertise they can count on and they want it fast. This realignment better focuses our team and enhances our goal of being our customers’ best supplier,” stated President/CEO Molly Kellogg.
About Hubbard-Hall Inc.: Better Results. Less Chemistry. Founded in 1849, Hubbard-Hall is the oldest independent chemical distributor in the United States. Hubbard-Hall experts help manufacturers reduce cost, complexity and chemical consumption through process efficiencies and product innovations. Now in its 6th generation of family leadership under CEO & Chairman, Molly Kellogg. Hubbard-Hall holds certification for ISO 9001:2015, Responsible Distribution as certified by the NACD and as a Women-Owned Small Business. The company has also been recognized as a CT Top Workplace 4 times in a row by Hearst Connecticut Media Group.”
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Just a few weeks ago we had a story about John Dodson of heat treat firm RowDod Sales leaving the heat treat industry for good (the original story is below). Randy Rowland, President of RowDod has hired long time Bodycote employee Mike Daymude to fill his shoes as Account Manager.
“John Dodson, Heat Treat Rep in Texas Leaves the Industry; Say it ain’t so John! John started his career in the heat treating industry back in 2012 when he became an account manager for alloy supplier Wirco in Avilla, Indiana, USA. This position lead to him moving to Texas to work as an independent Sales Rep which again opened up another opportunity when he partnered with Randy Rowland to form RowDod Sales. RowDod is a rep firm working with companies such as UPC-Marathon, Nitrex, Ion Heat and a few other well known industry suppliers. Well for reasons unknown to us John very recently left the industry to be District Sales Manager at American Buildings Company. We have always had a high opinion of John and his experience will be missed.”
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For this item we move to the Netherlands to visit a facility which we have been lucky enough to visit in the past. Sabo Boxtel is a captive/commercial heat treater offering induction hardening (for the background on the company see our note below). The company makes our news section today for the fact that they recently induction hardened the groove on a cable sheave which weighs over 5 tons (10,000 pounds). This particular product is used for offshore equipment. While the company can handle parts up to 6 tons with a diameter of 18′ this might be the largest cable sheave the company has heat treated.
“July 2019 Press Release; SABO BOXTEL in the Netherlands (which is part of the HARTHA Hardening Industries Group) has quite a unique business model. Founded a number of years ago the company only recently became part of the HARTHA Hardening Industries Group-in 2016 if our memory serves us correctly. While it is a captive/commercial heat treater the true story goes much further. Half of the company’s business is producing high end, specialized, machined components for industries such as energy, heavy equipment, the paper industry and agricultural equipment.
The other half of the company is dedicated to Induction hardening, half for the products the company produces, the other half for any Tom, Dick or Harry who requires high end Induction heat treating. Yesterday we saw roughly 14 induction systems with the ability to harden parts up to 6 tons with a diameter of up to 6 meters (18 feet) which is the largest the company has heat treated.”
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