Solar Manufacturing recently shipped and installed a vacuum heat treating furnace for NexGen Advanced Fuel Systems, an Allied Power Group Company, based in Houston, Texas. NexGen, a premier gas turbine component overhaul facility, ordered Solar Manufacturing’s new HFL-7472-2IQ furnace to help increase their capacity and reduce turnaround time for their heat treating and brazing operations. Built specifically to heat treat land-based turbine equipment, with attention to specific cooling requirements required by NexGen’s customers, the furnace features a Solarvac Polaris Control System and a graphite hot zone accommodating loads up to 48” wide x 48” high x 72’’ deep. The furnace has a maximum load weight capacity of 6,000 pounds. The furnace achieves a vacuum level of 10-5 Torr, and reaches a maximum operating temperature of 2400°F. A 300 HP gas fan will allow NexGen to quench a load from 2150°F to 1000°F in just three minutes, using only 2-bar.
“Our Solar vacuum furnace runs exceptionally well. The interface makes running the furnace easy for operators of all skill levels. For furnace installation and operation, Solar provides knowledgeable engineering and support staff. The Solar furnace has a robust design, with some nuances such as stainless steel internals, brass fittings, made in USA valving, and in our case, a beefed up blower allowing super-fast cooling abilities. Not only does Solar manufacture vacuum furnaces, but they also run them. Nothing beats an improvement feedback loop back to manufacturing than real life experience. Nexgen hopes business growth supports purchasing a second Solar vacuum furnace,” states Mark Dion, President of Nexgen-AFS, and General Manager of Allied Power Group Combustion Technologies.
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“SECO/WARWICK will deliver a vacuum furnace to SonFlow for copper brazing adapted to the individual needs of European customers world-wide. A special nozzle design and electrical penetration assembly will ensure that the device is perfect for the production of the latest, high-capacity plate heat exchangers for industrial, HVAC, off-shore and sanitary purposes to be manufactured in the Kolding, Denmark plant. SonFlow is a European manufacturer which has historically been known mostly for the manufacturer of high capacity industrial pumps. The company is now expanding into the plate heat exchanger business. Manufacturing state-of-the-art powerful heat exchangers has provided the incentive for the plant to purchase a furnace which will satisfy the current production challenges associated with the brazing process. The furnace is suitable for copper brazing processes for large dimension heat exchangers. The working area of the furnace (900 X 900 X1200) will enable SonFlow to perform in house brazing without the need to outsource work to third parties. “
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Within the scope of a modernization project, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG will upgrade the combustion system of the FBA 8 galvanizing line, which is located at the Dortmund plant. The newly implemented heating system will provide drastically lower emissions.
The purchase order for delivery, assembly and commissioning of 195 modernized self-recuperative burners has recently been placed with WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH. The heating system will achieve exceptionally low NOx emissions due to proven double P-tube design and the patented FLOX® combustion process. The retrofit is to be completed by mid 2022. Detailed planning will keep line down time to a minimum for the duration of the retrofit.
In the future, the tkSE plant in Dortmund will operate three vertical strip lines, positioning it as one of the most advanced and modern sites for annealing and surface treating of steel strip globally. Up to 2.000.00 tons of steel can be processed annually, once all three lines are in full operation. tkSE employs and fully relies on proven and environmentally friendly heating technology. A technology that even today is suitable for a future with green combustion gases. After the conversion, approximately 800 low emissions burners will be in operation at the Dortmund facility.
WS can rely on decades of experience with the highly awarded FLOX® combustion technology. Experience gained from tens of thousands of burners successfully in operation worldwide. FLOX® enables highly efficient burners to operate while simultaneously maintaining very low NOx emissions. “It is our ambition at WS, to provide solutions for all continuously operated strip lines which can reliably attain NOx emissions well below 100 mg/Nm³, with simultaneously high combustion efficiency over 80% and which are, already today, suited for a future with green combustion gases”, states Dr.-Ing. Joachim G. Wünning, President of WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH.
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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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Ohio-based aluminum extrusion die manufacturer Youngstown Tool & Die (YTD) chose NITREX Canada to support their expansion strategy, scaling up value-added nitriding services that the company provides to its customers. In the last quarter of 2020, YTD added Nitreg® controlled nitriding with the installation of a Nitrex turnkey gas nitriding system to complement their range of heat-treating services.
Roll-out of the expansion started last summer when YTD relocated to a larger manufacturing facility and made investments in new production and finishing equipment to increase its manufacturing capabilities and meet the growing demand in the USA. As part of the new production, YTD installed a Nitrex pit-type NX-1015 nitriding system that boasts a 4,400 lbs. (2,000 kg) capacity for treating aluminum extrusion dies.
The installation of a Nitrex system makes it possible for Youngstown Tool & Die customers to obtain greater performance results from treated dies. Since aluminum extrusion dies undergo extrusion cycles in conditions that include high temperatures, abrasion, and wear, periodic nitriding with Nitreg® technology ensures optimum results of the nitrided layer, translating to longer-lasting extrusion dies. Besides improving die quality, Nitreg® also contributes to reduced costs associated with tooling, downtime, corrections, and profile quality.
“This is the company’s first purchase of a Nitrex nitriding system and we are glad to be part of their growth strategy. Use of the Nitreg® nitriding technology will ensure that YTD customers optimize their die performance and achieve greater throughput capacities,” said Jack Kalucki, Account Executive at Nitrex.
About NITREX: NITREX is the lead provider of fully integrated heat-treating 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 heat treating and combustion. Nitrex serves its customers globally from 14 locations across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, China, Japan and through a global network of representatives and licensees. www.nitrex.com | www.group-upc.com | www.gmenterprises.com
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David Mrdjenovic, General Manager, Youngstown Tool & Die
Aalberts Surface Technologies (formerly Hauck Heat Treatment) recently expanded their facility in Dzierżoniów, Poland by 2800 square meters and in the process added another new sealed quench furnace. The new furnace has a working height of 1200 mm which will allow the company to process more parts in a vertical position. Aalberts was rated by “The Monty Heat Treat News” as the second largest commercial heat treater in Europe https://themonty.com/project/l
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“Kia is recalling 147,249 2021 Seltos subcompact SUVs and 2020-2021 Soul wagons to address a problem with the 2.0-liter engine. An inconsistent heat-treating process for the piston oil rings can damage the engine and lead to a loss of power, thereby increasing the risk of a crash. Owners will be directed in June 2021 to bring their vehicles to their local Kia dealership for inspection, and if necessary, the engine will be replaced. Further, dealerships will install software to alert the driver of potential damage to the piston oil ring. Owners who paid for related work will be reimbursed by the automaker. There are four fires potentially related to this problem, according to paperwork filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Kia is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this problem.”
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Yesterday the May, 2021 issue of “The Monty Heat Treat News Magazine” was digitally sent to over 11,000 subscribers around the world and as usual it prompted a few questions about who reads “The Monty”? The short answer is that far and away the majority of our readers are captive (in house) heat treaters. The ratio has remained fairly steady over the years with 80% of our subscribers being captive heat treaters, 15% commercial heat treaters with the balance being industry suppliers, trade organizations and consultants. There really is no surprise in these numbers as they pretty much reflect the ratio of captive vs commercial heat treaters.
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Last Friday we posted a rumor about a Canadian company placing orders for what would appear to be a brand new, state of the art heat treatment department. The rumor is indeed true and we can now share some public details.
Exco Technologies is an international company headquartered in Canada-all the details of the firm can be found at Exco Technologies Limited – innovation, efficiency and quality (excocorp.com). Friday the company had a conference call to discuss earnings, a transcript of which can be found at Exco Technologies Limited (EXCOF) CEO Darren Kirk on Q2 2021 Results – Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha. The transcript made for fascinating reading and showed what is obviously a forward looking, very successful company. Included in the transcript were some details about the heat treating investment and why the decision was made to move ahead with this project-basically a faster turn around time for heat treating which is almost always the #1 reason to bring heat treating in house (further down is a short extract from the conversation).
The company also provided this time line; • Construction begins Sept 2021 • Equipment arrives December 2021 • Operation starting January 2022. Incidentally the company is certainly not new to heat treating, as an example in 2013 they purchased a brand new 10 bar vacuum furnace for their facility in Brazil. As mentioned Friday we would expect that this is the largest new furnace order to be placed in North America in 2021 so far.
“Darren Kirk, CEO; Yes. Well, the tool steel that we use for both extrusion and die-cast needs to be heat-treated to enhance the hardness properties of the steel through the manufacturing process. And so all of our steel goes through heat treat at some part of the process. And for our extrusion business, we have in-house heat treat capabilities, and we’ve long had that. And we have needed that in order to keep the lead times short. The lead time in that part of the business is seven to nine days. And if you outsource it and you lose control over that aspect, you won’t meet the objective of the lead time turnaround.
In Castool’s part of the business, they’ve grown significantly over the years, and they have relied on third-party heat treat providers. And as the complexity and these products increases and the scale of their business increases, we have determined that it is advantageous to bring that heat treat in-house. And so we’re doing that and we’re making significant investments to do so. And so, I guess with respect to extrusion, again, we are adding new heat treat equipment that is much more energy efficient, and that will have positive impacts for our operating costs as well. So there’s a few heat treat programs going on, but they’re all to upgrade our internal capabilities and reduce our costs.”
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