“We are extremely pleased to welcome our newest member, Zachary Thomas, to our Solar Atmospheres of Western PA team. Zach will be assuming the role of Outside Sales Manager reporting directly to our Sales Director, Mike Johnson.
Zach is a Pittsburgh native and has an extensive background in the metalworking arena. Zach has demonstrated a “can do” attitude that will enhance the relationships established with our current customer base along with new prospective clients.
Zach stated, “I am very excited to join the team at Solar and make an immediate impact in my new role. I appreciate the opportunity to work for such a prestigious company.” We welcome Zach to our Solar family!”
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In Georgetown, Canada Zuraw Technologies, a small family owned commercial heat treater recently closed their doors for good. The company offered coating services and vacuum heat treating with the centrepiece being a 1990 GM Enterprises 2 bar vacuum furnace with working dimensions of 48″ X 48″ X 60″. The GM furnace is now on the used equipment market. The founders and owners of the company Dan and Michael Zuraw have spent their life in the heat treatment industry, mainly with in house heat treater Moldmasters who are also located in Georgetown.
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When we think of Metlab of Pennsylvania, USA we think of a company which heat treats some of the largest gears in North America. However the President of the company, Mr. Mark Podob would like to point out that large gears are only a small part of their business.
We moved the company from downtown Philadelphia, lock, stock and barrel into our 125,000 square foot facility.
With two Sunbeam Case Masters, a small salt pot, a compliment of tempering furnaces, induction and flame hardening capability, and a black oxide service, the company offers an array of heat treating processes. We have since added more integral oil quench furnaces and vacuum capability and expanded the customer base with three delivery vehicles.
We also focus on heat treating out of the ordinary, interesting parts for specialized applications, like the propellers for hydroplanes as you can read about here.”
Heat Treating Propeller Blades for Hydroplane Boats
A modern unlimited hydroplane is the world‘s fastest racing boat, capable of speeds greater than 200 mph. These boats represent the product of over 100 years of evolution in race boat design and materials with the most powerful engines, most advanced construction techniques, and the best safety systems available in boat racing today. A typical unlimited hydroplane can weigh a minimum of 6,750 pounds.
All unlimited hydroplanes are a “three–point“ design, meaning they are designed only to touch the water at three points when racing – at the rear of the two front sponsons (the projections of the hull in front of the driver cockpit) and the propeller at the rear of the boat. Most of the unlimited class boats are powered by Chinook helicopter Lycoming T55 L7 turboprop engines, generating up to 3,000 HP.
Racing boats only touch the water at three points when racing: the rear of the two front “sponsons“ (the projections of the hull in front of the driver cockpit) and the propeller at the rear of the boat.
Metlab, which is known for offering a wide variety of thermal processing solutions, had the opportunity to heat treat a series of propellers for a hydroplane racing team located in Cinnaminson, NJ.
The propellers must meet strict design criteria imposed by the Union Internationale Motonautique (or “UIM,” headquartered in Europe), not only for propellers but for the entire boat design. The propellers are typically 16″ in diameter and have three blades. Different pitch propellers are chosen for use based on course length, conditions, and starting position. It is not uncommon for a racing propeller to cost more than $15,000.
The propeller creates the distinctive “rooster tail“ behind the boat, raising literally tons of water into the air for up to 300 feet behind the boat. They are made from several different materials, but the steel of choice is 17-4 PH stainless steel chosen for its mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The propeller must support a significant portion of the boat’s weight while rotating up to 14,000 RPM.
Three propeller blades were heat treated for the customer to the H-900 condition (900°F/ hours at heat). They were age hardened in a vacuum furnace to ensure parts were free of scale. The high tensile strength (200 KSI) produced by the heat treatment keeps the blades from shearing apart; the excellent ductility associated with the heat-treated material allows the propellers to withstand the RPM and torque conditions without failing. And a hardness of HRC 40 protects the blades from impact with potential debris in the water. 17-4 PH stainless steel properly heat treated also benefits from increasing torsional fatigue strength, a common cause of propeller failure.
Metlab provides heat treating solutions for highly technical parts and components. Consult with a metallurgical specialist at Metlab about your specifications and heat treating requirements.
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The link below will take you to a time lapse video of a new, 6,000 pound per hour Can-Eng mesh belt furnace line being installed at Metex Heat Treating. This installation occurred very recently and with this addition the company has the ability to process 300,000 pounds of parts per day in continuous furnaces. Metex now ranks as one of the largest in North America when it comes to processing fasteners, partly the key to their success is that they do it all-heat treating, plating, sorting and packaging which few companies can offer. We will shortly be offering a “Heat Treat Podcast” with the President of the company, Mr. Raman Bawa. Remember that no other heat treat source in the world offers as many Podcasts https://themonty.com/magazine/ or interviews https://themonty.com/articles-
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Commercial heat treater Thermal Modifications in Oregon, USA made our news section just over 1 year ago when “The Monty” visited their facility-the original posting can be seen below. We now see that Ryan Wilmes has been promoted to Manager of the company’s induction and Nitriding departments. Ryan has been with the company a couple of years and previous to that worked at American Axle & Manufacturing in Michigan. The photos below show part of the firm’s induction and nitriding departments.
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In this weeks episode of “The Heat Treat Podcast” our host Mr. Carlos Torres speaks with Gord Montgomery, founder of “The Monty Heat Treat News”. Carlos and Gord talk about a myriad of topics including how selling in the heat treatment industry has changed over the past 40 years. Upcoming episodes of “The Heat Treat Podcast” include discussions with Raman Bawa of Metex Heat Treating in Canada and Mr. Mike Long of Vacuum & Atmosphere Services in the UK to name just a couple.
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Standard Motor Products (SMP) manufactures fuel injectors, diesel injectors and pumps, and mechatronic engine controls at their state of the art facility in Greenville, South Carlina, USA. The company takes great pride in the fact that they can offer vertically integrated manufacturing initiatives which includes heat treating. Just this past week the company installed a brand new Ion Nitriding system from ION Heat. The “GlowTech 0610” system is configured to precisely control nitriding of stainless steel components, a service offered by the manufacturer. This service is becoming increasingly important for end users; plasma technology + precise metallurgical recipe + custom fixture=custom process nitriding. In this photo we see Daniel Cano and Julián Góez, of the ION HEAT Engineering team commissioning the system.
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We have now confirmed what we been hearing for some time now, after more than 80 years servicing the global heat treatment industry Park Thermal International will be closing their doors for good April 16, 2021. All assets will be liquidated through auction conducted by Corporate Assets. Date to be advised. From the CEO of the company we have this note;
“We wish to thank all of the Heat Treating community for all of their support from inception to now. It has been an extreme pleasure to have worked in the industry for my entire career of 32 years. I have met a lot of people and learned a tremendous amount. I have the utmost respect for the industry and the service and products it provides worldwide. Park Thermal has been in operation for over 80 years and have been an integral part of the heat treat community especially in the Canadian market. Our products have reached all parts of the world serving a variety of applications. Jay Mistry, CEO, Park Thermal International (1996) Corp. www.parkthermal.com”
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Mr. Thomas Lord is one of the most experienced heat treat salespeople in the North American commercial heat treatment industry that we can think of. His career has taken him to companies such as Modern Industries of Erie, PA and most recently ALD Thermal Treatment in Port Huron, Michigan where he was Sales Director. Just this past week Thomas was appointed Regional Sales Manager for NITREX and their associated company, furnace builder G-M Enterprises. He will continue to be based in Meadville, PA.
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Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services, is targeting the marine renewables sector after securing work with wave energy pioneer CorPower Ocean.
The UK-headquartered firm, which has built a long-term track record in automotive, aerospace, energy and broader industrial sectors, is now breaking into ocean energy after helping Swedish developer CorPower optimise key components in its Wave Energy Converters (WECs).
CorPower’s high-efficiency WECs, inspired by the pumping principles of the human heart, offer five times more energy per ton of device compared to previously known technologies. Incorporating a series of unique features to boost storm survivability and power capture, the WECs also benefit from thermochemical treatment to protect against the harshest marine conditions.
CorPower Ocean Senior Procurement and Quality Engineer Thomas Lindahl said: “After our initial collaboration we have now worked with Bodycote at a number of plant locations across Sweden to develop mechanical components for our WECs using Corr-I-Dur®. This thermochemical treatment simultaneously improves corrosion resistance and wear properties by generating an iron nitride-oxide compound layer. Durability and robustness are of paramount importance in the wave energy sector, and effective protection of devices in the hostile ocean environment has always presented a major challenge to our industry. Corr-I-Dur® has proved a particularly favourable solution being specifically designed for components subjected to a corrosive environment in combination with wear. From a commercial perspective, solid proof of the long-term resilience of our WECs makes them infinitely more valuable. We believe this collaboration will play a crucial role protecting our WECs during our next phase of testing in the Atlantic Ocean, and for the years to come.”
Bodycote President for Northern and Eastern Europe, Paul Clough, said: “We are pleased to be contributing to the marine renewable energy industry by making components last longer in extreme conditions. By using Corr-I-Dur®, CorPower was able to design mechanical components such as pistons, guides and linkages, that are suitable for the world’s harshest environments for metal. Our customers value Corr-I-Dur® for its ability to provide superior material properties such as wear and corrosion resistance, reducing maintenance costs and downtime for hard to access equipment. CorPower was looking to push the performance of their metal components through durability and corrosion resistance.”
CorPower Ocean is aiming to bring reliable and competitive wave energy technology to the world, unlocking one of the largest untapped sources of renewable energy – harnessing the natural power of the oceans to help us tackle climate change and achieve a sustainable low-carbon future.
The firm is now ramping up operations for its flagship HiWave-5 demonstration project in northern Portugal to propel its wave technology to a bankable product offering by 2024 – proving the survivability, performance and economics of a grid-connected array of WECs. The 16MEUR project includes investment to build a world-class wave energy hub in the Port of Viana do Castelo, involving R&D, Manufacturing and Servicing facilities for the long-term development of supply and service capacity for commercial wave energy farms.
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