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Yesterday as part of our “Monday Morning Briefing” we mentioned that there would be a surplus ECM system coming on the market. Well today it is officially on the market. Built by ECM in 2004 and rebuilt in 2017 it is a Flex 600 TG – from 2 to 8 cells, top-down 20 bar nitrogen gas quench; optional oil quench. All the details can be found here.

https://themonty.com/project/itemvf378/

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This week we are going to start off with news about new furnace instillations/orders starting off with a Can Eng mesh belt order. “Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. designed, built and delivered a mesh-belt heat-treatment furnace line to Gallos Metal Solutions of Milwaukee, Wis. The continuous atmosphere system will be used primarily for demanding processing, including carbonitriding and carburizing, while allowing for neutral heat treatment with a production capacity up to 4,000 pounds/hour. This high-capacity furnace line is part of Gallos’ expansion and modernization project, which has more than doubled the existing plant square footage, increased capacity and added automation.” Back in 2009 Service Continuous (part of Service Heat Treating in Milwaukee) was acquired by Gallos Metal Solutions Inc, a company owned by James Gallos. James had been Vice President/General Manager of Service Continuous for a number of years. 

From McLaughlin Furnace Group we have this press release; “McLaughlin Furnace Group of Avilla, Indiana, USA is pleased to announce the successful installation and start up of a 9,000 CFH Endothermic Generator at Volvo Powertrain in Hagerstown, MD, USA. The two retort Tru-Mix unit is supplying a McLaughlin pusher furnace and has a turn down ratio of 8:1.”.

Cremer is a German furnace builder whose equipment is generally only found in companies doing sintering of PM Parts. We have run across their furnaces at auto parts supplier Stackpole in North America but that is pretty well the only time we have seen their equipment. This press release tells us they have developed a 2500C furnace; “CREMER Thermoprozessanlagen GmbH, Düren, Germany, has completed its EU-funded CARBIDE2500 project. The project launched in May 2018 and is reported to have met its objectives, developing the first 2500°C industrial furnace, enabling higher efficiency and the production of tungsten carbide with up to five times higher material strength than otherwise possible. CREMER specialises in pusher furnace systems with graphite coatings which operate at extremely high temperatures, above 2000°C. These systems are used in the carburising process for carbide powders such as tungsten carbide (WC). According to the company, at the time of the project’s launch in 2018, the economic downturn and subsequent recovery in Europe had resulted in increasing demand for higher strength materials.”

We next look at a company in the UK adding vacuum furnace capacity. Chromalloy, a global company which services gas turbine engines is adding capacity to their Alfreton, UK facility. As you can see below the company just received a “Titan” vacuum furnace from Ipsen and are hoping to have it up and running in the very near future.

There are a number of companies in the US that are finding business to be good enough to warrant adding heat treat capacity or invest in an in house heat treating department. These include Jagemann Munitions Components out in Wisconsin, Prescription Manufacturing LLC in Iowa and Holte Manufacturing in Oregon. It’s very encouraging to see as much investment in the industry as there actually is.

We don’t run across used Vacuum Carburizing systems that often but for some reason we are aware of two on the used market. The first (pictured below) is located at a piston manufacturer in the Midwest. It has been on the market for a number of months and it is being sold because the vendor is going the route of a different heat treating technology-Plasma Nitriding of all things. The second very impressive ECM system will be hitting the market any day now and looks to be a multi chamber system.

And to round things out we have this press release from chemical distributor Hubbard-Hall whose banner ad can be found on the right hand side of this page;  “Hubbard-Hall Inc., is pleased to announce the promotion of Ted Saltzman to Business Development Manager and the hiring of Andre Depew, as Product Manager of Metal Coloring. These strategic appointments will support the company’s growth in its lines of specialty chemicals for surface finishing and the ability to offer process expertise to its manufacturing customers. 

In the newly created role of Business Development Manager, Saltzman will be responsible for managing corporate accounts and selling a full range of products in the U.S. and Mexico. Saltzman joined Hubbard-Hall in 2017 as a Territory Sales Manager where he provided consultative sales presentations in the Texas area.

The newest addition of Depew comes when Hubbard-Hall is expanding its sales and applications expertise in the metal coloring line. Depew is responsible for expanding the business plan for the metal coloring product line, including Black Magic® (offering the darkest and fastest black coating) and Mi-Tique® (antiquing). Depew will also support customers in phosphate conversion coatings and heat treatment. 

With Hubbard-Hall as the only major supplier to offer hot black oxide and room temperature black oxide, Depew’s 30 years of expertise in metal finishing, machining, and heat treating will be of value. Depew’s prior positions have developed his skill set to work with customers in a consultative manner, providing them with the best products for their process. Depew has serviced customers throughout the Midwest and Southeast”.

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The drive component cited in this article is case hardened in a multi purpose chamber furnace. The surface/weight ratio is low and characterized by a solid cross-section in different sizes. Component distortions due to heat treatment are thus less critical and are not considered further. The largest component weighs about 500 g. Components are loaded in cast baskets, which are positioned on cast base trays (Fig. 1).

The existing production capacity is to be made available in full for the current order volume without additional plant investments and customer delivery dates are to be met. Production will take place in three-shift operation 7 days per week. A furnace campaign takes about 10 h and is limited by the weight of the maximum load capacity of the system of 1,500 kg. The cast loading systems used cannot increase the furnace capacity in pieces/batch. Based on experience gained internally with CFC (CFC = Carbon Fibre – reinforced – Carbon), a corresponding CFC fixture system is preferred. Compared with a cast fixture, the mass of the CFC fixture can be reduced significantly and this enables a larger number of components per batch (packing density); furnace loading with a maximum total mass of 1,500 kg (fixture and components) remains the decisive criterion.

CFC ASSESSMENT

Specific examples were used in [1] to demonstrate the advantageous properties of CFC workpiece fixtures for drive components with low-pressure carburizing and subsequent gas quenching. For the application described in this article, the following advantages support the use of a CFC system [2]:

■ Higher loading (components/batch) thanks to slim design (spec. strength [strength/bulk density])
■ Employee-friendly loading and unloading
■ Long service life of the fixture (no distortion of the fixture due to creeping/embrittlement).

The assessment of specific strength in terms of the “load bearing capacity” of CFC and cast steel shows that, theoretically (component dependent), about 90 % of the fixture mass (“dead mass”) could be saved (Fig. 2).

Due to the lower density (CFC: 1.6 g/cm3 / cast steel: 8.0 g/cm3), the energy requirement of a CFC fixture when heated from room temperature to 1,000 °C is calculated to be about 1/5 of the comparable requirement of a cast fixture [2]. The combination of load bearing capacity and energy requirement in the CFC fixture promises a higher packing density and thus a higher furnace capacity. Compared to low-pressure carburizing with high-pressure gas quenching (N2, He), which takes place without oxygen, in the case of gas carburizing and subsequent oil quenching, the chemical degradation of CFC by oxidation is to be assessed. Above 350 °C, the CFC surface can be damaged by oxidation in air, so lowering the load bearing capacity. Based on HEAT’s own operating experience and extensive preliminary tests, a reasonable plant modification is needed at the exit of the batch. This ensures that the CFC is not exposed to any critical temperatures above 350 °C. Most oil residues are removed in the subsequent washing process. The solvent used does not affect the material. These results were a factor in the decision to use a CFC system.

PROCESS ANALYSIS AND CFC REQUIREMENTS

The process analysis defines the technical requirements of the CFC fixture. As a lift truck (forklift truck), connecting rods and transport chains are used for transportation, a cast base tray was selected as link (transport systems – casting – CFC). With the cast CFC material combination, the clearly different thermal expansion coefficients, particularly for the post system, have to be taken into account in the design. In a test series, the influence of gas carburizing, oil adhesion (quenching medium) to air at the chamber outlet, and the washing agent for cleaning were analyzed. The gas atmosphere and the washing process were not shown to have an effect on the material. However, with atmospheric oxygen, the unavoidable drops of oil on the workpiece fixture led to flame formation and thus to temperatures above 350 °C. With an additional measure to the heat treatment facility, this situation was reliably improved and maximum temperatures of 350 °C in air are ensured (Fig. 3).

Loading takes place at the stations already set up for this purpose. The existing infrastructure can be used without restriction for the CFC workpiece fixtures. However, Fig. 2: Comparison of the mass of cast metal and CFC with the same strength at 1,000 °C [3] Fig. 3: Production batch comprising CFC workpiece fixtures, 11-layers, in front of the furnace door (Source: HEAT Holding) 2-2017 heat processing 43 Heat Treatment REPORTS system operation is such that employees must be given the relevant training. The slim design and much lower weight initially create the impression of insufficient stability. Employee training includes handling when loading and unloading, internal transport with forklift trucks and storage on magazine stations outside of batch operation. A process description, including illustrations, is useful and is supported by the experience of Graphite Materials GmbH. Taking account of the heat treatment parameters, component costs, quantity per delivery date and process conditions, the following requirements were developed:

■ Components per batch (plant capacity)
■ Furnace loading of max. 1,500 kg
■ Usable furnace space (860 x 1,170 x 1,100 mm)
■ Cast base tray for linking the CFC grid (860 x 1,170 mm)
■ Fixture service life of min. 1000 furnace runs.
The structural design criteria are derived from:
■ Loading density (parts per layer)
■ Throughflow (heat dissipation)
■ Components loading methodology (contact surfaces)
■ Load bearing capacity (load/volume)
■ Ability to replace damaged fixture elements
■ Cast base tray: cast CFC thermal expansion.

The CFC system produced is shown in Fig. 3. Compared with
the cast variant, the number of pieces can be increased from
2,304 to 4,312, namely by 87 % (Table 1).

The slim design reduces the dead mass by 393 kg. In this way, depending on the components, there is a 60 % reduction in fixture weight and this enables a larger number of pieces (packing density). The weight of the CFC fixture includes a cast base tray (70 kg). It should be noted that, due to the advantageous CFC material properties, an optimization of the cast design (baskets) was not considered. The batch volume is calculated according to the maximum weight of 1,500 kg of the furnace. The comparison between cast and CFC clearly shows that for this drive component (piece * component mass) 80 % of the furnace capacity are useable thanks to the CFC design. This corresponds to almost twice (87 %) the batch volume.

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

The CFC fixture has now been in use for eight months or 200 furnace runs and has proven successful. Via the link to a cast layer, the loading and unloading stations already set up could be used in full without the need for any additional input. Staff were trained and the plant was subsequently commissioned. Due to the much lighter layers (Table 1: 15.3 kg), employees were on board from the start and carefully integrated the system in the process. The physical strain on employees is much lower, concentration improves and there is a lower risk of injury. CFC is almost distortionfree (3) with the result that the component loading remains unchanged in the position and form compared with the virgin state of the CFC layer (Fig. 4).

The components sit reproducibly in a fixed position in the layer. There is no risk of jamming due to the distortion of the fixture. Loading and unloading is accelerated and can be standardized by means of a semi or fully automatic procedure. Due to the higher packing density the heating, quenching and tempering processes are slightly longer for CFC loading. In this case, the number of pieces prevails over the different energy requirement compared with cast. The dwell time in order to achieve the case hardening depth (CHD: approx. 1.2 mm) remains constant, independent of the component. However, overall, the process time for the total number of parts (5 million pieces) is reduced by 50 % to 14,000 h. Due to the solid component cross section, component distortion as a result of heat treatment is not critical. However, the lack of distortion of CFC is a key advantage for the reproducibility of heat treatment. The layer does not have to be turned around in order to correct bending and can only be used adequately due to the post system. This excludes the possibility of a malfunction. The structure is designed to enable the replacement of damaged elements. Individual layers were damaged in an accident. The components affected were dismantled by the fixture manufacturer and replaced with new elements. The stability and functionality of the repaired levels have been completely restored. In principle, industrial practice with CFC workpiece fixtures shows that professional staff training, including repeated training of temporary employees, is essential for successful operation. The negative aspect of the slim design is a greater susceptibility to impacts. Careless transportation or setting down are the most frequent causes of damage. However, as a rule, the much simpler and easier operation improves employee satisfaction and this, in turn, leads to more careful handling.

CONCLUSION

The weight saving when using CFC rather than cast fixture materials is significant, however, it depends on the components loaded. In this example, the fixture mass can be reduced by approx. 60 %. With CFC, the material properties load bearing capacity and stiffness can be used for a slim design enabling higher packing density. With the same fixture basic dimensions and chamber height, 559 additional components can be processed per furnace run and the oven capacity increased by 87 %. The greater capacity reduces the total process time for the customer order in this example by 50 %. The lack of distortion of the workpiece fixture facilitates loading and unloading and the reproducibility of the treatment results. Simplified handling procedures, particularly thanks to weight savings and lack of distortion, increase employee satisfaction, occupational health and safety and support process reliability. The effects of the CFC fixture described here create benefits for the industrial partner and these can be measured in terms of an increase in added value. We would like to thank Marco Liebsch and Frederic Stackfleth, both from Gruppe HEAT, for their outstanding support.

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SECO/WARWICK – the leader in heat treatment and vacuum metallurgy – will hold the industry’s first virtual meeting of international specialists, and will share their knowledge and experience online. Expert Wednesday, September 9, includes 3 thematic blocks, speakers from around the world, discussion panels, thousands of participants, with scientific and business disciplines in one network of connections.

In brief: 

• Expert Wednesday, 9/09/2020, 
• 15.00 – 18.00 Central European Time (CET) 
• 3 hours of online meeting – 3 thematic blocks – 3 TV expert studies, 
• 3 parallel thematic rooms, i.e. 9 hours of lectures, panels, discussions, interviews, 
• Your choice of topic and meeting room, 
• admission: US$12.99 – $1 donated to charity, 
• strengths of science, industry leaders, business giants, component manufacturers or suppliers – the whole world of heat treatment and metallurgy in one place, 
• 360-degree view of the industry, 
• unique topics and materials, exceptional speakers, as well as recordings and access to the event archive, 
• range – global, counted in thousands of participants, 
• language of the event – English, 
• broadcasting – only on-line. 

The price includes: 

• access to 3 virtual meeting rooms, 
• personalized agenda prepared by the participant, 
• certificate of participation in the training, 
• conference materials, 
• 9 hours of training, 
• 3 hours of on-line meeting, 
• access to recordings for 3 days after the event. 

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Scan through this news item and you will see that Nitrex is adding a large expansion to their manufacturing facility in southern Poland. When we at “The Monty” visited this facility a couple of years ago this is what we saw (below). In the pictures you see Gord Montgomery and the founder of Nitrex Mr. Michael Korwin.

“Nitrex Metal has started the expansion work of its manufacturing facility in Sosnowiec, Poland. Construction of the new building began in May 2020 and is slated for completion in March 2021. The new 2-story building will be connected to the west façade of the adjoining building, and as a result of this expansion, an additional 21,500 square feet (over 2000 m2) of new space will be added, almost doubling the size of the current building. Nitrex moved manufacturing operations to a new plant in Poland more than ten years ago to enhance its manufacturing competency and reduce the complexity of the supply chain. Since starting its operations in Poland in 2008, the product portfolio has expanded from building Nitrex turnkey nitriding and nitrocarburizing systems to include the production of UPC-Marathon probes, analyzers, and controllers. Centralizing the European production and distribution facility under the same roof allowed UPC-Marathon to streamline operations, boost its efficiencies, and gain access to R&D support and expertise for future product developments.

“This expansion project reflects our commitment to continuous growth and will enable us to scale up production to stay abreast with the global customer demand for turnkey nitriding systems and furnace control upgrade solutions. Our vision is to build a strong and sustainable company and be a source of stability for our employees, customers, partners and community. The investments we are making today to enhance our production capacity will allow for a quicker response to market demands, help to accelerate new product initiatives, and provide space for future growth,” said Iwo Korwin, President, Global Nitrex Turnkey Systems (NTS).  Adam Siwek, Production Manager at Nitrex Poland, who is overseeing all aspects of the construction project is excited about the next phase of Nitrex’s growth. “After a year of planning and despite the delays in the planned construction due to COVID-19, construction is now pushing forward. The expansion is not only limited to factory space but also includes offices and warehouse space, a new state-of-the-art research laboratory furnished with a Nitrex compact nitriding furnace for process development and testing purposes, as well as a technology laboratory fitted with a large capacity test furnace for conducting probe evaluations and certifications,” said Adam.”

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Back in December of 2019 we had the press release below from Accurate Brazing in Greenville, SC about adding a second HIP unit. Well it looks to us like the installation is now completed and ready to go.

Accurate Brazing Adds Second Hot Isostatic Press from Quintus Technologies

“Västerås, Sweden, November 19, 2019 – Accurate Brazing, a full-service provider of specialized heat treating solutions, added Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) to its thermal processing capabilities earlier this year. “Based on overwhelming feedback from the marketplace, we are pleased to be moving forward with our second Hot Isostatic Press from Quintus Technologies,” says Steven Francis, president of Accurate Brazing. Both presses are of the model QIH 122 M URC®. They are equipped with the Quintus proprietary uniform rapid cooling (URC) feature, which combines HIP and heat treatment in a single process. This process is called High Pressure Heat Treatment (HPHT), and it streamlines the steps involved in material densification and heat treatment. This innovative approach also enables all processed components to cool uniformly, resulting in minimal thermal distortion and non-uniform grain growth.  “The Quintus technology allows us to shorten lead times, improve product metallurgy, and eliminate some additional outside operations, which is very attractive to our customers,” says Mr. Francis.  Accurate Brazing serves the aerospace and power generation industries, as well as other sectors that demand high quality and short lead times. Many of Accurate Brazing’s customers utilize additive manufacturing (AM).  “The versatility of the Quintus units makes them well suited for our service business model,” says Mr. Francis.

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It breaks our hearts that we not be able to attend HK 2020, the annual German heat treatment exhibition held the last few years in Cologne. The reason of course is COVID-19 and bearing that in mind we now have some details about the HK2020 “Virtual” show. We reminisced about the show last year and came up with this photo of the “Wickert” booth which we visited last October.

“21 – 22 October 2020 online. This year, the HK of AWT is again the leading event for developments in materials technology and the communication platform for the heat treatment industry and its suppliers. At the beginning of August the new website of HK www.hk-awt-2020.de went online. The scientific programme of the HK 2020 is more open to new materials and fields of application and at the same time more practice-oriented. On the first day, three papers on new material developments will be presented and there will be a lecture on creative techniques from the AWT’s “Trendscouting” expert committee. On the second day the focus will be on current topics in the practice of hardening shops. Keywords: CQI-9, energy efficiency and operational safety in hardening plants.

This year, a virtual trade fair platform will be offered on the website for the first time. Exhibitors of the HK can publish their product
presentations, image brochures, press releases and videos there and present in this way their news to the heat treatment community. A chat tool and video call will be activated during the congress time. The website is public and free, there are no barriers due to logins. AWT offers attractive participation fees for the online-conference, especially for groups. At the end of September, the programme booklet will also be available to the public as an e-paper on the website. Detailed information and registration at www.hk-awt-2020.de For more information about the conference and the booking of virtual stands please contact Ms. Sonja Mueller by [email protected].”

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As a Canadian and a businessman I am very aware that the US/Canadian border is closed to all but essential travel, however US citizens are not as aware of this situation. The bottom line is that while Canada does allow visitors from other countries, those visitors must self-quarantine for 14 days which is impractical for most individuals. And by the way the Canadian government does take it seriously, no tracking of movements by phone, those self isolating are checked on a random basis in person with large fines for not
complying. An example of essential travel would be trucking and installation engineers, non essential travel would be sales people. Its interesting that it is far easier for Canadians to access the US than visa/versa. This really annoying situation has been going on for months now and looks to continue for many more months. One more effect of COVID-19.

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To this rather interesting press release we can add this background about REX Heat Treat. To find out how Rex compares in size to other North American commercial heat treaters we would suggest checking out “The Monty” which offers the only ranking in the world about the relative size of commercial heat treaters in North America https://themonty.com/articles/largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-august-2020/ “Rex Heat Treat is a family owned-and-operated business that began the year of 1938 in Pennsylvania. In its beginning, Rex Heat Treat supported the United States military efforts during World War II. Since then, Rex has also managed heat treating plants in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Through a combined 190,000 square feet, between the Alabama and Pennsylvania facilities, Rex Heat Treat is able to effectively serve industries, such as Mining and Drilling, Energy, Aerospace and Defense, and Transportation. With the installation of the world’s largest Vertical Vacuum Oil Quenching Furnace, Rex Heat Treat is primed for continued growth.”

“Rex Heat Treat, a commercial heat treater specializing in the aerospace market, has become the first company to install and commission the new Super IQ® Gas Carburizing furnace. Over the past several years, Rex has commissioned several new SECO/WARWICK Group vacuum furnaces  at their Lansdale, PA location as part of a plant modernization initiative. So, when Super IQ was introduced in 2019, it represented another opportunity to upgrade their through-hardening and carburizing capabilities alongside their legacy harden and temper furnaces, while using their existing loader, baskets and washing system. Super IQ was designed specifically to eliminate the need for endogas, and its inherent flames and carbon monoxide dangers. Instead, Super IQ allows clean processing and can even achieve higher temperature carburizing to speed cycles and improve yields in certain steels in a clean and cool manner. Parts also come out much cleaner and brighter.”

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