Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services, is pleased to announce completion of the acquisition of Ellison Surface Technologies. The acquisition creates one of the largest providers of thermal spray and engineered coating surface technology services in the world. Stephen Harris, Group Chief Executive of Bodycote plc, commented: “This acquisition builds upon our ongoing efforts to build our Specialist Technologies portfolio and enhance our exposure to the civil aerospace market, where we see structural growth over the long term, notwithstanding the shorter-term hiatus in the industry. Ellison’s business is one that we have respected for a long time and is a perfect strategic fit for Bodycote’s Specialist Technologies businesses.” Bodycote continues to execute its strategy to invest in Specialist Technologies and secular growth businesses. Ellison’s business is an excellent strategic fit with Bodycote’s existing Surface Technology business, which itself has seen strong structural growth in recent years. Bodycote’s expanded Surface Technology business can offer additional technologies and added resources to consolidate its leadership in surface coating solutions and specialist processes, including thermal spray coating, liquid coating, thermal processing, and diffusion coating. These operations will be fully integrated into Bodycote’s business model both from an operational and commercial perspective, and will operate going forward under the Bodycote brand. Stephen continued: “The acquisition will also help position Bodycote to reach its next phase of growth. Ellison has been successful in winning new business in recent years and it will be very complementary to Bodycote’s existing Surface Technology business. We look forward to leveraging our combined workforces to create a new strategic position to successfully enhance our services to support the aerospace market.”

About Bodycote. With more than 185 locations in 23 countries, Bodycote is the world’s largest provider of thermal processing services. Through heat treatment, metal joining, surface technology and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), Bodycote improves the properties of metals and alloys, extending the life of vital components for a wide range of industries, including aerospace, defence, automotive, power generation, oil & gas, construction, medical and transportation. Customers in all of these industries have entrusted their products to Bodycote’s care for more than 30 years. For more information, visit www.bodycote.com.

For further information, please contact: Michaela Yasin, Chief Marketing Officer. Email: [email protected] / Tel: +41 79 154 0758

COVID-19 Update. It’s easy to get bogged down with the endless stream of bad news about the corona virus however at the end of the day the heat treating industry is very much alive and functioning. We have not run across a single commercial heat treater who has shut down either temporarily or permanently and there are many that say business remains strong. Amongst industry suppliers it is a similar story, all remain open and functioning and while business is down for many and there have been lay offs they all report that they are in full operation. A casualty of the virus has been trade shows though. The 7th Heat Treat Forum which was to be held in Wroclaw, Poland April 21 and 22 has been postponed until later this year due to COVID-19. As far as we can tell all trade shows and exhibitions for the industry which were to be held before July of this year have been cancelled or postponed although all events for the fall are still being planned. We attended the Heat Treat Forum in Poland back in 2015 and have this photo which features Janusz Kowalewski (centre) of Ipsen receiving an award from the events organizers.

In related news it is interesting to see how captive heat treaters are helping out by making ventilators. One example is global auto parts maker Linamar who recently announced that they would be tooling up to produce ventilators. One of the Linamar facilities in Canada has what we would consider to be the largest batch IQ installation in North America with twenty five 36” X 48” X 36” batch IQ furnaces in one department. It is rather odd to think that these furnaces could be potentially used to heat treat ventilator parts (see how they rank in our list of the largest North American captive heat treaters https://themonty.com/articles/10-largest-north-american-captive-heat-treaters/)

From furnace builder Can-Eng we have this press release; “Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. was recently contracted to engineer and commission two large capacity heat treatment furnaces for a global producer of highly engineered metal earth moving, construction and mining wear equipment. As part of this turn-key contract, Can-Eng designed and commissioned individual tempering and stress relieving furnaces.  Both Heat Treatment systems were assembled and tested at Can-Eng’s Niagara Falls facility prior to shipment and commissioning at the customers facility. The customer was impressed with Can-Eng’s controls capability to seamlessly integrate the systems Level 1 controls with the company’s existing Plant Supervisory and Production Control Systems (Levels 2 & 3).  Both Systems integrated the company’s preferred PLC hardware which was upgraded to include a more flexible safety rated PLC over conventional hardwired safety circuits.

Speaking of press releases from furnace manufacturers we have this one from SECO/VACUUM Technologies; “SECO/VACUUM Technologies (SVT), a SECO/WARWICK Group company begins 2020 with sales of 4 Vector® vacuum furnaces in the first two months of the year. Vector® is SECO/WARWICK’s most versatile vacuum furnace, a single chamber HPGQ model loaded with capabilities, and highly flexible to accommodate a wide range of thermal processes including hardening, tempering, annealing, solution heat treating, brazing and sintering applications. It is characterized by high speed cycles, low consumption of energy and low process gas emissions, and is available with curved graphite elements or an all-metal hot zone. Tooling and aerospace component manufacturers, in particular, are benefiting from expanded capabilities afforded by this technology. Two Vectors HPGQ furnaces of different sizes were purchased by a Midwest tool and die manufacturer; an additional temper furnace was purchased by a cutting tool manufacturer, their third SVT Vector in 3 years, and an aerospace components manufacturer purchased the other.”

From Bob Grammer of Grammer Vacuum Technologies we have this information article about reducing hearth damage in a vacuum furnace due to grid distortion.

“A very commonly observed failure mechanism with a moly post hearth assembly is bending of the moly posts.  They will stay fairly straight at the center of the hearth area, but they can distort badly toward the outer sides of the work zone.  The outer rows of vertical posts end up leaning away from each other.  This is due to the very high linear thermal expansion coefficient of nickel-iron alloy grids (usually 330 SS or Inconel).  With a high load on the nickel alloy grid, it is not able to slide on the perpendicular hearth beams as the temperature rises.  The outer hearth post rows are forced in an outward direction.  The quenching of the furnace load does not reverse all of this effect and over time results in the severe bending of the hearth posts. 

By replacing the stainless steel or nickel alloy grids with a moly or TZM alloy moly grid, which exhibits very low thermal expansion, the hearth life can be increased.  For comparison, the figure shows the coefficients of linear thermal expansion for commonly used grid materials. For example, a 36” wide 330 SS grid at 70°F grows to 36.6” wide at 2200°F. Another significant benefit of TZM moly grids is use at higher furnace process temperatures without the problem of a softened, sagging grid that cannot support the load properly.

Author: Robert Grammer, Grammer Vacuum Technologies, Inc. GVT provides an extensive inventory of Molybdenum and TZM alloy mill products for vacuum heat treating. To learn more: [email protected] or visit www.gvtinc.com”

And in upcoming news we are going to have a close look at the In House Heat Treating Department of this very large manufacturer later this week.

From Bob Grammer of Grammer Vacuum Technologies a US supplier of Molybdenum and TZM alloy mill products we have the this article about Hearth Height Adjustment in vacuum furnaces. This is the second of a three part series.

“Adjustable Hearth Height for Wider or Taller Load Capability

The available width and height of the work zone in a vacuum furnace with a round hot zone is determined by the elevation placement of the top of the furnace hearth.  This distance is determined by the length of the vertical hearth support posts.  By having spare, interchangeable hearth post sets of varying lengths, one can extend the work zone width or height as needed.  The figure shows a variety of work zone dimensions that are possible with a standard 36” wide x 36” tall typical work zone as an example.  The important thing in choosing your work zone shape is to maintain an (approximately) 3” clearance between the elements and the work zone to avoid part to element contact.”

“Note:  With the symmetric shapes of modern, round hot zones there is good reason to expect good temperature uniformity anywhere within the 3” clearance ring shown in Figure 1.  If you can build a survey fixture capable of surveying all the space you want to use, you theoretically could use more than just the rectangular space shown in the examples.  Getting an auditor to accept the survey is a separate task.

Author: Robert Grammer, Grammer Vacuum Technologies, Inc.
GVT provides an extensive inventory of Molybdenum and TZM alloy mill products for vacuum heat treating. To learn more: [email protected] or visit www.gvtinc.com” 

A long time reader in Michigan posed this question to us earlier this week; “Hello Gord, I hope all is well and that the current crisis is not hindering you too much.   Do you know who has the largest pit FNC/Nitride unit in the world and who manufactured such?”

It is a very fair, interesting question and we don’t have a definite answer, however these are our thoughts. Nitrex has installed some monsters out there but personally the largest I have ever seen or heard about are at a heat treater in Remscheid, Germany by the name of Härterei Carl Gommann GmbH who has pit gas nitriders. The largest diameter one is 13’ and the deepest is 37’. These were built by a German company by the name of KGO who has furnace installations around the world. In the one photo we see on the left Harald Roth of KGO and on the right have Volkher Diehl of Härterei Carl Gommann GmbH. 

We will stress that that these are the largest pit nitriders we are aware of but probably there are larger ones out there somewhere. If anybody has any suggestions we are all ears.

The link below will take you to the April 2020 issue of “The Monty”, exactly one hundred pages of the latest news and trends in the global heat treatment industry. As the world’s largest heat treat industry news source this “new and improved” edition of “The Monty” features news items about in house and commercial heat treaters from around the globe including detailed stories about the heat treating departments of companies such as “Dana”, “Sutton Tools”, “Tremec” and several others. Regular readers will see something else new in this issue-“The Monty Exclusive” news items. We are rather proud of the fact that for almost 25 years “The Monty” has featured news about the industry which is not found in any other news sources. These exclusive news items will feature “The Monty Exclusive” logo.

This issue is sponsored by many of the most well known and reputable industry suppliers in the world including “Fluke Process Instruments”, “Williams Industrial Services”, “Ipsen” “Hubbard Hall”, “Nutec Bickley”, “Heat Treat Central”, “Solo” and “Graphite Materials” to name a few.

https://themonty.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/themontyapril2020a.pdf

Now this is a very interesting rumor which started floating around just last week. We have been told that ALD in Hanau, Germany has received an order for a LPC (low pressure carburizing) system from a German auto parts supplier for e-drives. ALD is known around the world for their expertise in LPC systems. We will keep you posted if we hear more about this rumor.

March 19 we had a summary about the heat treating industry in Portugal https://themonty.com/heat-treating-in-portugal/ If you recall “The Monty” had planned on visiting the major heat treaters in Portugal this past week, however the COVID-19 put an end to any possible in person visits. However the two largest heat treaters in the country were very forthcoming with photos and information and the result it that today we are able to introduce you to the largest heat treater in the country Ramada Aços.

This captive/commercial heat treater is located in the northern part of Portugal in the city of Ovar. Ramada has been in business  for more than 75 years both as a heat treater and a distributor of steel for Uddeholm. The company has 13 vacuum hardening and vacuum nitriding furnaces all from French furnace builder BMI along with 8 sealed quench furnaces with oil quenching https://www.ramada.pt/pt/servicos/acos-ligas/tratamentos-termicos.html Interestingly enough at least some of the sealed quench furnaces are from a Brazillian manufacturer Brasimet which caught our attention. As you can see in our original article about heat treating in Portugal the vast bulk of the work being processed are molds for the plastic industry. We can’t tell you a great deal more about the company except to say that with over 20 furnaces in operation and a history which stretches back 75 years this is a substantial heat treater by any standards.

We will start off in North Carolina, USA with a story about commercial heat treater East Carolina Metal Treating expanding. Just a year ago we had this story about the company and mentioned that their division in Lynchburg, Virginia, Virginia Metal Treating would soon have a new building. Well the time is now, material has been delivered and construction is starting. We have this original story about the company along with a photo of the owner, Mr. Jamie Ramm; “May 2019. In Raleigh, NC, USA we find a good sized commercial heat treat which has been in the news quite a bit recently, mainly because the President, Mr. Jamie Ramm keeps buying new equipment which turns into industry wide press releases. To find out what all the fuss is about we at “The Monty” decided to visit since the last time we were here was roughly 10 years ago. What we found was a 45,000 square foot building with roughly 70 employees and some real nice looking equipment which includes a row of vacuum furnaces, batch IQ furnaces, Nitrex nitriding furnaces and some Induction thrown into the mix. The company was founded back in 1976 and Jamie has been here for over 30 years. We mention about the company expanding-that is only partly true. The company has a second location, Virginia Metal Treating in Lynchburg, Virginia with 10 employees and this is the location expanding. Land has been purchased and a brand new structure of 20,000 square feet is in the works.”

Well this isn’t good-another bad heat treating job; “Hoods that unexpectedly open have caused a recall of 2,000 model year 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500 and 2020 GMC Sierra 2500 and 3500 trucks with hood latch striker problems. General Motors says the striker wires may break because they weren’t properly heat treated, allowing the hoods to open while driving. The hood striker wires can become brittle due to improper heat treatment, and the only possible warning a driver might have is the sound of striker wires rattling when they partially fracture. GM discovered the problem in October 2019, when engineers found a fractured hood latch striker wire on a company-owned 2020 GMC Sierra 2500. The following month, engineers found another fractured striker wire on another truck, causing the automaker to open an internal investigation. Hardness testing was conducted on the first striker wire and engineers confirmed the wire’s metal hardness was far higher than specifications. The hood striker assembly supplier informed GM it used an alternate supplier to heat treat two batches of striker wires in January 2019.” Recently we mentioned how in house heat treater Poclain Hydraulics in Wisconsin, USA was selling off an ECM vacuum carburizing system that the company has operated for a number of years. The system is still available-and the reason the company is looking to sell? They are contemplating a switch to Nitriding.

Last week we told the story of Metex Heat Treat in Ontario, Canada which has almost the largest capacity in North America for heat treating fasteners ordering another mesh belt furnace line. This was a 7200 pound per hour monster and it was purchased from a Canadian manufacturer by the name of Can Eng. We’re not going to dwell on the Coronavirus too much today but we do want to mention what a German industry supplier is doing to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus-different shifts. Basically the company is now operating two shifts 5:00 – 12.30 and 1:30pm – 9:00pm which reduces the number of people in the plant at any given time. Interesting idea. While we are talking about it though we ran across this company in New Jersey, USA who is offering to debind and sinter parts at no charge if they are needed in the medical industry;  “Debinding and sintering experts DSH Technologies, a sister company of Elnik Systems, LLC, headquartered in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, USA, is offering its debind and sinter services at no charge to those working to produce additively manufactured metal parts in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis. DSH Technologies has the capability to water, catalytic and solvent debind parts that have a first stage binder as well as debind and sinter any metal parts built with a single stage binder, such as Binder Jetting.”

Recently Hot Isostatic Pressing has been in the news quite a bit recently because several companies have made large investments in the technology. Two that recently invested now have NADCAP approval; “Stack’s Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) Facility Completes Nadcap Audit; We are proud to announce we have completed our Nadcap audit for our hot isostatic pressing facility in Albany, Oregon. This diligent and meticulous process would not have been completed without the hardworking staff at our Albany site, and our partners, Quintus Technologies and Messer Group. We are expected to be officially Nadcap accredited in mid-late April. Keep checking back for more information.”

And another; “Paulo is proud to announce the addition of Hot Isostatic Pressing to the Nadcap Scope of our Cleveland Division. The Cleveland plant has held Nadcap for heat treatment, brazing, and testing for many years. The recent investment adding HIP to our portfolio of services was driven by the market need for more Nadcap approved sources for HIP. Throughout the startup phase and into early production work of non-Nadcap customer work our Quality and Operations teams knew the goal was Nadcap accreditation.  In early December a three-day on-site audit was conducted which resulted in approval.”

Ford vs; Ferrari. This final item today has a very loose connection to heat treating at best but we still found it interesting. The recent Matt Damon movie, Ford vs; Ferrari is about Ford’s drive to beat rival Ferrari and win “Lemans” which they did in 1966 with a Ford GT40. Only a limited number of these cars were ever built and one is owned by a commercial heat treater in Santiago, Chile by the name of “Tratamientos Térmicos Panamericana Norte”. We have this March 2019 photo of Dale Montgomery of “The Monty” standing beside the GT40 and also a picture of the heat treat plant. The moral of the story? There is very good money in commercial heat treating when you have no competition.