Furnace builder Nakal delivers a brand new roller hearth furnace to Electronic Informatics Chemical Company (Ho Chi Minh City). With working chamber dimensions of (L x W x H) – 6000 mm Long x 300 mm Wide x 300 mm High, this furnace will be used to heat treat up to 6 meter long pipes.  There are 3 control zones with a maximum temperature of 1100°C.  Nakal was founded in 1992 and among some of their regular customers are ALCOA, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, Perm Motors, Sevmash, Lukoil, Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Production Association, Russian Railways, Severstal, Mechel, Volzhsky Pipe Plant, Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern.

We have yet to see a Heat Treatment research facility anywhere in the world to rival that of IWT in Bremen, Germany. The institute has long had a mandate to further the knowledge of all facets of heat treating and to this end the institute has the an amazing array of the most up to date heat treatment equipment we have ever laid eyes upon. Salt bath heat treatment, vacuum carburizing, press quenching, gas carburizing, gas and plasma nitriding, induction hardening the institute has an up to date system to experiment with all of the technologies. In addition more systems are on the way including a brand new Hot Isostatic Press system. These furnaces give you a taste of the institute but probably fail to do real justice to it.

Joern Rohde, Gord Montgomery, Professor Hans-Werner Zoch, Heinrich Klumper-Westkamp

Heinrich Klumper-Westkamp, Professor Hans-Werner Zoch,  Joern Rohde, Ingo Bunjes

This isn’t recent news, as a matter of fact it dates back to the December of 2018, however it doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention. We of course are interested for the usual reason-both of these companies have very impressive in house heat treating departments. The one photo here shows Jordan Montgomery at the Precision Gear facility in College Point, NY. The other picture shows one of the batch IQ furnaces at Arrow Gear in Illinois which works in conjunction with a Dixietech Press Quench system.

“Precision Gear Inc. of College Point, NY is pleased to announce the acquisition of Arrow Gear Company of Downers Grove, Illinois. The Purchase was concluded on November 16th, 2018. The combined strength of PGI and AGC will provide the gear and shaft market with 160 years of manufacturing expertise in providing Flight Safety Critical hardware. The confluence of the advanced gear and shaft manufacturing capabilities and an experienced and proven management team will significantly improve the company’s stature across the industry. Precision Gear and Arrow Gear will continue to operate from the current facility locations, while leveraging their corporate affiliation. A management holding company has been established to ensure organizational guidance and strategic oversight to pursue a competitive vision for the group. The new entity has been established as Precision Arrow Gear Group (PAGG). The merger of these companies will enhance the diversity and depth of the product offering to the market while expanding their presence in the industry.”

New Columbia, PA – June 17 th, 2019 – Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), a global manufacturer of thermal-processing equipment, has appointed Greg Jennings to the position of President and CEO. Jennings has experience in both Fortune 500 and private companies. He has held the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at TPS since 2013. During his time as CFO, he was instrumental during the acquisition of Wisconsin Oven Corporation and Baker Furnace. Prior to TPS, Jennings held a number of domestic and international positions within SPX Corporation, a supplier of highly engineered solutions. Jennings has an extensive educational background to support his experience in the industry. He holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Tennessee, MBA from Arizona State University, Masters in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Penn State University, and several professional certifications from accredited universities such as Cornell University and the New York Institute of Finance.

“I’m honored to lead the Thermal Product Solutions (TPS) organization, a company that has a long-standing history with each of its brands and customers. This business has done a tremendous job of serving the most innovative companies in the world, and we will continue stretch ourselves to understand each and every customer’s need. I look forward to working with all of our incredibly dedicated TPS employees and partners, to ensure that we challenge ourselves in pursuit of exceeding these customer needs through innovation, comprehensive customer service, and unparalleled quality.” – Greg Jennings, President and CEO Jennings will be located at the Wisconsin Oven facility in East Troy, WI and intends to maintain an active presence in the community through his role as a board member of the United Way of Walworth County.

About TPS. Thermal Product Solutions (“TPS”), is a leading American manufacturer of industrial ovens, furnaces, pharmaceutical sterilizers, and environmental temperature cycling and stability test chambers. TPS is a global leader in thermal processing products and test solutions with brands including Baker Furnace, Blue M, Gruenberg, Tenney, Lindberg, Lunaire, MPH, and Wisconsin Oven. For more information on equipment solutions

We started off our week in Europe with a visit to furnace manufacturer Rohde in Hanau, Germany and have these two photos to prove it. These pictures were taken on their plant floor and show a couple of furnaces fairly close to being completed. We see in the forefront of one of the photos a Pit furnace, Type SG 160/350 destined for captive/commercial heat treater Kern Liebers in El Marqués (Querétaro), Mexico a company we have profiled in the past.  The second photo shows a Chamber furnace type KGU 120/100/180 for Nitriding and Nitrocarburizing which is going to commercial heat treater Haerterei Wittmann GmbH in Uhingen (Germany)-this is the second furnace Rohde has supplied to the company. In the pictures we see Damian Bratcher, International Sales Manager for furnace controls company SSI of Cincinnati, USA and Joern Rohde, owner of Rohde Furnaces.

With the Thermprocess show in Dusseldorf this week we at “The Monty” will be attending the show and at the same time visiting some commercial and captive heat treats in Germany and the Netherlands which means we will have a number of news items about the European heat treating market. One company which we will be seeing tomorrow is commercial heat treater Sabo Boxtel in the Netherlands which as you can see is strong in the Induction heat treating field. Our host Franka Seijbel, General Manager is shown in the second picture.

Temperature Uniformity

Temperature uniformity within a furnace means; ‘a uniform temperature set to operate within a specific tolerance band to create conditions under which a final uniform resulting metallurgy will be accomplished in the treated component’.

Fig 1. A simple schematic sketch of the basic function of a thermocouple for heat treatment temperature measurement.

The writer now asks the question, ‘what does the thermocouple measure’? The immediate answer that comes to everyone’s mind, is ‘it measures the temperature of the furnace’. However, that is an incorrect answer!! The thermocouple can ONLY measure the temperature of the ‘Measuring Junction’ of the thermocouple and nothing else.

The basic thermocouple and temperature measuring device will require a minimum of two thermocouples, which are for Temperature Control and a safety thermocouple device for over temperature conditions. The over temperature is to protect the furnace work load from over shoot in temperature.

The temperature control that is desired.  (in reality) is at the component itself/load. When conducting a temperature uniformity survey, the minimum requirement to establish the degree of temperature variance with the process chamber is 9 (nine).

Fig 3 Nine-point thermocouple temperature uniformity survey being prepared.

Once you have defined the area (within the process chamber), label the front door of the furnace with the dimension’s and location of the accurate temperature uniform zone within the process chamber. All work but then be processed within that defined envelop.

Conduct the temperature uniformity survey on the furnaces each week. Be sure to remember to conduct the temperature survey any timer that a repair has been completed on the furnace such (to name a few);

Remember also the place the thermocouple as close to the work piece or load without the thermocouple interfering with the lading and unloading of the load or individual component.

Fig 4 Vacuum furnace temperature uniformity survey.

Remember also to be sure that you replace a thermocouple with the same type of  thermocouple as the one that is being replaced!

Sincerely David

The fact that Texas Heat Treating in the USA purchased a new vacuum furnace last year certainly made our news section-you can now see a photo of the unit installed. This is an Ipsen TurboTreater H5448 6-Bar Horizontal Vacuum Treating Furnace with working dimensions of 36″ X 48″ X 36″.

Ipsen USA recently embarked on an initiative to double the number of Regional Sales Engineers (RSEs) by year-end. Ipsen’s RSEs engage customers with the objective of improving furnace performance and increasing service life. “The North American market has proven the need for a strong and technically diverse field support team,” said Ipsen President and CEO Patrick McKenna. “We believe that quality product designs are born from investment in supporting customers.” Recent hires include Midwest RSE Joyce Paliganoff, Southeast RSE Patrick Heiser and West/Northwest RSE Larry Gomez.

“We know the importance of helping our customers with aftermarket products and services on Ipsen and non-Ipsen equipment,” said Ipsen Vice President of Sales Pete Kerbel.

The expanding group of RSEs will continue to include individuals with diverse skills and backgrounds, many with experience in engineering, machine repair and metallurgical processes. They perform furnace inspections, develop system health reports, and offer solutions through their expertise in parts, service, retrofits, and repairs.

About Ipsen. Ipsen USA designs and manufactures industrial vacuum and atmosphere heat-treating systems, supervisory controls systems and predictive maintenance software platforms for many industries, including Aerospace, Automotive, Commercial Heat Treating, Energy and Medical. With production locations in America, Europe and Asia, and representation in 34 countries, Ipsen is committed to providing 360° support for customers worldwide.

With his vast experience in the North American heat treating market with companies such as Timken Bearings and Bodycote Don’s is a name recognized by most heat treaters. Most recently he was GM of commercial heat treater Certified Heat Treat in Springfield, Ohio, USA, however things change and Don recently parted ways with the company. He is now interested in a position in the industry where he could be in charge of maintenance & facilities for several plants. If you would like to talk to Don feel free to drop us a note [email protected]