“Monday Morning Briefing”-The Latest News in the Heat Treatment Industry

McLaughlin Furnace Group Awarded Contract for Batch IQ Line; “McLaughlin Furnace Group of Avilla, Indiana, USA is pleased to announce that they have just been awarded a substantial contract for the installation of a batch IQ line for a customer in the US Midwest. The contract will cover rebuilding and installing a batch IQ furnace with working dimensions of 30″ X 48″ X 30” along with 2 temper furnaces and ancillary equipment. The contract also includes a new control panel and start up. Jeff McLaughlin founder of the group has this to say; “While our core business is designing, building and installing new furnaces, we have also always been very active in rebuilding and installing used equipment to our customers specifications. We feel that being able to offer new furnaces alongside rebuilding used equipment gives us a real advantage over our competitors.”

Peter Chhina; It is with great regret that we mention the passing a few weeks ago of Mr. Peter Chhina, a long time Canadian heat treater. Over the course of his 30 plus year career Peter worked in a number of captive and commercial heat treats in Ontario, Canada. His death was particularly upsetting due to the fact that he passed away after a long hospital stay due to a furnace explosion at the firm he was working with. His experience and cheerful personality will be missed.

Nitrion Do Brazil Starts Up New Vacuum Nitriding Systems; Earlier this year we mentioned about a heat treater in Brazil investing in a new vacuum nitriding system (the original posting is below). We can now way that the systems are now installed, tested and entering production. Shown in this photo is Mr. Christopher Ramos, General Manager all set to run product.

“January 2021 Posting; Nitrion Do Brazil Makes Major Investment in Vacuum Nitriding Capacity; Last week we had a rumor about commercial heat treater Nitrion Do Brazil making a major investment in more vacuum nitriding furnaces, today we can say that the rumor was true and at the same time offer a few more details. Furnaces #2 and #3 which were recently installed at the plant in Feliz, Brazil. Installation and commissioning started 2 weeks ago and parts are being tested. Installation and start up were performed by Don Longenette of A + Heat Treating of Ohio, USA. The fourth KGO furnace will be delivered in a couple of months. With this additional equipment Nitrion is probably the largest commercial nitriding company in all of South America.”

Brake Component Manufacturer Orders Vacuum Sintering Furnace. From our friends at TAV we have this press release about how the company recently received an order for a vacuum sintering furnace;  “TAV Vacuum Furnaces of Italy received an order for a horizontal debinding and sintering vacuum furnace from a company offering design, development and production of braking systems. The furnace has working dimensions of 31.5 inches wide x 31.5 inches high x 47.25 inches long (800 x 800 x 1,200 mm) with a maximum charge of 1,543 pounds (700 kg) and a maximum operating temperature of 1022°F (550°C). It is equipped with a pumping unit, an AISI 310 retort for cycles up to 550°C and a forced-gas-circulation system. After pressing, the parts are placed inside the debinding furnace, where the binder is removed, pumped and trapped. Then the temperature is raised to carry out the sintering process. After a residence time at the maximum temperature, the heating is switched off and the retort is cooled.”

Aerojet Rocketdyne out in California, USA recently expanded their Los Angeles facility which is interesting but of most interest to us heat treaters is that the expansion includes a new vacuum furnace; “Aerojet Rocketdyne  finished a major expansion of its Los Angeles facility to support production of new-generation RS-25 main engines. The $59 million expansion includes renovations to existing buildings additive-manufacturing (3D-printing) capabilities and new testing and storage facilities. New equipment includes a horizontal vacuum furnace for brazing exotic engine materials. The expansion added 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space to the facility, including roughly 11,000 square feet of additional welding space.”

Barnard Mfg., Michigan Closes. We have spoken in the past about how virtually all Ion (Plasma) nitriding furnaces in North America are manufactured by companies outside of North America. A small (very small) supplier in the US was Barnard Mfg., in Michigan who provided a few systems over the years-one of which is pictured here. Unfortunately the owner Mr. Jim Barnard has retired and the company has close down.

And in upcoming news we are very much looking forward to an interview later this week with Mr. Victor Oreskovich, CEO of furnace builder Can-Eng International. Victor is quite an open fellow and we are confident that you will find what he has to say very interesting. One of the topics of conversations will be mesh belt furnace lines so we leave you with this photo of a typical Can-Eng mesh belt line.