Ipsen USA was awarded an order to supply a West Coast aerospace customer with four 2-bar vacuum furnaces that will be used for heat treating additively manufactured parts in full-scale production. The furnaces have a load size of 36 inches wide x 36 inches high x 48 inches deep and can process up to 3,000 pounds. Ipsen shipped two of the furnaces in November and will ship the remaining two in January.

Through a multiyear endeavor, Fabrisonic has been working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop and qualify ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) heat exchanger devices.

Solar Manufacturing shipped a vacuum furnace for processing additively manufactured parts to a large science and technology laboratory. The lab requires the furnace, which has a maximum temperature of 2400°F (1315°C), to further their research and development work. Built with Solar Manufacturing’s SolarVac Polaris control system and a graphite-insulated hot zone, the furnace is designed to accommodate loads up to 36 inches wide x 36 inches high x 48 inches deep with a maximum weight of 5,000 pounds.

GE Additive entered into a five-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The agreement focuses on processes, materials and software to drive industrialization and encourage the broader adoption of additive-manufacturing (AM) technology. The agreement supersedes an existing CRADA in place since 2012 between ORNL and GE Additive Arcam EBM. ORNL purchased its first Arcam EBM system in 2009. Since that time, ORNL and the Arcam EBM teams have worked together to create opportunities for companies in multiple U.S. manufacturing sectors to adopt electron-beam melting (EBM) technology. 

The aerospace industry is of critical importance to our thermal-processing world. For this reason, we need to pay attention to what’s happening.

Alfa Romeo Racing, operated by Sauber Motorsport AG, selected Quintus Technologies as its hot isostatic pressing (HIP) partner. The Formula One team invested in a press with proprietary URQ technology, which allows heat treatment and cooling to be combined in a single process, known as high-pressure heat treatment (HPHT). HPHT and HIP are used for the consolidation and densification of metal, producing a maximum theoretical density, ductility and fatigue resistance in high-performance materials. This makes it ideal for ultrahigh-performance automotive applications.

Kennametal Inc. formed a 3D-printing materials and production business unit, Kennametal Additive Manufacturing, as part of its Infrastructure segment. Kennametal Additive Manufacturing combines the company’s expertise in materials science and wear-resistant solutions with additive-manufacturing capabilities to supply high-performance metal additive powders and fully finished 3D-printed parts for wear, erosion, corrosion and high-temperature applications. The new business unit is already shipping production parts to customers. These high-performance wear components include parts printed with powders specifically designed and optimized for 3D printing.

Using additive manufacturing not only can reduce lead times, it can provide significant cost savings through reduced material consumption and improved design.

GE Additive announced the opening of its Arcam EBM (electron beam melting) Center of Excellence in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 15,000-square-meter facility, which has the capacity for up to 500 employees, triples the floor space of Arcam EBM’s previous site. Having production, R&D, training facilities and support functions all housed under one roof will allow GE Additive to utilize lean manufacturing to increase production capacity.

Solar Atmospheres, in conjunction with the William and Myrtle Jones Foundation, donated and installed a laboratory furnace for Lehigh University’s Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. The furnace was designed and built by Solar Manufacturing. With SolarVac Polaris control system, a hot zone capable of holding up to 250 pounds and a maximum temperature of 2800°F, the furnace was installed in Lehigh University’s Whitaker Lab, along with the necessary Solar-built transformer and water cooling system.