Solar Atmospheres purchased and commissioned a Hitachi scanning electron microscope (SEM). The FlexSEM1000 II will allow the commercial heat treater to meet customer needs, such as strict requirements for low-level contamination from carbon, oxygen and/or nitrogen post heat treating. In addition, the SEM will enable Solar to fulfill materials characterization and microstructural determination requests beyond basic metallography and hardness testing. This investment is a response to the changing needs of Solar’s customers.

SECO/WARWICK delivered an all-metal high-vacuum furnace with a work-chamber size of 1,200 mm x 1,200 mm x 1,200 mm to Hauck Heat Treatment Group’s recently expanded plant in Eindhoven, Netherlands. According to the companies, it is the largest furnace of its type currently in operation in the Benelux region. It is also the third furnace SECO/WARWICK has delivered to Hauck’s Eindhoven facility. In addition, SECO/WARWICK has established a strong cooperation with Hauck’s plant in Poland, where new vacuum furnaces are scheduled to be delivered.

Ipsen USA installed a vacuum furnace at Stack Metallurgical Group’s site in Spokane Valley, Wash. Formerly known as Inland NW Metallurgical Services, Stack Spokane is one of the company’s four locations offering a range of metal-processing services. Installation of the 2-bar vacuum furnace, which will be used to process critical aerospace components, was completed in late 2019. Stack operates four Ipsen furnaces in Spokane and 12 more at its site in Portland, Ore.

As disruption and change continue to race into your plant at hyper-speed, there are six key elements that will drive your heat-treating operation and determine your success in the coming decade.

Nitrex, a global provider of fully integrated heat-treating solutions and technologies, acquired G-M Enterprises, a manufacturer of vacuum furnaces. The acquisition is in line with Nitrex’s strategy to further expand its heat-treatment solutions while strengthening its products portfolio. For the past 30 years, Corona, Calif.-based G-M Enterprises has earned a reputation as a leading technological supplier of vacuum furnaces for customers in the aerospace, power-generation, energy, MIM and commercial heat-treating industries. According to Montreal-based Nitrex, the acquisition represents a great fit because both companies share the same goal of providing technologies that improve customer workflow and efficiency while maximizing the life span and quality of engineered parts and components.

Baker Furnace, a division of Thermal Product Solutions, installed a quench tank for a commercial heat treater as part of its aftermarket services. The company had two quench tanks (one hot water and one cold water) and three drop-bottom furnaces and needed a third quench tank to optimize quench loads per day. The quench tank has three impellers capable of 27,000 GM on a 15,000-gallon tank. This style of agitation allows for thick, large castings to dissipate heat faster.

Industrial Heating, in cooperation with the Metal Treating Institute and the MTI Educational Foundation, invite you to nominate an MTI member company for the 2019 Commercial Heat Treater of the Year award. You can nominate any company you feel is qualified – including your own if you are a commercial heat treater. This honor will be given to one MTI commercial heat treater that demonstrates they are “making a positive impact on their community and their industry.”

Commercial heat treater Specialty Steel Treating of Fraser, Mich., invested in an AFC-Holcroft UBQ (universal batch quench) furnace and a UBT (universal batch temper) annealing furnace as part of a larger multiyear equipment standardization program intended to replace older equipment provided by another supplier. The UBQ and UBT furnaces are near duplicates to equipment recently provided by AFC-Holcroft as part of the same program. Delivery of the UBT is expected in the second quarter of 2019 to the site on Malyn Road in Fraser, with the UBQ to follow in the third quarter to the Commerce Road plant in Fraser.

Solar Atmospheres ordered a 12-foot-long car-bottom vacuum furnace with advanced pumping system and rapid cooling capability for its Greenville, S.C., facility. The 144-inch-deep x 54-inch-wide x 54-inch-high horizontal furnace is capable of processing loads up to 50,000 pounds. Manufactured by sister company Solar Manufacturing, installation is scheduled for early 2020. The furnace design features a vacuum pumping system capable of achieving an ultimate vacuum of 1 x 10^-6 Torr, which is crucial to the processing of titanium and other high-grade alloys.

As the economy continues to grow over the next 10-15 years, it is important for your heat-treating division to have three key elements: