Atmosphere Annealing, a division of Premier Thermal Solutions, recently added ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) to its process offerings in Lansing, Mich. FNC is widely used in the agriculture, automotive, energy, heavy equipment, heavy truck and rail industries, all of which are supported by Atmosphere Annealing. FNC is typically used on plain-carbon steel components and is known for providing a high level of wear resistance, low distortion, improved fatigue properties and greater corrosion resistance. Depending on requirements, FNC is often used as an alternative to carburizing and carbonitriding. 

Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) purchased a gas nitriding unit to expand its capacity for UltraGlow gas nitriding and UltraOx surface-treatment solutions at its corporate office and service center in Waterloo, Iowa. The large, state-of-the-art, high-temperature gas nitriding unit will also allow for increased capacity of gas ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) and stress relief. AHT plans on hiring part-time and full-time laborers to deal with the added capacity.

Z Capital Partners, the private-equity management arm of Z Capital Group, announced an agreement to acquire Atmosphere Annealing (AA) and NitroSteel (NS), collectively known as Premier Thermal Solutions, from Gerdau S.A.

Bodycote acquired Nitrex Metal Technologies of Burlington, Ontario.