In today’s heat-treatment industry, we are faced daily with the challenges of complying with the regulatory standards that are relevant to our specific markets and products.

Established in 1964, CAN-ENG has grown to become a leading global designer and manufacturer of thermal-processing equipment for ferrous and nonferrous metals. For almost 60 years, CAN-ENG’s furnace designs have served commercial and captive heat treaters.

A supplier of agricultural and lawn equipment based in the Midwest purchased a complete batch austemper facility from AFC-Holcroft. The complete line consists of two AFC-Holcroft UBQA (universal batch quench-austemper) units along with ancillary equipment including pre-treatment spray dunk wash and post-treatment multi-stage washer, preheat temper furnaces, salt reclaiming system and salt holding tank. An AFC-Holcroft EZ 4500 endothermic gas generator was also purchased to provide endo gas to the furnace units.

Thermal Product Solutions LLC (TPS), a provider of thermal-processing products and test solutions, acquired Redline Chambers. Salt Lake City, Utah-based Redline Chambers manufactures vacuum chambers and systems for the aerospace, defense, energy, electronics and medical industries. The company specializes in providing vacuum technology and leak-testing solutions.

L&L Special Furnace Co. received orders for a floor-standing box furnace for heat treating saw blades and for a large floor-standing, fiber-lined furnace that will be used to stress relieve and temper large steel castings. The box furnace has an effective work zone of 34 inches wide x 34 inches high x 44 inches deep and includes an electric vertical door, an alloy hearth and a complete control system. The furnace's primary function is to heat treat a range of tool steels that are used for saw blades. The floor-standing furnace has an effective work zone of 36 inches wide x 36 inches high x 72 inches deep. It includes a pneumatic vertical door, 24-inch-high convection alloy fan, a complete control system, castable piers and a cast-alloy load platform for forklift loading.

Gasbarre was founded in 1973 to design, manufacture and service a complete line of powder compaction and sizing presses for the powder-metallurgy industry.

Industrial furnaces are widely used to melt metals for casting or heat materials for change of shape (forging) or change of properties (heat treatment).

Harper International entered into an equipment supply agreement with Westwater Resources Inc. to produce custom-engineered systems for thermal purification of natural graphite. These furnace systems are a part of Westwater’s Phase 1 facility investment and will be installed at the Coosa Graphite production facility in Alabama. The supply contract includes the manufacture, installation and start-up services for Harper’s rotary and vertical furnace technologies. The systems will be capable of processing 7,500 metric tons of natural graphite per year by 2023.

Nitrex, a global provider of fully integrated surface-treatment solutions, announced the completion of its Poland plant expansion. The expansion will allow the company to double its current European production capacity for both its Nitrex Turnkey Solutions business unit, including gas nitriding furnaces, and its UPC Marathon software and controls products line. The expansion will also allow Nitrex to manufacture its advanced vacuum heat-treating systems, which were formerly marketed under the G-M Enterprises name. This expansion comes in addition to the company’s existing vacuum-furnace assembly capacity in the United States.

An automotive manufacturer in China will install a second Nitrex-supplied automated heat-treating cell for nitriding parts. As part of the company’s growth, the cell will be placed adjacent to the first cell to expand production capacity to meet increasing market demand. The investment will allow the company to bring the production process in-house for greater control and flexibility. Nitrex received an order for six continuous flow-through nitriding systems to create the fully automated cell, which is responsible for automatic loading/unloading, processing and transport. Delivery is scheduled for August 2022, and the cell should start operating in the fall.