This article looks at ways our means of transportation – how we get from here to there – are heat treated. We start with aerospace and then consider vehicular transportation followed by manual propulsion.

SECO/WARWICK will deliver a vacuum furnace to a European manufacturer of heavy equipment. The furnace, which has workspace dimensions of 600 x 600 x 900 mm, will be used for hardening and tempering processes for steel. Its design has been customized in order to meet the demands of a dedicated thermal process used in the production of aircraft landing gear. SECO/WARWICK engineers fitted the furnace with a non-standard system for sub-quenching with liquid nitrogen, which enables the required quick cool-down of landing-gear components.

Optomec delivered a multi-functional metal additive-manufacturing (AM) machine to a supplier to the aviation engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market. The machine combines two turbine repair process operations that are typically done manually, which not only reduces the cost of engine overhauls but also improves the quality and consistency of these flight-critical procedures. Optomec’s metal AM machines use a process called directed energy deposition (DED) to build 3D metal parts by depositing powdered metal into a precisely controlled pool of melted metal. Fiber-optic lasers supply the thermal power, while advanced motion-control systems produce the required geometries for the parts. This proprietary process precisely adds metal to worn engine components, restoring them to the geometric specifications set by the original manufacturers.

As part of an expansion and reorganization of its parts manufacturing and fabrication areas, Duncan Aviation created a new division called Duncan Manufacturing Solutions (DMS). The company invested more than $4 million in the 21,000-square-foot DMS facility, which was built adjacent to its Turbine Engine Overhaul Shop in Lincoln, Neb. The company added more equipment to supplement its previous capabilities and machinery to allow for heat treatment, CNC milling, waterjet cutting, metal pressing and engraving. DMS brought heat-treating capabilities in-house with the addition of two industrial ovens capable of heat treating aluminum, stainless steel, tool steel and titanium.

An international aircraft controls manufacturer ordered a low-temperature vacuum furnace from SECO/VACUUM, a SECO/WARWICK Group brand, for tempering, aging and other processes. The furnace will ensure bright part surfaces after treatment in lower temperatures. It is designed to operate up to 1380°F (750°C) with work-zone dimensions of 24 x 24 x 36 inches and a load capacity 1,750 pounds. The furnace meets class 2 TUS requirements per AMS 2750F and is capable of nitrogen convection heating and cooling. This is the fifth vacuum furnace supplied by SECO/WARWICK Group to this company, which operates multiple facilities in the United States and Asia.

Experiments were undertaken to develop the best process for brazing Hast X alloy for an aerospace application.

Aerojet Rocketdyne finished a major expansion of its Los Angeles facility to support production of new-generation RS-25 main engines for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which will send astronauts to the Moon as early as 2024. The $59 million expansion includes renovations to existing buildings, the addition of additive-manufacturing (3D-printing) capabilities and new testing and storage facilities. New equipment includes a horizontal vacuum furnace for brazing exotic engine materials, four selective laser melting machines for additive manufacturing and nondestructive inspection equipment.

Armil CFS Inc. shipped two natural-gas-fired box furnaces with integrated afterburners to a West Coast manufacturer of aerospace components. The furnaces, which have an operating temperature range of 450-1800°F with +/-25°F uniformity in the work zone, will be used to burn out and preheat investment casting molds. The Tru-Heat furnaces have an inside chamber size of 8 feet wide x 7 feet deep  with a working height of 4 feet. For energy savings, they are programmed with weekend mode and automated afterburner idle.

L&L Special Furnace Co. shipped a floor-standing box furnace to an aerospace company in eastern Canada. The furnace will be used for curing and bonding ceramic coatings to various steel bodies primarily deployed in the aerospace industry. This process provides extra strength to aerospace parts that are subject to various temperatures and stresses under normal operating conditions. The furnace has an effective work zone of 22 inches wide x 16 inches high x 20 inches deep. A horizontal door with ceramic hearth and support bricks is included to incorporate the customer’s loading system. Nickel-chrome elements that are resistant to any potential contamination the process may cause are used. Heat shields provide a safe-to-touch case temperature under operating conditions.

SECO/WARWICK will deliver a solution heat treatment line to Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), an Indian manufacturer in the aerospace sector. The order is the largest production line for aircraft skins in the history of both companies. SECO/WARWICK will build a production line for the solution heat treatment of aluminum alloys. It will meet the stringent requirements for AMS 2750F and AMS 2770 standards. The equipment will be used for the production of aircraft skins, empennage and center-wing boxes. The line includes a rapid-quench electric furnace (drop-bottom type), mobile quenching tank, rinsing tank and additional equipment (including a chiller and loading baskets).