Z Capital Partners, the private-equity fund management arm of Z Capital Group (ZCG), entered into a definitive agreement to sell Premier Thermal Solutions LLC (PTS), a provider of metal-processing services, to an affiliate of Aalberts N.V. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year. PTS provides commercial metal-processing services to a variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, automotive, heavy truck, energy, heavy equipment and other industrial end markets. Since opening its first plant in Lansing, Mich., in 1978, the company has expanded to 10 plants across the Midwest.

Thermal-Vac Technology recently partnered with Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems to add precision gas nitriding and FNC capabilities at its facility in Orange, Calif. Gasbarre will supply an electrically heated furnace that is capable of processing workloads 48 inches wide x 72 inches long x 40 inches high and weigh up to 7,000 pounds. It utilizes Super Systems Inc. controls for automatic K_N and K_C control to AMS 2759/10 and 2759/12 specifications. The furnace is designed to meet AMS 2750F as a Class 2 furnace, which allows it to perform nitrogen tempering and stress-relieving processes.

Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of specialist thermal-processing services, announced the opening of a new facility in Syracuse, N.Y. The 60,000-square-foot facility is operational and offers a wide range of heat-treatment processes, including vacuum heat treating, atmospheric carburizing, low-pressure carburizing, carbonitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing, nitriding and aluminum heat treating. The site is working toward securing all major OEM approvals as well as Nadcap accreditation, which it is on the way to achieving.

SECO/WARWICK received an order for a ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) furnace with ZeroFlow technology from Harsha Engineers Ltd., a bearing cage manufacturer based in India. The furnace is equipped with a vacuum system, gas control system, turbo cooling, atmosphere cooling system, and post-oxidation system to get material a very uniform gray color and achieve other tribological properties to meet the specifications of bearing manufacturers. The nitrogen-potential control allows measurement and regulation of nitrogen atmosphere potential by measuring the hydrogen content in the furnace atmosphere. All the process parameters – like ammonia flow, carbon dioxide flow, ratio of carbon dioxide to ammonia and furnace pressure – are automatically regulated. The furnace control system employs a cascade-based temperature control system to regulate the furnace temperature very closely to meet customer requirements.

This article reviews the developments that have taken place, particularly for surface treatments, within the heat-treatment processing industry.

Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently commissioned a precision gas nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) furnace for a commercial heat-treating company located in the Midwest. The furnace is capable of processing workloads that are 48 inches wide x 72 inches long x 40 inches high and weigh up to 7,000 pounds. It utilizes Super Systems Inc. controls for automatic KN and KC control to AMS 2759/10 and 2759/12 specifications. The furnace is designed to meet AMS 2750E as a Class 2 furnace, which allows it to be used to perform nitrogen tempering and stress relieving.

SECO/VACUUM, a SECO/WARWICK Group company, received an order for a high-volume nitrocarburizing furnace serving a major automaker via a tier-one supplier. The horizontal retort furnace is designed for precision nitriding capability and productivity. It will allow the company to produce, in North America, a significant number of parts used by automotive suppliers and will be integral to a larger investment in the firm’s component manufacturing operations. In addition to ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), the furnace can also provide clean stress-relief processing.

Service Heat Treating, a commercial heat-treating company located in Milwaukee, Wis., has developed an alternative heat-treatment process known as WearAll that has shown to provide better wear resistance than carbonitriding for a number of critical-service components.

SECO/VACUUM (SVT), a SECO/WARWICK Group company, received an order from a U.S. manufacturer for a precision gas nitriding furnace with ZeroFlow technology. The furnace will allow the company to offer engineered steel surfaces that exceed, in many cases, its competitors’ product performance. The company manufactures a range of transportation components. In addition to gas nitriding, the furnace has ferritic nitrocarburizing capability and pre- and post-oxidation. It also has the ability to clean temper and clean anneal to temperatures up to 1400°F.  

Ferritic-nitrocarburizing (FNC) processing is becoming a more common alternative to coating processes that require improved mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion, often on plain-carbon and low-alloy steels.