After much analysis, feedback from attendees and the uncertainty of COVID-19, the MTI Board of Trustees has approved transition to a virtual format for Furnaces North America 2020. Attendees will be able to experience the virtual exhibit hall for free. For those wanting to view the three live panel discussions and 35 technical sessions, FNA is offering a special for attendees of $199 for each of the first two registrants from a company and $49 for every person after that. To qualify, everyone must register on the same online registration form. 

Wall Colmonoy – as part of its plan to improve product development, technical support and advancement – invested approximately $627,000 in the Research & Development Laboratory at its Pontardawe-based European headquarters. The R&D Lab has developed into a fully comprehensive suite of analytical equipment for characterizing powders, including laser diffraction, chemical analysis, dry powder and fluid rheometry, and optical and electron microscopy. With a move into materials for additive manufacturing, where powder properties such as particle shape and size are often more critical, there was a need to expand analytical capabilities.

Rapid phase transformation and high thermal gradients that occur during quenching can cause distortion, which can lead to costly hard machining and rejection.

BNP Media has announced the launch of the Process Heating & Cooling Show, an interactive conference and exposition where executives and engineers from various industries – including oil and gas, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, packaging and plastics – will learn from thought leaders and discover new technologies and trends exclusively for the process heating and cooling sectors. This new event will be held June 16-17, 2021, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill.

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA (SAWPA) can now offer in-house metallographic testing with the purchase of a Zeiss AxioVert A1 inverted materials microscope, accompanying Axiocam digital camera and Zen Core materials-analysis software package. The AxioVert A1 system allows for reflected brightfield, darkfield, polarized and circular contrasting techniques, along with a 50x to 1000x magnification range. The additional Axiocam and Zen Core materials-analysis software features automated determination of material grain size.

The aerospace industry is increasingly adopting metal additive manufacturing (AM) for both flight safety-critical aircraft parts and non-critical flight parts.

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.

The AbrasiMet XL Pro large abrasive cutter reduces sample size, removes material damage quickly and provides consistency and repeatability in cutting large samples for production environments.

Simulation software can help manufacturers improve quality for direct energy deposition (DED) metal additive-manufacturing processes.

Graphi-Coat 623 is a patented titanium diboride-based coating that significantly inhibits the oxidation of most commercial grades of graphite to 2000°F (1093°C).