Fives received an order from JSW Steel, India’s leading steel producer, for an upgrade project of its reheating furnaces at JSW Steel Vijayanagar Works, which currently produces 12 million tons per year. Fives will modernize two reheating furnaces to increase their efficiency and capacity from 250 tons per hour to 295 tons per hour to meet the new requirements of the hot-strip mill N1. Both walking-beam furnaces were previously supplied by Fives. The project for both furnaces is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

Jingye Group, a Chinese steelmaker, acquired British Steel’s facilities in the U.K. and the Netherlands, a move that will secure approximately 3,200 jobs. Jingye will invest approximately $1.5 billion in the business. Initiatives include: the development of an electric-arc furnace (EAF) in Teesside; the construction of a new 250-MW power plant to serve the Scunthorpe site; investment in the rolling mills to produce high-quality steel products; the construction of a new rebar line; and enhancing the current rail mill.

Eurometal S.A. placed an order with Hertwich Engineering for the supply of a multi-chamber melting furnace for the expansion of its aluminum casthouse in Klomnice, Poland. The plant, which has a capacity of 30,000 tons per year, is scheduled to start operation in spring 2021. Hertwich Engineering, based in Austria, is a company of SMS group. The furnace, which is designed for a capacity of 100 tons per day, will be integrated into the existing production chain. It will mainly process clean and painted extrusion and sheet scrap as well as smaller amounts of briquetted sawing and machining chips. The scrap will be preheated for around 30 minutes to a temperature of approximately 932°F (500°C) by an intense hot-gas flow.

Abbott Furnace Company received an order from a global automotive supplier for a continuous-belt, stainless steel brazing furnace. It is scheduled to be installed in Mexico in the second quarter of 2020. Abbott Furnace will design, manufacture and install the five-zone, electrically heated furnace, which is rated for 2150°F (1175°C) and includes a 30-inch-wide belt and silicon-carbide muffle.

Piper Aircraft Inc. installed a high-pressure Flexform press from Quintus Technologies in its manufacturing facility in Vero Beach, Fla. The addition of the press reflects the growing market for new trainer aircraft. The fluid cell press applies flexible forming technology to the production of sheet-metal parts across the entire Piper line of eight aircraft models. With a work area of 27.6 x 73 inches (700 mm x 1,800 mm), the press introduces production efficiencies by eliminating forming operations, intermediate heat treatments, and manual pre- and post-forming operations.

Tenova, a Techint Group company, received a contract from Nippon Steel for the supply of an electric-arc furnace (EAF). The furnace is the first one for Nippon Steel in Japan. It will be installed at its Hirohata works. Production is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2022. According to Tenova, the new installation will save the steelmaker approximately 400,000 tons/year of CO₂ emissions.

Andritz received an order from Hyundai Steel to supply a direct-fired furnace (DFF) for the existing continuous galvanizing line at its Dangjin plant. The scope of supply includes engineering, delivery, supervision of erection work and commissioning. The project will be executed during the fourth quarter of 2020. By replacing the existing direct-fired furnace with an Andritz Selas DFF, current issues such as formation of soot and cracks in the burner nozzle will be eliminated. This modernization will enable Hyundai Steel to produce value-added products for the automotive market.

North Star BlueScope Steel will add a melt shop to its steelmaking facility in Delta, Ohio. Danieli will supply a 195-ton electric-arc furnace (EAF), two ladle metallurgy furnaces (LMFs) and Pulse-Jet fume-treatment plant. The EAF will be equipped with Danieli’s Q-Melt heat suite for adaptive melting process control. It will also include pressurized water-cooled roof and panels and injection technology. The first heat at the melt shop is expected by the end of 2021.

BrazeLet 9007/9017 water-based pastes are flux-free, contain low polymer content and prevent oxidation of the filler metal.

Aluminum brazing is a growing industry around the world today, and I teach a lot about this topic in each of my brazing training seminars. This article discusses dealing with the oxide as well as brazing aluminum to stainless steel.