Hard lessons learned from the 2020 pandemic taught us that we needed to rebuild and re-establish our U.S. supply-chain ecosystem. The systemic shock to our global supply chains left us with bottlenecks, shortages and an acute awareness of our overdependence on imports.

TAV Vacuum Furnaces manufactured a vertical high-vacuum furnace for one of Asia’s leading aerospace companies. The bottom-loading furnace offers an advanced solution for heat-treatment and brazing processes and can process aerospace materials such as titanium alloys and superalloys. It has useful dimensions of 1,500 mm diameter x 2,600 mm high (59 x 102 inches) with a maximum gross charge of 5,510 pounds (2,500 kg) and a maximum operating temperature of 2192°F (1200°C).

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA recently took occupancy of a new 15,000-square-foot connector building that joins the 80,000-square-foot workspace, which houses some of the largest vacuum furnaces in the world, to the 10,000-square-foot Nadcap laboratory, testing building and vacuum oil quenching building. The primary purpose of the new building is to create a clear and defined flow of work using a pull-push system rather than having incoming and outgoing jobs combined in front of heat-treating equipment. All incoming jobs will now be “pulled” from this building, and completed jobs will be “pushed” back to a designated outbound area. The new space will serve as a conduit for transfer of materials from production to final testing.

Solar Atmospheres named Frank Trujillo director of sales at Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA). With more than 30 years of experience in the metals industry, Trujillo has established career-building relationships through clear and honest communication, responsiveness and consistent reliability. He brings a wealth of knowledge from the aerospace (military and commercial), medical and power-generation industries. 

Busch Vacuum Solutions USA, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based manufacturer of vacuum pumps, blowers, compressors and systems, acquired Jennings Associates Inc., a distributor for new equipment, maintenance and repair for vacuum pumps, blowers and heat exchangers. The acquisition of Jennings’ vacuum pump, blower and service portion of the business furthers Busch’s long-term goal of providing better technical and service support for customers in the eastern central region of the United States. 

Retech, part of the SECO/WARWICK Group, is completing an order with Livnica Preciznih Odlivaka (LPO), a foundry in Serbia, for a vacuum induction melting (VIM) furnace. The 50-kg furnace will be used for high-speed precision investment casting. Precision casting using the lost-wax process will significantly improve and accelerate the foundry’s production capabilities. A great advantage of the furnace is the very short time between loading the mold and the start of casting. Parts manufactured at LPO are installed in engines used in the commercial aviation industry.

Ipsen was awarded an order from SITES Medical for two 2-bar vacuum furnaces. The furnaces will be used for orthopedic implant processing, such as stress relieving Ti and CoCr components, as well as diffusion bonding of Ti and CoCr implants. Each TurboTreater has a work zone size of 24 inches wide x 24 inches high x 36 inches deep with an all-metal hot zone. SITES Medical is an orthopedic technology development company that invents and de-risks new technologies and collaborates with OEMs to bring them to market. The furnaces will help the Columbia City, Ind.-based company accommodate increased volume resulting from growth in business.

A new feature on the PdMetrics dashboard monitors incoming three-phase utilities, voltage and frequency on Ipsen’s TITAN 2.0 vacuum furnaces.

Innovative deposition techniques that leverage the unique characteristics of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) are enabling realization of this material’s performance advantages as a thermal-barrier coating at ultrahigh temperatures.

TAV Vacuum Furnaces, together with its U.S. group company Furnacare Inc., supplied a horizontal vacuum brazing furnace to a U.S.-based engineering company that specializes in a wide range of brazing services. The furnace, which has useful dimensions of 48 inches wide x 30 inches high x 48 inches deep, offers an advanced solution for high-vacuum brazing of aluminum components. It has a maximum operating temperature of 1150°F (621°C) and a maximum gross charge of 500 pounds.