The HiPace 80 Neo turbopump, features a longer life before service and reduced vibration and noise emissions

SECO/VACUUM, a SECO/WARWICK Group brand, sold a vacuum aluminum brazing (VAB) furnace to an international aircraft component supplier. The furnace is designed to meet tight temperature tolerances of +/-3°C and incorporates a high-vacuum system with diffusion pump. The VAB furnace is equipped with six temperature control zones and can accommodate loads with dimensions up to 36 inches wide x 28 inches high x 48 inches deep (900 x 700 x 1,200 mm). Delivery is scheduled for early 2022.

This article discusses how sintering parameters, especially the atmosphere, can be optimized on vacuum furnaces to obtain the best-possible quality from sintered stainless steel parts.

Centorr Vacuum Industries received orders for six high-vacuum furnaces for the precision processing of metals in heat treating, annealing and brazing applications. With sizes from 12 x 12 x 24 inches to over 48 x 48 x 48 inches and from 1 cubic foot to over 100 cubic feet, Centorr’s Workhorse furnaces can handle a variety of customer loads in either high vacuum or partial pressures of inert gas. The furnace design has a refractory-metal hot zone and high-vacuum pumping system for the processing of advanced materials requiring an extremely clean high-vacuum environment.

SECO/WARWICK Group delivered multiple shipments of metal heat-treatment equipment to South America. The primary customers for this equipment are Brazilian commercial heat treaters. So far this year, SECO/WARWICK has shipped equipment to three heat-treating plants in Brazil. Most recently, a vacuum furnace was delivered to Supertrat in Santa Bárbara D’Oeste. The furnace has a workspace measuring 600 x 600 x 900 mm (23.5 x 23.5 x 35.5 inches), and it will streamline and improve the capacity of the heat treater’s processes.

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

Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wis., launched a plan to upgrade its heat-treating capabilities with a move to low-pressure carburization and high-pressure gas quenching. Partnering with ECM Technologies, the plan incorporates completely automated Nano vacuum heat-treating systems, which incorporate 20-bar nitrogen gas quenching with low-pressure carburizing (LPC). The Nano will operate several different carburizing hardening, and spheroidizing processes simultaneously. This change is a departure from Mercury’s traditional atmospheric carburization and oil quench system.

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.

Italy’s TAV Vacuum Furnaces received an order for a horizontal debinding and sintering vacuum furnace from a company focused on the design, development and production of braking systems. The furnace has useful dimensions of 31.5 inches wide x 31.5 inches high x 47.25 inches long (800 x 800 x 1,200 mm) with a maximum gross charge of 1,543 pounds (700 kg) and maximum operating temperature of 1022°F (550°C). It is equipped with a pumping unit, an AISI 310 retort for cycles up to 550°C and a forced-gas-circulation system. After pressing, the parts are placed inside the debinding furnace, where the binder is removed, pumped and trapped. Then the temperature is raised to carry out the sintering process. After a residence time at the maximum temperature, the heating is switched off and the retort is cooled.

ASM International and AGMA are committed to holding the 31^st Heat Treating Society Conference and Exposition (Heat Treat 2021) and the Motion + Power Technology Expo September 14-16 in St. Louis, Mo., and will not be canceling the events. Members want a platform to conduct business face‐to‐face, and it is our job to support that with our conferences and trade shows. The top priority remains the health and safety of all those who support the event on‐site. We have protocols in place and are working with America's Center Convention Complex, the city of St. Louis and our vendor partners to provide a safe environment for a successful in‐person event.