Solar Manufacturing recently shipped a 10-bar gas-quenching vacuum furnace to a captive heat treater in New England. Featuring high-pressure gas quenching and vacuum carburizing, the furnace has a graphite-insulated hot zone with a work area measuring 24 inches wide x 24 inches high x 36 inches deep and a load capacity up to 2,000 pounds. The AMS 2750F-compliant furnace has a maximum operating temperature of 2400°F (1315°C) and temperature uniformity of ±10°F. The furnace is equipped with the state-of-the-art SolarVac Polaris control system with carburizing software.

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Alcoa Warrick LLC, containing all the assets of the Warrick Rolling Mill, from Alcoa Corp. for a purchase price of $670 million. Alcoa will retain ownership of the related smelting assets, power plant and land. As part of the transaction, Kaiser Aluminum will enter into a market-based molten aluminum supply agreement. The Warrick facility includes casting, significant hot- and cold-rolling capacity, and a range of finishing and coating lines. Warrick, which is located near Evansville, Ind., has shipped over 675 million pounds of aluminum in the last 12 months.

Quintus Technologies received an order from Piper Aircraft, an aircraft manufacturer, to provide a high-pressure hydroform fluid cell press for its facility in Vero Beach, Fla. The press generates a press force of 35,000 metric tons across the entire forming area of 39 x 118 inches (1,000 x 3,000 mm). It includes user-friendly features such as equipment serviceability, remote system control and a high degree of self-diagnostics. The installation will allow Piper to redirect component production from a 40-year-old ASEA press. The large forming area and advanced controls give the new press the ability to produce up to 1,000,000 formed sheet-metal parts per year.

United States Steel Corp. announced the closing of $63.4 million of Environmental Improvement Revenue Bonds with a green bond designation. The company will use proceeds from the green bonds to partially fund work related to its new environmentally preferred, low-emission electric-arc furnace (EAF) at U.S. Steel’s Fairfield Works in Alabama.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been contracted to deliver a number of different furnace types to multiple customers in the United States and Canada for the heating and heat treatment of aluminum and steel closed-die forgings. The furnace configurations either under construction in the company shops or in the early stages of commissioning include rotary hearth, chain conveyor, roller hearth, mesh belt and cast-link belt. These furnaces will be delivered to Georgia, North Carolina and Ontario. They will be used in the production of powertrain, suspension and steering/linkage components for the automotive sector.

Pratt & Whitney, a division of Raytheon Technologies Corp., plans to invest at least $650 million through 2027 in a turbine airfoil production facility in Asheville, N.C. The 1,000,000-square-foot facility will house an advanced casting foundry for the production of turbine airfoils and conduct machining, coating and finishing of airfoils on-site. The investment is intended to create 800 new jobs through 2027 in Buncombe County.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $16 million in funding for 17 projects as part of Phase 1 of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Ultrahigh Temperature Impervious Materials Advancing Turbine Efficiency (ULTIMATE) program. ULTIMATE teams will develop ultrahigh-temperature materials for gas turbine use in the aviation and power-generation industries.

Nucor Corp. signed a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with EDF Renewables North America (EDFR) for 250 megawatts of solar energy in Texas. According to Nucor, the agreement is its first VPPA and the largest of its kind for the steel industry. Construction on EDFR's solar project is expected to begin in the summer of 2022 with production of electricity estimated to begin in 2023. Once completed, the expected annual output of the solar facility will be the equivalent of the electricity consumed by nearly 50,000 average Texas homes.

A Virginia-based manufacturer of high-quality plumbing tube commissioned a SECO/WARWICK solution heat-treat furnace to expand its capabilities to include aluminum extrusions. This is the first installation of new aluminum-processing equipment at the plant. Tubing extrusions and other shapes up to 26 feet long are loaded horizontally at floor level into a load carriage. The carriage containing the load is then pulled by a hoist from one end until it is vertical next to the furnace. The carriage is then secured to the supporting structure, allowing the hoist to lower the load down and out of the carriage. The load is lowered into a powered rotating carousel, which contains two submerged drywells that extend below the floor into the water-filled pit. The load is then supported by the carousel, allowing the hoist to be released. The carousel rotates until the load is in position directly below the furnace. The furnace door opens, and a second hoist retrieves the load, pulling it up into the furnace chamber for heating.