As part of its strategy to better serve its North American customers, the SECO/WARWICK Group, the parent company of SECO/VACUUM and SECO/WARWICK USA, has committed to expanding its manufacturing capacity in Pennsylvania by relocating a portion of its manufacturing and a metallurgical lab for vacuum furnaces from its headquarters site in Poland to Crawford County.

Nitrex welcomes the newest member of the Nitrex Turnkey Systems Team: Marcin Krajdocha. Marcin steps into the new role of Technical Sales Manager responsible for Nitriding Systems in the DACH region and the Vacuum furnace product line in Europe.

Solar Atmospheres of Michigan has successfully relocated from the old Fraser and Warren facilities to a new, state-of-the-art location in Chesterfield, MI. All ten furnaces (both new and existing) are fully operational at the Chesterfield plant, heralding a new era of efficiency and productivity. 

The American branch of Seco/Warwick has decided to expand its presence on the continent. Mexico is an important market for Seco/Warwick USA; hence, the decision was made to open a sales and service office in Monterrey. The new Seco/Warwic, Mexico division will occupy about 2,000 square feet of office space in a high-rise business park, including garage parking and controlled-access reception.

ECM USA is excited to announce the addition of Dave Wolfe to our team as a Senior Sales Engineer. Formerly serving as an East Coast representative based in Pennsylvania, Dave brings a wealth of experience to our organization. His extensive sales background encompasses not only ECM vacuum furnaces but also spans 30 years of technical sales expertise, demonstrating a consistent track record in delivering customer-focused solutions for a diverse range of thermal processing equipment, including Photovoltaic/PV applications.

Quality control, EV components, energy consumption and material influences are just a handful of topics being discussed in heat treating today. New heat treat methods and global trends will be the topic of conversation later this year at Heat Treat 2023. Here’s a round-up of some stories circulating across key market segments.

Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) successfully installed a brand new 14-foot-long car bottom Air Furnace with a total load capacity of up to 30,000 pounds. The furnace was surveyed in accordance with AMS2750 and is uniform within ±10°F (Class 2). The furnace has a working zone that is 60-inches square by 168 inches long and handles a workload up to 30,000 pounds. With a maximum operating temperature of 1450°F, this furnace accommodates not only the tempering of large tool steel components but also age hardening of 15-5 PH, 17-4 PH, 13-8PH and nickel-based alloys, and the annealing of Titanium Forgings.

Solar Atmospheres of Western Pennsylvania is pleased to announce the approval of a critical Boeing specification for the oil quenching of alloy steels in accordance with Boeing’s specification BAC 5617.

Solar Atmospheres of Michigan, formerly Vac-Met, has recently purchased 18,000 square feet of plant space on four plus acres in Chesterfield Michigan. The new building is 20 miles Northeast of the two existing Vac-Met facilities which are currently located in Warren and Fraser Michigan. 

For the 2014 Orion launch, NASA introduced the Launch Abort System (LAS). This large manifold housing made from 6AL-4V titanium is designed to rapidly propel astronauts away from the main rocket in case of a catastrophic explosion or any other unexpected event. Once fired, the LAS will accelerate the astronauts away from the main rocket at forces up to 10 to 15 times normal gravity (“G’s”). This critical part of the safety system was once again vacuum heat treated by Solar Atmospheres of Western PA for their most recent launch.