TIMCAL GROUP
We took aside Dennis Anderson from TIMCAL Graphite and Carbon, who just celebrated their 100th anniversary, to find out more about their presence at the show.
“We’re here because we supply powder to the PM industry and this is a good way for us to connect with our customers and potential customers.
When asked what differentiates their powders from others in the industry, Anderson responded, “Our powders are very pure. Therefore, add carbon alloy to the powders… and we control the source of our powders from the beginning until the end. We own our own mine in Canada, where other suppliers of graphite powder have to buy it from places like China or elsewhere in the world.” Anderson added that since they own their own mine, In Lac-des-lles, Canada, they can provide the whole solution to the customer.
It’s this autonomy which has kept TIMCAL going strong for so many years. Anderson elaborated on their unique products: “These are our trademarks. We supply the TIMROC, which is graphite and coke. We sell to the market here in PM. Our ENSACO is carbon blacks that are very conductive, used in many applications. The ROLLIT family is used for the production of seamless steel pipe. And the Super P is, again, another carbon black, but used for a different industry. And then finally, silicon carbide is produced out of our plant in Bodio Switzerland.”
“Worldwide, we’re the leader, and are one of the two people in the world that supply primary synthetic, very pure graphites to the global industry.”
For more information visit http://www.timcal.com.
TIMCAL Ltd: Group Head Office
Strada Industriale
CH - 6743 Bodio
Switzerland
Phone : + 41 91 873 2010
Fax : + 41 91 873 2019
info@ch.timcal.com
SMS MEER
Since 1872, SMS Meer has been manufacturing equipment for metal working industries, not only for the compaction of powders, but forging conduction heating systems, welding mills, and tube mills as well. At the trade show we caught up with Joe Polito and Norbert Nie and asked them to give us some insight into their operation.
“We manufacture CSP compaction equipment up to and over 2,000 metric tons compaction force on a very high, precise level – highly technically advanced, giving us better precision of the compact. So our target audience is the part manufactures in powder metal and other particulate material for compaction,” exclaimed Polito.
Norbert further elaborated on their company’s significance in the PM business. “The demand for part manufacturers is to have a greater range, smaller tolerances, more levels. And of course, even density. And CNC control from our side is capable of reaching this process – as well, with fewer waste parts and a very, very quick changeover time.
“For example, stop to start, a new production – all the changeover will be done within roughly 20 minutes. So the capacity of the machine is really for production and not for setup times or something like that.”
From their displays and talking with Polito and Norbert it’s apparent SMS Meer has earned its reputation as a major designer of award winning plants and presses. For more information visit http://www.sms-meer.com.
SMS Meer GmbH
Ohlerkirchweg 66
41069 Monchengladbach
Germany
T. +49 (0) 2161 350-0
F. +49 (0) 2161 350-1667
info@sms-meer.com
ZAK FANG – U. OF UTAH
As representative of his laboratory at the University of Utah, Zak Fang was happy to fill us in on his latest research during a visit to his booth.
“We’re working on functionally graded tungsten carbides, cemented tungsten carbides. We’ve been working on this for a few years, and working on a comprehensive knowledge base. I think there’s some technology that can really be applied to industry. To put it simply, graded carbide with a surface layer has a lower cobalt content, and the interior would have higher cobalt content, similar to a carburized steel. And this can be done by a single liquid-phase sintering process. So we think it has some commercial viability there.”
He explained that the end result of this with regard to wear resistance was no longer having the traditional trade-off of switching to a higher cobalt grade. “Now you can keep your toughness and impact resistance with a lower cobalt surface layer.”
“Another chunk of work in this area is sintering of nano-tungsten carbide powder and sintering of nanocrystalline Tungsten powder, and working on understanding how the grain growth progresses. And from that understanding, eventually coming out with the new techniques and trying to minimize the grain growth, which is unavoidable, but we can somehow keep it to a minimum.”
Fang further instructed us on the advantages of nano-tungsten. “ I would say that so far, the finer the grain size, the higher the hardness. Also, in the cemented tungsten carbide field there’s a trend to go to finer grain sizes with really high hardness, if you can keep the bending strength high, which it should be, if the defects are low. And there seem to be a lot of applications.”
For more information on the unique work of Professor Fang, visit http://www.metallurgy.utah.edu/personnel/academic_faculty/fang
Professor Z. Zak Fang
Associate Professor
zak.fang@utah.edu
Department of Metallurgical Engineering
135 S. 1460 E, Room 412 • Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Phone: (801) 581-6386 Fax: (801) 581-4937
FRAUNHOFER INSTITUTE IFAM
We’re here with Frank Petzoldt from Fraunhofer Institute IFAM to discuss why they’re in attendance at the show.
“I’m actually working with the Fraunhofer Organization from Germany, which is, by far, the largest contract R&D organization in Europe. And in our institute we are dealing with contracts for industry and process development for industry related to power technologies, especially metal powders.
“So we have quite a broad approach, working with nearly all kinds of metals, starting from conventional steels, and ending up with high-performance materials like copper diamond materials. One example of our customer individual products in the life sciences is titanium for biomedical applications.
“One highlight, which is related to some rapid prototyping method, is our laser sintering method, where we optimize the structure of titanium alloys by utilizing metal injection molding technology. From there we are able to create a microstructure on the surface which is applied to initiate human cell growth on the surface of titanium for artificial implants such as heart valve rings or artificial bones.
“In the area of crash energy absorption and noise dampening materials, we manufacture hollow sphere structures from stainless, low carbon steels and titanium, which, being porous, are very light, and incredibly strong.”
For more information on Fraunhofer Institute IFAM, visit http://www.ifam-dd.fraunhofer.de/fhg/ifam_dd/EN/
Fraunhofer Institute for
Manufacturing Engineering and
Applied Materials Research
Dresden Branch Lab IFAM-DD
Winterbergstr. 28
01277 Dresden
Phone +49 351 2537-300
Fax +49 351 2537-399
DSH TECHNOLOGIES
During a brief visit with Satyajit Banerjee from DSH Technologies, a sister company of Elnik, out of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, we were introduced to a little of what this metal injection molding and prototype development specialty company has to offer.
“What we have on the floor today is a plasma furnace, where two technologies are combined – one, the plasma, which is used to debind the secondary binder in a metal induction molded part, and after that, it uses the conventional MIM 3,000 furnace to sinter the parts.
“The advantage of this is that the process is sped up by debinding with the help of a plasma. It works from a stage where the binder is in a liquid form, rather than evaporating the binder, so the debinding takes place a lot faster. And then, by combining it with regular sintering, the process time should drop from what would typically be 17 hours, down to 12 hours, so that you could essentially grind two shifts of parts in a batch furnace a day.
For more information or to set up a consultation, visit http://www.dshtech.com/
Claus J. Joens/President
107 Commerce Road
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009
(973) 239-7792 ext. 12
Fax: (973) 239-3272
cjoens@elnik.com
GASBARRE
We’re here with Jim Castle of Gasbarre Products, Inc., which was founded in 1973 to service the PM industry with powder compaction and sizing presses. He was demonstrating their new six-ton machine and automation system on the floor of the conference when he gave us a quick overview about their newest equipment.
“This automation system takes the labor out of the process, the advantage over other machines being this is a pretty unique, custom-designed and specified piece of equipment. Right now we’re actually pressing the parts with the one machine and actually picking and placing with the other machine on trays. Our quality control is performed by the press based on tonnage.
“Our corporation does everything from industrial furnaces to mechanical powder compaction to sizing presses to tooling to automation. With us, it’s more like a one-stop shop.”
In addition to their custom-work in the worldwide particulate materials market and thermal processing industries, Gasbarre also rebuilds, repairs and reconditions existing equipment.
For more information, visit http://www.gasbarre.com
Gasbarre Products, Inc
P.O. Box 1022
590 Division Street
DuBois, PA 15801
Phone: (814) 371-3015
Fax: (814) 371-6387
Abbot Furnace Company
We met up with Tom Jesberger of Abbott Furnace Company from St. Marys, Pennsylvania, to find out what they have to show at this conference that’s interesting.
“We’re a continuous belt manufacturer, celebrating our 25th year in business, for mainly the powder metal industry, but we supply to the brazing industry. So anything that’s continuous belt or continuous furnace technology under some kind of protected atmosphere up to 1,600 C, we’re the leading manufacturer in North America.
“Most recently we just launched a new 1,600-speed pusher furnace. So from a refractory perspective, it delivers a high purity aluminum brick, the high temperatures, quality elements, in a 100% hydrogen atmosphere. We have a hybrid pusher belt furnace that we also offer for high temperature sinter hardening.
From their website: “Abbott Furnace Company was incorporated in 1983 as a manufacturing and service company for control panels. In 1986, the company built its first continuous belt furnace for the heat treat industry. From an early focus on the powdered metal industry, Abbott has expanded into other domestic and foreign industries including, annealing, brazing, glass to metal sealing and fuel cells.”
For more information, visit http://www.abbottfurnace.com
Abbott Furnace Company
1068 Trout Run Road • P.O. Box 967
St. Marys, PA 15857
Phone: 814-781-6355 • Fax: 814-781-7334
READING ALLOYS
We met up with Colin McCracken of Reading Alloys, Inc. to find out what brings them to the show.
“We’re looking to display our titanium and titanium powders for PM applications. We’re very strong in medical coatings and splattering targets. And we’re looking to diversify into a broader range of applications.
“We’ve just published an article on identifying Hydride-Dehydride as a manufacturing process for titanium and titanium-based alloy powders. The focus of this is for PM applications, as a lot of people are familiar with gas atomized. And this was an alternative process to that manufacturing process, which, in essence, is a lower cost manufacturing route than the standard conventional gas atomized process.”
“We definitely came to the expo prepared. As you can see here we have a range of products” including titanium, aluminum and vanadium materials. “The last is Reading Alloy’s core business, as a master alloy producer. In addition, we also size these down into fine powders for titanium and super alloy development work
“Most recently, Reading Alloy was purchased by Ametek on April 11th of this year.
And it’s a strategic purchase. Reading Alloys powders are relatively new to the marketplace, only three to five years old. With Ametek’s sales force and marketing, it gives Reading great opportunities for the future.
From their website: “Reading Alloys produces the industry's most extensive line of ferrous and non-ferrous master alloys and specifically engineered alloys. More than 50 standard alloy formulations in a wide range of sizes from chunks to metal powders are produced. In addition, hundreds of alloy formulations are tailored to individual customer requirements.
For more information visit http://www.reading-alloys.com/
Reading Alloys, Inc. U.S.A.
220 Old West Penn Avenue
Robesonia, Pennsylvania 19551
Domestic & Canada: 800.234.9870
International & Overseas: 610.693.5822
Fax: 610.693.5542
E-Mail Us:
sales@reading-alloys.com
AMETEK INC
We’re here with Dick Mason of Ametek, Inc. out of Pennsylvania to see what they’ve brought to the convention and find out what’s new.
“We have a long history of coming to this show to introduce our stainless steel and nickel-based alloys to their wide customer base. And because it’s a global show, we feel it’s very important that we interact with everybody from around the world in this industry.
“Here we’re displaying our complete line of stainless steel powders, which includes 300 and 400 series stainless steels and a lot of derivatives of 300 series of stainless steel for better corrosion resistance, particularly 17-4 stainless steel powder, which is an up and coming material, and our ultra 303, 304, and 316 that are corrosion resistant materials. Because it doesn’t have some of the very expensive raw materials, our newest product, the 17-4 stainless steel powder has a corrosion resistance of 304 and, obviously, much lower pricing. On top of this, we’re also displaying our stainless steel plate products that are used in a variety of paint and coating applications.”
For more information, visit http://www.ametek.com/
AMETEK Corporate Office
37 N. Valley Road, Building 4
P.O. Box 1764
Paoli, PA 19301 U.S.A.
Tel: 610-647-2121 Fax: 215-323-9337
KOBELCO METAL POWDER
Mark Brock and Tim Robinson of Kobelco Metal Powder of America were very enthusiastic about the trade show and all the attendees who visited their booth. We couldn’t help but inquire into all the excitement.
“Well, this is the world show,” Brock exclaimed, “and we are really geared up about it. We’ve had a lot of interesting people come by. And I think we’re gonna get a lot of business from it. It’s great this year. Let’s go.”
Robinson elaborated, “Despite the economy, and subsequently the automotive industry, being slow, when you talk to some of these people at the world show, you realize there’s a lot of strong economy in Europe. The general session, they were talking about the Japanese, the Asian market, the European market. So it gives you kind of a positive attitude, whenever you’re dealing with what’s going on locally.”
According to Kobelco Metal Powder of America’s website, the company distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack in its atomized steel powder technologies utilizing “the highest quality melt stock, the purest raw materials, a V-jet water atomization process, and stringent quality assurance to produce the cleanest, most uniform powder in the industry.”
“As far as delivering service and quality, you won’t find anything better in the market, and we can ship anywhere,” remarked Robinson. “Kobe Steel, our parent company in Japan, is the frontrunner in PM experience.”
For more information, visit http://www.kobelcoamerica.com/
North American Headquarters
Sales & Product Support Offices
245 E. North Avenue
Carol Stream, IL 60188 USA
Engineering & Manufacturing
501 Richardson Road
Calhoun, GA 30701 USA
For more information, please call:
1-888-KOB-LC01 (1-888-562-5201)
INCO SPECIAL PRODUCTS
We met up with Frank Vultaggio of Inco Special Products out of New Jersey at the show to find out why they were in attendance this year.
“We supply the nickel powders and specialty products to most of the iron producers and other customers here at the show. We’re the supplier to the industry, and we’ve been here every year for the last 15 years.”
According to their website, their nickel products go into everything from consumer electronics, rechargeable batteries for the up-and-coming electric and hybrid vehicles industry, to fuel cells, powder metallurgy, and auto parts and systems, to name a few.
“We have four main products that go into the powder metals industry. Type 123PM is used by most powder metal companies as the nickel of choice. We just unveiled a new product, Type110D, which is a finer nickel powder which being accepted by a number of people and used in new products. 255 is another type of nickel product that’s also in favor in the industry. And then for the MIM industry, we have a Type 4SP-10 product, which is a spherical powder primarily for MIM applications.
“Our newest product is the 110D. It’s the finer nickel powder. It’s got a D50 of about 2 microns, so it’s much finer than our Type123 powder which allows some property advantages over the other products. Consequently, it’s targeted towards some of the high performance products, the higher density parts and gears, mainly.”
For more information, visit http://www.incosp.com/
2101 Hadwen Road
Mississauga, Ontario
Canada L5K 2L3
TEL: 1.905.403.3350
FAX: 1.905.403.8132
SELEE CORPORATION
We stopped by Hendersonville, North Carolina’s SELEE Corporation booth to chat with Wendi Williams to find out why they were at the show and find out more about their technical ceramics applications in the industry.
“We’re here working to get more business with powdered metal parts manufacturers, for which we outfit kiln furniture for their furnaces. It’s symbiotic in that they fire their powdered metal parts, whether it’s metal injection molding or powder injection molding, on top of our low-mass kiln furniture.”
Williams continued about the make-up of their ceramics. “It’s an open cell. So it’s like a sponge. And it’s 20 to 26% dense, rather than like a fully dense part, like the aluminum parts to traditional furniture. So it takes less energy to heat them up, and consequently they cool down faster. It also enables the gas to flow around their parts which encourages more even sintering and debinding.
“We have four different compositions of our ceramic kiln furniture, ranging from sintered alumina to our vitreous punia alumina, which is our most thermal shock-resistant product of different shapes and sizes. Our sister company, Engineered Ceramics, out of Gilbert, Illinois, makes fully dense pusher plates and kiln furniture.
For more information, visit http://www.selee.com/
SELEE Corporation
700 Shepherd St
Hendersonville, NC 28792
USA
Phone:
+1.828.697.2411 (Main)
+1.828.694.3426 (Sales)
+1.800.438.7274 (Toll-Free)
SPHERIC TECHNOLOGIES
We’re here with Michael Kirksey of Spheric Technologies to find out what brought them to the show.
“We’re trying to introduce microwave sintering to the powder metallurgy world, based on the work at Penn State several years ago and our own experiences.
“For most materials, microwave sintering uses less energy and has a faster cycle time and, in some cases, produced advanced material property, which gives it an advantage over conventional sintering techniques. For example, high speed steel sintering and tungsten alloy sintering exhibit a much faster cycle and much lower energy in microwave versus conventional sintering.”
According to their website, “The Company holds the exclusive United States license for a group of patents covering the use of microwave technology to sinter powdered metal components and other materials for industrial use. The patents also cover industrial microwave furnace design and microwave heating. Microwave sintering reduces energy use up to 80 percent, and improves throughput time up to 90 percent over conventional methods. These technologies enable reduced energy consumption, a lower carbon footprint and a cleaner environment.”
For more information, visit http://www.spherictechnologies.com/
4708 East Van Buren Street,
Phoenix 85008
Phone: 602-218-9292
Fax: 602-218-9299
Email: Info@SphericTech.com
OSTERWALDER AG
Michael Gasman, representative for Osterwalder, was kind enough to tell us more about the Swiss company with more than a century of experience in press manufacturing and cast parts production.
“Based in the powder metal business as a press producer, we’re here debuting our new solution for a fast tool change with a tool change and alignment system where you can actually plant and align the tooling in a really, really short time.
“In addition to this we are excited about our new press line. Like our older, ready-proven systems, the UPP, KPP and CA-MP hydraulic powder compacting presses, we have two new members of the family — The CA-SP, which is a single platen press for the lower tonnage range; and the CA-MP and multi-platen application, which is a fully hydraulic, fully CNC-controlled press with multiple levels which means lower punches and multiple punches as well.
“The advantage of these presses is definitely the accuracy and the speed. Like always, accuracy is the most important thing in powder compacting. With the hydraulic system and its CNC controlled axis, you have a lot of flexibility to get complex parts and shapes produced.
“The fast tool exchange is one of our goals right now, to make sure that you are up and running with your expensive equipment as fast as possible. Ultimately this really depends on the application you have and what you are producing. Depending upon the machine, it’s optimal for up to 30 strokes.”
For more information, visit http://www.osterwalder.com
OSTERWALDER AG
Industriering 4
CH-3250 Lyss
Switzerland
Phone +41 32 387 14 00
Fax +41 32 387 14 04
E-mail: info@osterwalder.com
AUTOMATED CELLS AND EQUIPMENT
We met up with Jim Morris of Automated Cells and Equipment out of Painted Post, New York, to find out what was new and exciting for their company.
“This time around we’re debuting two new machines — the Model TL200 and the Model LT10D. The TL200 is a tray loader aimed at tungsten carbide producers, as well as metal injection molders. This is a machine based around a FANUC LME robot that performs automated tray loading of small parts. Depending upon the application, this model, with automatic tray exchange and a graphical user interface, is aimed at those products up to about a 100-ton press size, there or about.
“The Model LT10D machine-tending package is a 10-kilogram, six-axis robot. It’s a three-drawer system. You can pull out the drawer from the operator’s side, load it full of new parts, close this drawer, and signal the robot to start. The robot pulls it out from its side and services the drawer. While the robot’s running one drawer, the operator can unload and load parts from the other drawers and keep everything going.
“It’s a very small footprint, a very lean, simple, straightforward machine. Because we went vertical with this application, instead of spreading out horizontally, any machine can sit back there, whether it’s a lathe, a mill, a grinder, you name it. It doesn’t make any difference.
“Our company’s been involved in the powdered metal business now for 12 years, focused primarily on automated material handling solutions. We handle powder metal parts as soon as they become compacted, through furnace-loading and unloading, sizing, press operations, secondary work, and actually packaging parts and boxes. We go all the way through.
“Just recently, FANUC Robotics, our robot supplier, named Automated Cells and Equipment to be their strategic partner in the production of tungsten refractory and hard materials for North America.”
For more information, visit http://www.autocells.com
Automated Cells & Equipment, Inc.
3435 Enterprise Drive
Painted Post, NY 14870
TEL:(607) 936-1341 FAX: (607)936-1531
info@autocells.com
MAGNAFLUX QUASAR
We’re here with Jim Long of Magnaflux Quasar in Albuquerque, New Mexico to find out what’s new and why they’re at the show.
“The most exciting news for us is the addition of Quasar to our product line for Magnaflux, Quasar being a process-compensated resonant inspection system that is a little departure for Magnaflux. We’re getting away from the chemicals and going to a dry process to test primarily automotive products right now.
“Most of our customers are using it right in line with their manufacturing process. So far they’re tying it in and seeing it to be very cost-effective for them, especially in the automotive industry these days. Most of our applications are geared for higher volume, so some customers use it on an audit basis. Most of our applications are 100% tested.
“And we’re really looking at the structure of the part. And that’s essentially what this resident testing does, looking at the structure of each part and comparing it to known databases with known goods and known not-so-goods. This has proven very effective and growing as we tested more than 175 million parts last year for automotive customers. We look for that trend to continue.
“Our process compensation technology ensures that, no matter the application — be it on castings, forgings, powdered metal parts, be it in aluminum, be it in ferrous — if it’s hard enough to resonate, we can test it.
“Next year will be the 80th anniversary of Magnaflux, a company proud to be the inventors of mag particles technology as well as Zyglo, and dye penetrant. These innovations have been the backbone of the company for many years. Magnaflux is plans to continue to grow and get into different areas of non-destructive testing. So we’re looking to continue growing and bring a value-added service to all of our customers.”
For more information, visit http://www.quasarintl.com/develop/
Magnaflux Quasar Systems
5550 Midway Park Place, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109-5800
Phone: (505) 247-9660
Fax: (505) 247-9666
Toll-Free: (877) 847-3067
Bill Maddox, Rico Mugnaini and Moshe Mocked
We ran into Bill Maddox, Rico Mugnaini and Moshe Mocked at the expo and got them going about their latest developments in the PM industry.
“Concerning the issues of corrosion protection and coating powdered metal parts, our message for the show is - we can help manufacturers put their parts in areas they were never able to before by utilizing our mechanical integrity technology. Basically expanding the range of products that can be made out of powdered metal through our impregnation techniques,” noted Maddox.
Moshe continued, “Concurrently, this also provides extremely good corrosion protection, and our process can act as a barrier, not to mention replacing some very expensive powdered metal parts with lower cost parts. This is because we can get the corrosion protection with simple iron powder thermally diffused. Right now, they’re either made out of machine stainless steel parts or stainless steel powder, which makes some parts simply cost prohibitive. This is the message we bring to the industry. We deal with fasteners and steel parts more than anything else. Our main focus is the hydrogen enbrittlement, a process that eliminates hydrogen enbrittlement altogether.”
Maddox added, “What’s fantastic about this is that it’s a pollution-free process, unlike either electroplating or galvanizing. It can be brought in-house, eliminating the need for permits. All of the liquids used are non-hazardous and recycled. So we end up with a RoHS compliant corrosion-proof part produced with a pollution-free process. So there’s a green message with this part as well. And on top of that, we received an award from the EPA back in 2006 as the Most Valuable Process or Most Valuable Technology added to the industry as an emission-free process, a fewer emissions facility, as they call it.”
For more information, visit
Chem-Plate Industries
1800 Touhy ave. Elk Grove Village, Il 60007
Phone#: 847-640-1600
http://www.chemplateindustries.com/
121 North Center Dr.
North Brunswick, NJ 08902
Ph.:732.422.7585
info@distekinc.com
http://www.distekinc.com/
4211 Hallacy Dr.
Holland, Michigan
ph.616-786-9200
http://www.agritek.com/
Christina Cohen from Penn State University and Tony Torsell with Anter Corporation
Christina Cohen from Penn State University and Tony Torsell with Anter Corporation filled us in on their testing services on exhibit at the show and explained their equipment on display.
“I think the MPIF 2008 gives us a good place to show our visibility to customers and let them know that we’re in the market, and we have capabilities that they can use. The majority of our testing and services involves metal powders — particle sizing, density, microscopy, thermal analysis. And we’re here with Anter, whose thermal analysis equipment we have in our labs,” explained Cohen.
“On display here is some of the equipment that would be of use in the powdered metal industry, such as the fully digital dilatometer, which reads from room temperature to 1,600-degrees Celsius. This application in the powdered metal field is really one of our top sellers. Its advantages are controlled rates and controlled ramping, just to name a few.
“The same goes for the vertical dilatometer, the Unitherm Model 1161V, in which gravity helps in that sense, as opposed to a horizontal standard traditional dilatometer. It’s a fully digital purge gas environment. Our FlashLine 3000 S2 Module determines the conductivity, the diffusivity and specific heat of samples.”
“In the flash lamp systems arena, we have a xenon flash that goes from cryogenic all the way up to 2,800 C.
“As one of the tops in the field when it comes to measuring thermal physical properties, we’ve been around for more than 30 years.” remarks Torsell. “We have different systems of thermal conductivity. With the refractories you’re talking hot wire method. For insulations, guarded hot plate, and for metals, composites, powders, polymers, we’re talking about the Unitherm 2022, our guarded heat flow meter.”
Cohen continued, “On top of all this we are known for our work in the area of particle sizing, surface area, microscopy and lot of thermal analysis. We also provide metallography on your finished part, so you can determine inclusions in your microstructure or different phases. We provide lots of different thermal testing services for other academia and outside industry.”
For more information, visit http://www.anter.com/
1700 Universal Road - Pittsburgh, PA 15235-3998
Tel: (412) 795-6410 - Fax: (412) 795-8225
AVURE TECHNOLOGIES
We’re here with Dave Peltier, of Avure Technologies, Inc. to find out their message and why they’re at the show.
“Our message is to indicate we can build a hot isostatic press up to 3 meters in diameters or a cold isostatic press up to 3.6 meters in diameter for very, very large part processing, full density, in a hot isostatic press to make green bodies in a cold isostatic press. As the global leader in high pressure technology, our work spans from the biomedical industry all the way to aerospace castings.
“We have the highest safety on our pressure vessels in the world, which differentiates us from the competition. And they have the longest cycle life, which means you have to buy a couple of our competitors’ products, versus ours, to get near the cycle life. Our performance is the highest in the world as well. We have a lot of R&D that we put into our furnace designs that also separates us from our competition.
“We’ve got the largest systems in the world. Currently, we are building the largest hot isostatic press for a company called Tizuko Geiken in Japan. We’ve built the largest cold isostatic presses in the world as well. And we, by far, lead in that category, as for more than fifty years we’ve been on top in the applied high pressure technology field.”
For more information, visit http://www.avure.com/
Avure Technologies
Headquarters
22408 66th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032, USA
Tel: 800-610-1798
Fax: 253-981-6350
RYER, INC.
Ron Peterson, from Ryer, Inc., out of California, took time out of running the booth to give us some insight into their unique presence at the show.
“One of the things that we see here at the show is a lot more interest in the readymade feedstock that we sell. Consequently, we’re intently listening to people’s problems with their current feedstock, whether they manufacture it themselves or purchase it, and discovering that whatever problems they’re having, whether its consistency or readability, we can overcome with our feedstock. Our background is originally in molding.
“One of our advantages in this market is that we have the largest selection of feedstocks available. If we don’t have the material, we can have it made. Another advantage is we have multiple debinding methods. We have either a water debind method, a solvent super critical, or a thermal debinding method. We help you through all phases of the operation, from feedstock selection through molding, debinding, and sintering.
“We’re one of the few companies that actually own its own molding machines, sintering furnace, debinding equipment and polishing equipment. We also have a plastics facility, where the small molding is done, that’s owned by the same individual who owns this company. It’s because of this we’re considered to be experts in the molding field.
“We’re proud that we go up against several feedstocks, and ours is selected as the material of choice. Our pricing is more than fair — it’s cheaper than our competition. Our quality, I think, is through the roof. The proof is in testing it. We’re one of the few companies who actually give you a free sample to try it. That’s how confident we are of our material.
For more information, visit http://www.ryerinc.com/
42625 Rio Nedo unit B
Temecula, CA 92590
Voice and FAX (951) 296-2203
ron@ryerinc.com
Ron Peterson, Vice President
SANDVIK OSPREY
We met briefly with Paul Davies of Sandvik Osprey, Ltd. out of the U.K., to get the inside scoop on why they’re at the show.
“We’re manufacturers of gas atomized metal powder, specifically for markets like metal injection molding. It’s certainly one of the fastest growing parts of powder metallurgy at the moment. I’d venture to say that Osprey is one of the leading suppliers of gas atomized powders.
“Some of the new products we can provide include duplex stainless steels, for example, as well as a range of nickel-based super alloys. And these compliment our existing products, such as stainless steels and tooled steels and low-alloy steels as well.
“We sell into a number of different applications for the range of alloys we provide. Injection molding is our biggest market, followed by rapid manufacturing, thermal sprays, and then a number of other technologies, such as filter spoons, grazing, and off-welding.”
For more information, visit http://www.smt.sandvik.com/osprey
Postal Address
Powder Group
Sandvik Osprey Ltd.
Milland Road
Neath
Neath - Port Talbot
SA11 1NJ
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1639 634121
F: +44 (0)1639 630100
ARBURG
We caught up with Uwe Haupt from ARBURG out of Lossburg, Germany to find out what was new and exciting for his company at the show.
“On display here this year is our answer to hot runner systems, which tend to be used in MIM without big success. There are no hot runner systems on the market right now which work for all the systems. Basically, we extend our nozzle from the injection molding machine so that it goes very deep into the molds. There’s a good temperature regulation and temperature control to allow the heat separation between the nozzle and mold. And the other thing is just small parts which are made by metal injection molding or ceramic injection molding by our customers.
“The machine we’re showing off at this show is our 40-ton injection molder, which is a very typical size for metal injection molding. It has the new controller, which has a 15-inch top screen, very easy to program, and gives you complete control throughout the entire process.”
On top of their world-renowned injection molding technology is Arburg’s comprehensive customer support and service package, “from planning, design and execution, right through to the commissioning of the injection molding machine or facility, as well as maintenance and even the training of machine operators.”
For more information, visit http://www.arburg.com/com/COM/en/index.jsp
ARBURG GmbH + Co KG
P.O. box 1109
72286 Lossburg
Germany
Company address
Arthur-Hehl-Strasse
72290 Lossburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 7446 33-0
Fax: +49 (0) 7446 33-3365
contact@arburg.com
SKIMORA and H.W.F. INC.
We met up with Howard Frick II. of Skimora Engineering and HWF to find out why they were in attendance at the show and what they’ve been working on lately.
“Skimora’s new 40-ton powdered metal compacting press is a multimotion die set. That means it’s got two lower floating punches with full press position adjustments and a capable shelf die of half the pressing capacity of the press. It has a dual upper punch with both adjustable inner and outer press positions. Also, it’s a very robust machine at 8.5 tons and almost 14 feet tall.
“H.W.F. INC. is representing us – Skimora Engineering of Japan. H.W.F. INC. started out with Yoshizuka from ’74 to 2001. And in 2001, we went with Skimora Engineering and their PressLine. Our Skimora PressLine goes from 1 ton to 800 tons, all mechanical presses, all multimotion, and all die set presses, manufactured in both Japan and Taiwan.
“The other nice feature of this press is it has a HWF-designed mechanical servo ball spring to control our feeder. It duplicates an actual mechanical CAM profile and is programmable with up to 50 memories slots. From there you can put that data on your parts setup sheet.
“Since the PM industry is mostly predominantly automotive, any parts producer that is currently producing PM parts for your automotive or non-automotive applications could benefit from this equipment.”