EuroWire July 2021

Focus On USA

75 years of furnaces CM Furnaces is celebrating its 75 th anniversary as a high-temperature furnace manufacturer.

and low carbon, and wire sizes range from 0.003" to 0.5". Atmospheres are hydrogen, nitrogen or argon. CM builds both custom and standard furnaces, with the majority being tailored to the customer’s individual needs. CM Furnaces Inc www.cmfurnaces.com

The company has been serving the wire industry for most of its history. Its continuous strand annealing furnaces are used for stainless steel, nickel alloy, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, copper

▲ Continuous strand annealing furnace

Compounds with safety as a priority

Alphagary Specialty Compounds) designs and manufactures compound blends and alloys from a diverse range of polymers including PVC, TPE, olefin and urethane. The group also provides stabilisers under its brand Vinastab, as well as plasticisers and colourants. The group was formed when Mexichem (now Orbia) purchased Alphagary and joined it with Bayshore Vinyl Compounds. In 2016, Vinyl Compounds Ltd (UK) was added, and in 2018, Sylvin Technologies (USA) was acquired. Together with heritage compound assets in Mexico and Colombia, the Alphagary group operates from eight facilities, with a global sales and distribution network. The group serves a wide range of industries, including wire and cable, medical devices, automotive, building, industrial and consumer goods markets, (Mexichem

for wire guides on CV lines, rings on rod breakdowns, threaded eyelets on take ups, pulleys in annealers and capstans on multi-wires, among other applications. Refractron’s local manufacturing starts with in-house made powder, and the company’s forming and finishing capabilities allow it to make almost any precise shape that a process requires. To help provide just-in-time delivery for unplanned maintenance, Refractron keeps a large inventory of Izory HD drawing rings, eyelets, guides and rolls in stock for many standard machines, including those made by Niehoff, MFL, Samp, Syncro and Henrich. Refractron Technologies Corp www.refractron.com With safety as a priority, Alphagary designs compounds that perform to various fire testing standards in the USA (to meet National Electrical Code standards for residential, tray, riser and plenum-rated cables), as well as the CPR standards in Europe. The company provides solutions for a variety of cable types, giving engineers options depending on their cable design. Megolon LSHF compounds have been submitted to UL for its halogen- free recognition programme, and several compounds are listed in various UL recognition categories. Alphagary (Mexichem Specialty Compounds) www.alphagary.com Sylvin (for electrical moulding), as well as colour concentrates that are formulated to Munsell and RAL standards. The Vinastab CaZn stabiliser series 4000 is geared towards cable applications.

▲ Alphagary’s facility in Leominster, Massachusetts

with custom formulations designed to meet market- specific testing requirements. It offers a broad portfolio of compound solutions to engineers who design wire and cable products for datacom, power, energy and other types of cables. Options include compounds from the GW series (FR-PVC), Garaflex (TPE), Megolon (LSHF), Smokeguard (for plenum) and both standard and

Toughened zirconia parts for longer maintenance cycles

Refractron’s Izory®HD material, for use in draw rings, step cones, pulleys, eyelets and guides used to manufacture wire, is claimed to be 15 per cent harder and 30 per cent stronger, and to offer a 40 per cent improvement in standardised abrasion testing when compared to traditional magnesia stabilised zirconias (MgPSZ) used throughout the wire industry.

Izory HD still has the same fracture toughness that earned this type of toughened zirconia the name ceramic steel. Fracture toughness is a property that quantifies the ability of a material to resist crack propagation and chipping. It is critical to the durability required for parts used in wire manufacturing. Izory HD’s improved microstructure and properties make it well equipped to resist dimensional changes that can wreak havoc on process control. Its resiliency can translate into longer maintenance cycles and better wire quality. The material can be used to manufacture a variety of products for any application where wire quality is important and wear resistance is required. It has been designed

▲ Refractron Izory HD parts

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July 2021