EuroWire March 2017

News Technology

More demand for high-output plasma heat treatment lines

PLASMAIT from Austria is seeing an increasing demand for its high-output plasma heat treatment lines for stainless steel products. The next deployment of its PlasmaAnnealer will take place in Southeast Asia. Plasmait sold a 30kW plasma annealer to a renowned stainless steel wire producer, who wants to replace its traditional tube furnace for production of flat ferritic and austenitic product with widths up to 30mm. The HPA30 plasma annealer with output capacity of 100kg per hour will allow the manufacturer to halve the energy cost per kilogram of output whilst allowing for a considerable cost saving in terms of peak power consumption. connection requirements of the plasma annealer also means cheaper cabling installation for connecting power. The new compact single-line production will have the same output as the old multi-line furnace and will take about one third of the shop floor space. A single-line production will also reduce material manipulation and limit the investment into the associated takeups, payoffs and transport system. A typical plasma annealer installation for stainless steel applications can substitute around ten traditional lines on a conventional strand furnace. In an engine, seven types of screws out of approximately 70 are considered critical, and are crucial to achieving the engine’s specified design performance: bolts for the cylinder head, crankshaft, con rod, flywheel, and main bearing cap, as well as for the camshaft cap, camshaft sprocket andVCT. Having developed specialised engine expertise over three generations, the Italian fastener company Brugola OEB Industriale SpA has focused on manufacturing these critical bolts. When Brugola recently opened its first factory in the USA, the company sought to expand into the American market as well as enhance the precision of its critical engine bolts. its Plymouth, Michigan, plant, one of its key investments in guaranteeing the quality of its engine bolts was to select an advanced, sophisticated gauging system. Much lower power Before the company opened

▲ ▲ Annealer for flat stainless steel wires and profiles

This is different to the conventional strand furnace where tubes remain in contact with the furnace guiding supports also during the maximum elevated temperatures when they are most vulnerable to surface damage. A unique feature of plasma annealing is that heating is conducted in low-pressure inert atmosphere, for which a vacuum installation and accurate material guiding are necessary. The advantage of a vacuum system is that purging gas (usually hydrogen or forming gas) is supplied at low pressure, which reduces overall purging gas consumption. When the fastener inspection system manufacturer worked to improve the accuracy of dimensional measurements, the result was a redesigned version of the device, the GI-360T, which includes a tilt and lift feature for the laser head. With Brugola’s dedication to zero-defect manufacturing of its critical engine fasteners, the company sought to further enhance the fastener inspection system. As an option on its high-speed fastener inspection system, Brugola selected an axial viewer lens system for 360º head crack detection. In support of Brugola’s goals, General Inspection improved crack detection in order to detect cracks, scratches or missing features on the side flange of bolts. This speciality lens ‘sees’ around the head of the part. Brugola OEB Industriale SpA – Italy Website : www.brugola.com Plasmait GmbH – Austria Website : www.plasmait.com

Plasma accurate heat input and hence more uniform recrystallisation, which is reflected in homogeneous grain size in the longitudinal and transversal direction. The HPA30 annealer also features an extended tempering zone to allow for extended dwell time or slow cooling, which is necessary for selected ferritic grades of stainless steel. the advantages of high speed bright annealing and scratch-free surface finish. Processed material does not touch the plasma chamber when at high temperature, which reduces the risk of surface scratching. In order to make certain that all of its fasteners were flawless, Brugola turned to a high-speed 360º laser gauging device. The machine uses eight sensors and real-time part velocity calculation to essentially create a 3D profile of each part, along with measurement of a wide range of user-defined features to determine if each part meets exact dimensional requirements. The device Brugola selected for its critical fasteners, called the GI-360, measures a number of crucial fastener features such as head and shaft diameter, lengths, straightness, concentricity, thread angle and diameter (including major, minor and pitch diameter). It also detects any damaged threads, along with cracks on the bolt head and flange. Brugola turned to a leading gauging equipment manufacturer, General Inspection, to develop a number of novel inspection features. annealer allows The new annealer combines

Pushing the limits of fastener manufacturing

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March 2017