"That was on one of our standard KASTOtec AC5 machines, designed for cutting with tungsten carbide-tipped (TCT) blades. We also make a high-performance KPC variant that incorporates two spring-loaded tensioners to guide the tungsten carbide tipped blade on the return side. This suppresses vibration even more, enabling an increase in production of between 15 and 30%, as well as extending blade life further.

Two new members of the family management team visited customers in the UK during December 2013. Stephanie and Jonathan Riegel saw the company's sawing machines and automated industrial warehouses in action in manufacturing and stockholding facilities from Yorkshire down to Birmingham and across to Cambridgeshire. They were accompanied by Ernst Wagner, managing director of Kasto's subsidiary in Milton Keynes.

The couple recently joined the board of Kasto group, along with Nicole and Sönke Krebber, also sixth-generation members, and Ruth Stolzer, wife of sole managing partner Armin Stolzer, who has run the company for the past 25 years. Dieter Heyl is the director in charge of production and Valentin Meier heads design and R&D.

Turnover at the German parent company remained stable at around €100 million, only slightly lower than in 2012 when one very large order for an automated warehouse was taken from the Bavarian uPVC window and door manufacturer Rehau. Business is increasing in many parts of the world, notably Australia, China, Singapore and Egypt. The number of employees is unchanged at 600, 10% of whom are apprentices, reflecting the policy of many German mittelstand manufacturing companies (medium sized, typically privately owned firms).

The group's global storage system deliveries continue to be around twice the value of its sawing machines sales. In the UK, Kasto has delivered six big automated warehouses in the last decade, plus around 20 smaller storage systems.

However, Mr Wagner says Britain needs to avoid falling behind other industrialised nations when it comes to automation. More than 1,400 Kasto automatic storage and retrieval systems for long stock and sheet have been sold around the world, but only a tiny fraction of these are in the UK.

Another indication of the reticence of British firms to embrace automation, he offers, is the slow acceptance of robotics associated with sawing systems. There are hardly any examples in the UK at the moment, whereas in Germany, central Europe and the USA in particular, such systems are used widely for sorting cut pieces, deburring, feeding material to machine tools, and more.

The company's top-end KASTOtec bandsaws are the main driver for growth on the sawing side of the business, with the message that such machines lower cost per cut as a result of their very high performance via tungsten carbide tipped blades. In 2013, however, the issue of minimising vibration has come to the fore, Mr Wagner says.

Vibration reduces tool life and also that of the machine, lowers productivity, raises noise levels and negatively impacts accuracy and surface finish. So now when Mr Wagner is asked by potential customers why they should buy Kasto bandsaws, he points towards the many features of the company's saws that help to minimise vibration, increasing output and reducing customers' ongoing expenditure on tooling.

"Obviously everyone says that they make a rigid machine, but we were able to prove the superiority of Kasto's bandsaws and vibration management recently during comparative trials carried out for a stockholder.

"Using identical feeds and speeds to those on a competitor's bandsaw when cutting 305 mm diameter Inconel, we achieved 55% higher output and three times the tungsten carbide blade life.
 

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By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Technology -- Investigators discuss new findings in Tungsten Carbide Coatings Technology. According to news reporting originating from Dortmund, Germany, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "The phenomenon of glass-to-mold sticking is a major problem for industrial glass forming processes. Ternary TiAIN coatings attracted considerable industrial interest because of their excellent tribological performance and high oxidation resistance at high temperatures."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Technical University, "Recently, multicomponent CrAlSiN and TiAISIN coatings have been developed in order to gain high hardness and good thermal stability at temperatures exceeding 800 degrees C. In this study, CrAlSiN, TiAlSiN and AlTiN coatings were deposited on tungsten carbide substrates by using a cathodic-arc deposition system with lateral rotating arc cathodes. Titanium, chromium and AlSi (12 at.% of Si) cathodes were used for the deposition of CrAlSiN and TiAlSiN coatings. All the deposited CrAlSiN, TiAlSiN and AlTiN coatings showed a B1-NaCl crystal structure. The deposited CrAlSiN and TiAlSiN coatings exhibited nanocrystalline structure and possessed hardness as high as 35-37 GPa after annealing at 700 degrees C in air. The wettability of the CrAlSiN, TiAlSiN and AlTiN coated tungsten carbides by molten glass at temperatures between 300 degrees C and 700 degrees C in controlled air under 1.6 Pa was measured by using an improved sessile drop method."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The CrAlSiN showed a low oxidation rate and a non-wetting characteristic superior to TiAlSiN and AlTiN coatings."

For more information on this research see: High temperature wettability of multicomponent CrAlSiN and TiAlSiN coatings by molten glass. Surface & Coatings Technology, 2013;231():24-28. Surface & Coatings Technology can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Sa, PO Box 564, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Surface & Coatings Technology - www.elsevier.com/wps/product/cws_home/504101)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Y.Y. Chang, Technical Univ Dortmund, Dept. of Mech Engn, Dortmund, Germany. Additional authors for this research include C.M. Cheng, Y.Y. Liou, W. Tillmann, F. Hoffmann and T. Sprute.


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The Penumbra mine is an underground coal mine in South Africa. The company has been struggling with its so-called continuous miners sections. Continuous mining utilizes a Continuous Miner Machine with a large rotating steel drum equipped with tungsten carbide teeth that scrape coal from the seam. Conveyors transport the removed coal from the seam.

Continental Coal Ltd Wednesday said it is still trying to complete a recapitalization that will allow it to settle its convertible notes that mature between November of last year and February of this year, but so far hasn't been able to reach a deal and it warned it may have to appoint administrators.

California Tungsten Carbide Knife and Blade and its global brand Baucor are excited to enter 2014 with state of the art grinding technologies to make industrial tungsten carbide blades and machine knives. California Knife and Blade and Baucor will continue on their commitment in 2014 to manufacturing and supplying highest quality industrial blades, machine knives, and surgical medical blades at affordable prices and within the quickest turnaround time while delivering exceptionally right on time.

A proprietary coatings process, capable of tungsten carbide coating surfaces as flat as 12 millionth of an inch and finishes finer than 1Ra, has been developed by Longevity Coatings, Allentown, PA, for valve components used in oil and gas drilling wellhead equipment.

The finished products—valve sealing tungsten carbide rings and slab gates—are capable of a service life two to three times those produced by competitive coaters and even those of Original Equipment Manufacturers, said Mark Purington, owner and general manager of Longevity.

Wellhead valves are critical components in the drilling process, noted Purington. The wellhead –the structure on the surface of a drilling site— controls the flow of gas or oil during production. Valves in the wellhead are subject to pressures that can reach as high as 20,000 psi. Failure to maintain pressure control at the wellhead could lead to a well blowout.

Purington pointed out that typical wellhead valves have two critical components: the sliding slab gate, which opens and closes to permit passage of fluids, and its mating opposite, the seat or sealing rings. Because of the intense high pressure brought to bear on the valves, the two opposing components cannot employ the types of non-metallic seals often used in industry in similar situations. “Both components are metal, with no intervening sealing materials. Because of this metal-to-metal contact, the surfaces of both the slab and seat must be perfectly flat to ensure there is no possible leakage.”

When the valve components become worn, wellhead operators routinely replace or refurbish them. Longevity can refurbish a slab or seat at a cost as little as one third that of purchasing new components, Purington estimated. “We have all the in-house technology required to take your gate, strip off the old coating, apply a new tungsten carbide coating of high quality tungsten carbide, apply our proprietary flat-finish process—free of any scratches-- and return them in a reasonable time frame.” The final product, he added, is a coating surface as flat as 12 millionth of an inch and a finish finer than 1Ra ---well above the industry standard. Installed, he added, “they will function at or above OEM quality.”

Although Purington sees wellhead service contractors as the primary market for Longevity’s flat-surface process, “We anticipate that some OEMs—wishing to improve still further the service life of their newly manufactured valve components—might want to utilize our services as well.”

Founded in 2005, Longevity Coatings, offers thermal spray coatings services for many parts and equipment components used in the mining and oil/gas drilling industries, including new and rebuilt drive shafts, slurry blenders, fracturing plungers, high pressure pumps, pump plungers and pistons, augers, valves, valve seats, valve tips and valve assembles and impact rings.

The company’s Allentown plant is equipped to apply diffusion bonded metal, ceramic and carbide coatings to virtually any type or size of mining apparatus or accessory, noted Purington. The company’s largest coating handling system can swing parts in excess of 18’ at a diameter of 50". In addition, “our multi-axis computer- directed motion control systems and mechanical multi-spindle setups provide the handling apparatus for processing shafts, sleeves, plungers, valves and numerous other coating applications.”


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It is an amazing story which saw founders Neill (corr) Ricketts (corr) and Will Battrick (corr) leave successful executive positions in a leap of faith to found the Forest of Dean-based advanced materials firm, which now employs more than 50 staff.

Yesterday’s interim statement also outlined operating losses of £190,000, but that cannot detract from the excitement the management feel for their business, a confidence underlined by "best recognised" fund manager Henderson Global taking a 10.31 per cent stake in Versarien.

What its results underline is a company which sees "significant growth" ahead and an ability to deliver "a substantial return on investment".

Key to the success of the porous metals specialist has been the acquisition of the business Total Carbide, a manufacturer of tungsten carbide machine parts for a number of key industries.

California Knife and Blade and its global brand Baucor are excited to enter 2014 with state of the art grinding technologies to make industrial blades and machine knives, and materials include carbon steel, spring steel, tool steel, D2 tool steel, M2 high speed steel, tungsten carbide, CPM 10V and 9V, 400 series stainless steel, 300 series stainless steel, 1075 and 1095 spring steels. . The blade materials are heat treated and hardened in strictly controlled ovens.

One of their specialty is to custom make surgical (medical) knife blades. Areas include orthopedic saw blades, ophthalmic surgery blades, general surgery, neurological surgeries, plastic surgery, all made from tungsten carbide. While they mainly focus on developing prototype blades for major medical device OEMs and producers, they also have some capability manufacture small to medium volume surgical blades and medical knives.

Freshly fallen snow is picturesque and beautiful. However, it never stays that way, because we have to trek out into it to carry on with our daily lives. If you want to take on the winter with renewed confidence, then the Retractable Spike Snow Boots will very likely be of use. These are a warm and soft pair of winter boots that have six 3-spike crowns of tungsten carbide hiding in the sole of the shoe. This material is harder than steel, yet slightly softer than a diamond.

Even with a nice pair of boots that have a lot of traction, the ice will still catch you off guard now and again. As the days go by, we’ll occasionally have higher temperatures which melt the snow, which later refreezes into ice. You can put out sidewalk salt all you’d like, but after a certain temperature, it doesn’t really matter anymore.

By turning a dial in the heel 360 degrees, the spikes will discharge, giving you a way to tread over the ice without acting like you’re walking on eggshells. The interior consists of a lambskin inner sole, and a leather upper. It is both breathable, and will make sure your toes stay toasty. This will cost you around $380, but will help you to keep from planting your rump meat in the snow on a daily occasion in the winter months.

“We chose to partner with Mr. Smith and DCI because we see tremendous opportunities ahead,” said Jeffery Christman, Managing Director of Rock Hill. “Two decades of positive results and a solid customer base help position DCI for strong growth. Moving forward, we plan to help Mr. Smith and his team streamline the operations, expand beyond current end markets into new ones and embrace new plating technologies, including the most recent addition tungsten carbide spray coating to its service offering. With limited competition in the arena, we see significant value enhancement opportunities ahead.”

“What struck me most about Rock Hill as an investment partner was their interest in partnering with us rather than taking over,” said Cliff Smith, Sr., Chairman of DCI. “They worked with us to develop a solid plan to streamline and consolidate our operations in order to better prepare us for significant growth and expansion. I’m confident that the future of DCI is on solid ground.”

 Rock Hill Capital Group (Rock Hill) has announced its investment in Oklahoma City-based Duracoatings Holdings, LLC (Duracoatings or DCI), the largest provider of chrome reworking and coating of downhole motor-related tools in the United States.

In 1993, Duracoatings was established by Cliff Smith, Sr. DCI continues to perform work in the metal finishings industry, providing electroplating, thermal spraying, grinding and polishing for the oil and gas industry, plus many other industries which deploy hydraulics, pumps, valves, and drilling tools.


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Sumitomo Electric has created a domestic recycling system, which completes all recycling processes of precious tungsten in Japan, by collecting scrap tungsten carbide inserts and rotary tools sorted by Toyota and reprocessing them as recycled tungsten carbide products.

Today, more and more super-hard, lightweight materials, such as titanium, Inconel® and new aluminum alloys, are desired in various industrial fields including aerospace, defense, energy, and transport. The hardness of these materials, however, inevitably creates a demand for more accurate and advanced machining, which is the most urgent issue in the metal-working industry in order to achieve a competitive edge in the global market.

Emphasizing environmental issues as one of the most important challenges for our business, Sumitomo Electric will continue to meet customer demands and spare no effort in reducing the environmental impact in all aspects of the life cycle of tungsten carbide tools: production, use, regrinding, and recycling.