News
Latrobe Specialty Steel Expansion Project Awarded Multiple Awards
[June 30, 2010] Consarc Corp., an Inductotherm Group company, worked with Latrobe Specialty Steel and Continental Design Management Group to produce the world's largest Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) furnace in record time, using a modified design-and-build technique.
This project was awarded the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) 2009 Project Excellence Award as well as the inaugural 2010 American Metal Market Award for Excellence for Best Operational Improvement.
Consarc, who was responsible for the manufacturing and installation of Latrobe's new Consarc VIM system, maintained an aggressive schedule starting in December 2007 that put liquid metal in the VIM system in September 2008. Consarc's VIM furnace met the increasing demand in the aerospace and defense markets for premium vacuum-melted steel according to Latrobe Specialty Steel.
The induction melting equipment was supplied by Inductotherm Corp., another Inductotherm Group company. This system included two (2) 30,000 kg and one (1) 20,000 kg interchangeable quick change induction furnace shells. These furnaces are powered by a 5000 kW VIP® induction power supply, making this one of the highest installed vacuum power density applications in the world.
Along with the induction melting furnaces, Consarc also delivered three additional vacuum arc remelting furnaces, all part of this $62M expansion project.
Latrobe Specialty Steel produces and sells worldwide VIM-VAR steel for numerous critical aerospace, defense, power generation and oil and gas exploration applications.
Consarc designs and manufactures furnaces and related systems for vacuum induction melting (VIM), vacuum arc remelting (VAR), electroslag remelting (ESR), vacuum precision investment casting (VPIC), induction skull melting (ISM), solar silicon melting furnaces, as well as specialty furnaces for proprietary processes.
Inductotherm Corp. designs and manufactures the most advanced melting, heating, holding and pouring systems for virtually all metal and material processing.
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Three new Clamshell furnaces have recently been sold by Consarc
Two have been ordered by major aerospace companies, the third has been sold to a specialist producer in the powder metallurgy field.
All three furnaces are from our FVS56 range and the work zone dimensions vary from 1600mm in diameter and up to 1500mm high.
All FVS56 Furnaces feature the latest Consarc hot zone design, with rigid CBCF insulation and graphite heater. A sacrificial hot face layer is fixed to the insulation boards to extend the hot zone life by providing a barrier to erosion of the insulation. This helps to provide class leading hot zone life when coupled with good working practices and maintenance regimes.
All Consarc FVS56 Clamshell furnaces provide the following features:
- High Vacuum Operation 10-5/10-6 mbar
- High Velocity Inert Gas Quench
- Active Partial pressure control
- Guaranteed load soak temperature control
- Choice of Siemens S7 or Allen Bradley PLC based control system
- SCADA system for process control and data acquisition of key parameters
The first furnace was installed during Q1 2010, our proven technology and excellent record on reliability was a key factor in our customer's decisions to buy Consarc equipment, and they have been highly satisfied by the quality of the production parts being produced.
When treating circular workloads that demand excellent temperature uniformity, the Clamshell offers a truly unmatched solution due to the all-round heating provided by the hot-zone design without the need for the multiple zones required in horizontal furnaces and the difficulty in balancing the heating this causes.
The subsequent furnaces will complete their site installations in the later part of 2010 and early 2011.
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Consarc Presented with Scottish Engineering President's Award
for Outstanding Achievement 2010
Eric Rennie, Managing Director of Consarc Engineering Ltd (2nd left)
receiving the President's Award for Outstanding Achievement 2010 on behalf of Consarc
Consarc are world leaders in the Manufacture and Installation of Vacuum melting and re-melting technologies. We are a supplier of choice to some of the world's most demanding end-users.
For new equipment sales, service or spare part requirements please contact us on sales@consarceng.com or call us on (+44) 01698 730430
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