Ontario Aerospace Council Newsletter – Summer 2002 Oakville, ON – Despite recent declines in capital equipment purchases, Vac Aero International has been awarded several new vacuum furnace contracts. ACRO Aerospace of Richmond, BC, an aero – engine overhaul facility, has ordered a furnace for delivery in the third quarter of 2002. Liburdi Turbine Services, headquartered…

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Stretching the service life of a hot zone-one of the most expensive consumables in a vacuum furnace-is of prime importance to the furnace owner. Proper care and maintenance can slow down hot-zone deterioration, which directly translates to cost savings. Hot-zone service life is directly related to the type of heat treating process used in a vacuum furnace and to the severe thermal stresses imposed by continuous vacuum-furnace cycles. Distortion and contamination are the main factors causing a breakdown of hot-zone components. Distortion is inevitable because thermal cycling is inherent to the process. However, periodic inspection and remediation of hot-zone components together with thorough component cleaning can extend service life. By Bill Potts, Vac-Aero International Inc., Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Come visit us at the ASM Heat Treat Show at the Detroit COBO Center. If you plan on attending the show, please be sure to stop by our booth # 1115 to learn more about our latest vacuum furnaces, and most importantly… we’re interested in learning about you, your business, and your needs. See you there! Date:…

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VAC AERO Press Release

The Oakville, Ont., company specializes in toughening metal components. It is a crucial service for the airline industry, which faces a growing demand for aircraft in coming years. Vac Aero can cash in if it meets the corresponding demand from the industry that suppliers cut costs and improve its products.

The Thermal Processing Divisions of VAC AERO International have provided repair services for damaged components from land-based and aerospace gas turbine engines. Engine manufacturers, operators, overhaul centers and commercial airlines are just a few of the customers that depend on these services. Many hot section engine components are fabricated from nickel-based superalloys. These materials cannot be repaired by traditional techniques, such as welding, without causing significant reductions in mechanical properties. As a result, VAC AERO developed proprietary vacuum brazing techniques to repair cracks, wear and other service-induced damage. By Jeff Pritchard – Vac Aero International Inc.

Transient liquid phase bonding, also known as diffusion brazing, is a metal joining process that produces a high quality bond through the isothermal solidification of a melting point depressant-rich interlayer.

TLP bonding is a metal joining process that yields a high quality bond at the interface of the materials to be jointed together.  The bond is formed through the isothermal solidification of a melting point depressant (MPD) rich interlayer.

Hard chromium plating has traditionally been used on aircraft airframe components to provide corrosion protection and wear resistance. Chromium plating has been identified by governmental regulatory agencies as a health hazard due to the presence of hexavalent chromium within the plating solutions. This has prompted major airframe and landing gear manufacturers to search for alternative processes to chromium plating which do not pose a health threat to the process operators. The leading candidate for hard chromium replacement is tungsten carbide coating applied by the HVOF (High Velocity Oxygen Fuel) thermal spray process. There are many practical considerations to account for when implementing a change of this magnitude.

All aviation gas turbine engines require regular overhaul to ensure continued safe operation. During engine overhaul, decisions must be made on whether to replace deteriorated individual parts and assemblies with new components, or to repair them.

With recent advances in technology, the vacuum furnace purchaser faces an array of new considerations when buying furnace equipment. Innovations in hot zone materials, control packages and quenching systems can offer many operating and performance improvements, but can also affect the price of the equipment.