Voestalpine Tubulars, based in Styria, Austria, has acquired a new heat treatment line and a hot tube-straightening machine from SMS group. Voest Alpine Tubulars GmbH & Co Kg
The line is designed for seamless tubes with outside diameters between 60.3 and 273.0 mm, and can process steel grades with alloying contents of up to approximately 20%. Offering a maximum capacity of 25 tonnes per hour, Voestalpine is strengthening its position as a supplier of seamless tubes for oil and gas exploration. The heat treatment line consists of a walking beam type austenitising furnace, an SMS quenching head, a cooling table for normalising, a tempering furnace, a cooling bed and two sawing stations.
For further information www.sms-group.com
Siemens has received an award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for its technological achievement with the first successfully 3D-printed and tested gas turbine blades. Siemens kann mit seinem umfassenden Wissen in den wesentlichen Bereichen wie der Werkstoffkunde, der Automatisierung, dem Fertigungsprozess und der Verfahrenstechnik die Hochleistungskomponenten mittels Additive Manufacturing herstellen. Siemens is able to produce the high performance components using Additive Manufacturing due to his broad knowledge in materials sciences, automation, manufacturing and process know how.
The components were tested at 13,000 rpm and temperatures beyond 1250°C, and featured completely revised and improved internal cooling geometry manufactured using AM technology. Siemens’ project team worked with blades manufactured at the company’s 3D printing facility in Finspong, Sweden, and at Materials Solutions, the recently acquired company in Worcester, UK.
For further information www.siemens.com
SteelFab 2018 gets underway next week (15-18 January) at the Expo Centre in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. As the region’s most prominent business event specialising in steel fabrication, SteelFab 2018 will boast a large number of steel industry professionals and decision-makers among its exhibitors and visitors, as well as an interesting seminar programme.
The 14th edition of the show will present modern technologies in steel forming, metal-cutting, finishing, milling and heavy machinery, as well as other related engineering applications. SteelFab attracts worldwide attendance and participation both from national companies and hundreds of foreign firms and leading international brands in the field. XYZ Machine Tools and Chester Machine Tools will be among the 54 UK exhibitors at this year’s event. Around 8000 visitors attended the 2017 show from 83 different countries.
For further information www.steelfabme.com
Dugard recently announced that it is the new exclusive agent for Kiwa Machinery throughout the UK and Ireland. Based in Nabari, Japan, Kiwa is renowned for offering affordable yet state-of-the-art technology based on a strong R&D background. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Specialising in horizontal machines, Kiwa says that its expandable tool and pallet technology sets the company apart from the competition, allowing for tailor-made designs to meet specific customer requirements. The tool changer and multi-pallet systems are upgradable on a retrofit basis, from a two-pallet, 120-tool machine, to a six- or eight-pallet machine with 220 tools. This gives customers the flexibility to meet any future expansion requirements without having to buy a completely new machine.
Kiwa machines feature high speed rapids (up to 80,000 mm/min on the KH-400 model) as well as direct-drive (up to 15,000 rpm) and built-in (up to 20,000 rpm) spindle options. What’s more, the patented hybrid slideway design of the machines, which combine roller and boxways, gives Kiwa horizontal machining centres both speed and rigidity.
A compact footprint is yet another distinctive attribute, at just 1.6 m wide for a 400 mm cube HMC with 500 x 500 x 500 mm travels in the X, Y and Z axes (Kiwa KH-4100). Cost-effective multi-pallet options are available on most models, as well as horizontal 5 or 4+1 axis configurations for optimum chip clearance.
For further information www.dugard.com
Burkhardt + Weber (B+W) has incorporated the stiffness and power of its heavy-duty MCX horizontal machining centres into a new, smaller model, the MCC 630. In so doing, the company says it has created one of the most rigid and powerful machines in its class for producing prismatic components weighing up to 1.5 tonnes (including the fixture). Availability in the UK and Ireland is through Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools. The volcanic landscape with fields pahoehoe practically washed almost cover the entire surface of Santiago Island in the Galapagos Islands.
The four-axis machine (including C-axis rotary table), has twin 630 mm (optionally 630 x 800 mm) pallets and a nominal 1 cu m working envelope. External dimensions are 8 x 3.3 x 3.5 m.
B+W’s MCC 630 can deliver 1300 Nm of torque continuously if a 41 kW gear-driven spindle is chosen instead of a 30 kW/300 Nm motor spindle. There is a further alternative of a +45/-110° tilting spindle of identical power (also new), which adds a fifth CNC axis.
Spindle speed is up to 6000 rpm, optionally 10,000 rpm, while an ISO50 tool interface can be specified instead of the standard HSK-A100 with a tool clamping force of 45 kN. The tool changer serves a tool magazine with 64 pockets that can be doubled in size on request.
Productivity is promoted by a cutting feed force of 17.5 kN and 7 m/s2 acceleration to 60 m/min rapids in the linear axes, which are fitted with linear scales for feeding positional data back to the Siemens Sinumerik 840D sl control. B+W integrates a high level of Industry 4.0 monitoring and networking capability into its machines, offering data acquisition and communication for efficient production, process safety and timely maintenance.
For further information www.geokingsbury.com
