The Democratic Republic of Congo has declared its huge resources of electric car battery metal cobalt “strategic” and tripled the amount of money international miners need to pay the state for every tonne of metal they sell. The decree, which was promulgated as part of the country’s new mining code, will increase the royalties on cobalt from 3.5 per cent to 10 per cent, hitting some of the largest international miners such as Glencore and China Molybdenum. International miners have vociferously opposed the DRC’s new mining legislation, which was signed into law byContinue reading
Demand Isn’t The Problem For Carpenter Technology; Execution Is (US)
- Carpenter is seeing very healthy demand trends in key markets like aerospace and energy, but is struggling to deliver impressive operating leverage.
- The Athens ramp continues to drag on; management says it sees a greater sense of urgency among aero engine customers, but this has been a consistent source of frustration.
- Carpenter looks undervalued and still has significant margin leverage potential, but management has to start executing on that potential in a more tangible way.
Although demand for specialty alloys has been strong almost across the board, progress remains shaky at best for Carpenter Technology (CRS), as the company’s earnings and cash flow are not reflecting what is actually a pretty healthy demand environment. To the extent it makes anybody feel better, Carpenter isn’t the only alloy company to take a beating in the market, as Carpenter, Universal Stainless (USAP), Haynes (HAYN), and Allegheny(ATI) have all been weak over the past six months as investors have been spooked by the 30% fall in nickel prices and the risk of Continue reading
Aluminum-scandium master alloys, changing the way the world flies (US)
Scandium has until now only been a niche metal with demand in high end products such as the aerospace industry and sports equipment (bicycle frames, fishing rods, golf iron shafts, tennis rackets and baseball bats). It has great potential as an alloy because it has almost as low a density as aluminum with a much higher melting point. Scandium, when added to aluminum, creates a strong lightweight alloy with excellent resistance to corrosion and good weldability. Aluminum-scandium alloy can be 10-100% stronger than conventional aluminum alloys and hasContinue reading
Sheffield Forgemasters hail order book strength after £16.4m loss (US)
Sheffield Forgemasters has now revealed a pre-tax loss of £16.4m for the year ending 31 December 2017, compared to a £900,000 loss the year before. This was the result of decision to accelerate the depreciation of the asset base of the company. Prior to this accounting change, the company recorded a pre-tax profit of £200,000 on revenue of £76.1m, up 4 per cent on the previous year.
The new executive team at Sheffield Forgemasters International has said that the engineering giant’s “buoyant order book” puts it in a position to achieve stronger levels of profitability in the future. However, an accounting change has resulted in a £16m pre-tax loss in its latest set of accounts. David Bond became the new chief executive in August 2018, succeeding Dr Graham Honeyman, who stepped down from the board in July. Bond has been joined by SteveContinue reading
Ellwood Group Pumps $200M into Operations (US)
The $60 million expansion at Ellwood Quality Steels in New Castle will house the company’s new remelt operations.
ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. – With all of its complexities, diverse business subsidiaries and integrated operations – plus tens of millions of dollars in new investment throughout the corporation – Ellwood Group Inc. remains at heart a down home family business, much like it was in when the company was founded here more than 100 years ago. In the years since, the company has expanded to 29 facilities across five states, Mexico and Canada and employs 2,000. But it has no intention of losing that tight-knit family approach, executives say. “I’m the fifth generation to work inContinue reading
EU Commission opens investigation about acquisition of VDM by Aperam in nickel alloy industry (US)
At this stage, the Commission is concerned that, following the transaction, customers would face reduced choice of suppliers, as well as higher prices, for nickel alloy plates and sheets, and for strips. VDM is already the market leader in these products and its position could be strengthened further through its merger with Aperam.The Commission will also investigate further whether the transaction could have an effect on the supply and prices of long nickel alloy products, namely nickel alloy wire and wire rod.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of VDM by Aperam under the EU Merger Regulation. At this stage, the Commission is concerned that the merger may reduceContinue reading
Extremely strong and yet incredibly ductile High Entropy Alloy developed by University of Hong Kong (US)
The new alloy Al7Ti7 exhibits a superior strength of 1.5 gigapascals and ductility as high as 50 percent in tension at ambient temperature. (Credit Photo @ City University of Hong Kong)
A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a strategy for creating new high-strength alloys that are extremely strong, ductile and flexible. The strategy overcomes the critical issues of the strength-ductility trade-off dilemma, paving the way for innovative structural materials in future. Multiple-principal element alloys, generally referred as high-entropy alloys (HEAs), are a new type of material constructed with equal or nearly equal quantities of five or more metals. They are currently the focus of attention in materials science and engineeringContinue reading
Treated Superalloys Demonstrate Unprecedente Heat Resistance (US)
INL materials scientist Subhashish Meher uses a local electron atom probe at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies to study the microstructure of treated superalloys (Credit Photo @ Idaho National Laboratory)
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered how to make “superalloys” even more super, extending useful life by thousands of hours. The discovery could improve materials performance for electrical generators and nuclear reactors. The key is to heat and cool the superalloy in a specific way. That creates a microstructure within the material that can withstand high heat more than six times longer than an untreated counterpart.“We came up with aContinue reading
Lebronze alloys ou l’art de renforcer sa compétitivité (FR)
Lebronze alloys investit, en moyenne, 20 millions d’euros par an dans ses unités de production.
En dix ans, la PMI s’est muée, à force d’opérations de croissance externe, en une ETI dynamique dans le domaine du travail des métaux. C’est l’un des exemples emblématiques de réussite industrielle de la Marne. Le groupe, un temps candidat à la reprise des Ateliers des Janves, dans les Ardennes, avant de jeter l’éponge, a multiplié ces dernières années, les opérations de croissance externe. Son but ? Atteindre la taille critique nécessaire pour devenir un acteur de poids dans le domaine du travail des métaux. Une stratégie tirée des « leçons de la crise de 2008 », selon sonContinue reading
Mme Parly annonce le soutien de Definvest à la PME SINTERmat, spécialisée dans la métallurgie des poudres (FR)
Équipes de SINTERmat, SATT Grand Est, Toulouse Tech Transfer et Authentic Material
Paris, le 23 novembre 2018 – La start-up SINTERmat vient de boucler un tour de table auprès de Definvest, le fonds du Ministère des Armées géré par Bpifrance, ainsi que d’investisseurs privés. Ce financement lui permettra d’acquérir des équipements et d’initier une production industrielle. La jeune entreprise finalisera également son intallation dans de nouveaux locaux à Montbard (Côte d’Or). SINTERmat capitalise sur plus de 15 ans de recherche dans les laboratoires de l’Université de Bourgogne et développe une technologie de frittage rapide, communément appelée SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering). Cette technologie permet d’agglomérer des nanopoudres de différentes natures sous l’effet d’une forte impulsion électrique et d’obtenir ainsi des pièces d’une résistance et d’une densité exceptionnelles qui sont utilisées dans l’industrie aéronautique, automobile ou de défense, mais aussi dans l’industrie du luxe. La maturité acquise permet à SINTERmat de passer dès à présent à une production industrielle. L’achat d’une machine de frittage, aux capacités uniques en France et en Europe, et son intallation prochaine dans de nouveaux locaux à Montbard vont permettre à SINTERmat de répondre aux sollicitations déjà très nombreuses.
« Je suis très heureux de pouvoir compter sur le soutien du fonds Definvest. Cette implication donne à notre projet de solides fondations qui nous seront indispensables pour accélérer notre croissance et industrialiser la technologie SPS. Cette étape marque le début d’une aventure humaine pour SINTERmat. Je serai attentif à susciter la cohésion et l’implication des équipes autour du projet d’entreprise et de ses valeurs : attitude éco-responsable, innovation « centrée client », autonomie, responsabilité et excellence. »
Foad Naimi, dirigeant-fondateur de SINTERmat.
Florence Parly, ministre des Armées, déclare : « La recherche, l’audace, la dualité dans l’innovation, les défis techniques relevés sont autant d’atouts pour la défense, d’atouts que nous devons encourager et faire fructifier. J’ai