Spray dried powders give reliable coatings

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Sinteredbrakepads forcommercial vehicles

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PM performs best at Manganese Bronze The powder m e t a l s (PM) divis i o n of M a n g a n e s e B r o n z e Holdings plc of t h e UK h a s b e e n profitable c o m p a r e d to t h e rest of t h e company, division m a n a g i n g d i r e c t o r Mic h a e l Williams says in t h e firm's a n n u a l report. Turnover in this division was down by 7% from last year c o m p a r e d to 17% for t h e c o m p a n y as a whole. T u r n o v e r a t BSA M e t a l P o w d e r s in B i r m i n g h a m is said to have r e m a i n e d strong partly because p o w d e r sales included highly priced metals s u c h as c o b a l t a n d nickel. BSA's long-term work on nitrogen gas atomizing is e x p e c t e d to b e a r fruit t h i s financial year. Manganese Bronze in Ipswich supplies a large proportion of its PM p a r t s p r o d u c t i o n to customers in t h e automotive industry. PM p a r t s are growing in i m p o r t a n c e a m o n g J a p a n e s e automotive manufacturers, and, to a lesser degree, a m o n g E u r o p e a n ones. The factory h a s h a d to cope with rapidly f l u c t u a t i n g s c h e d u l e s in a process designed for efficiency r a t h e r t h a n flexibility, b u t it m a n a g e d to show a profit. The m e t a l injection moulding facility h a s five p a r t s in volume p r o d u c t i o n a n d claims to be t h e m a r k e t leader in Europe. The p a r e n t c o m p a n y says it

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MPR December 1991

Neodymium magnets will replace Sm-Co types in Japan

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h a s d e c i d e d t o m a k e full provision against t h e cost of its i n v e s t m e n t in U l t r a F i n e Powder Technology Inc (UFP), a s t a r t - u p c o m p a n y b a s e d in Rhode Island, USA, in w h i c h it h o l d s a small equity stake. This i n v e s t m e n t w a s m a d e in December 1989. The lead time to profitability h a s been m u c h longer t h a n t h e company's most pessimistic forecast a n d a l t h o u g h UFP is in a position to produce very fine powders, its m a r k e t is still i m m a t u r e a n d it is continuing to m a k e large losses. In t h e s e u n c e r t a i n times, M a n g a n e s e Bronze refused t h e option of investing more money. It therefore decided to provide against t h e full a m o u n t of this investm e n t which stood in t h e books a t ~1.039 million. T u r n o v e r for t h e w h o l e c o m p a n y for t h e year August 1 9 9 0 - J u l y 1991 w a s ~ 6 9 . 7 million. In t h e second half of t h e year t u r n o v e r was down by 27%. The c o m p a n y h a d t o declare s u b s t a n t i a l r e d u n d a n cies, t h e cost of which is being carried in t h e a c c o u n t s as a n exceptional item t h a t t u r n e d profits into a small loss of ~0.95 m i l l i o n for t h e year. This c o m p a r e s with a profit for t h e previous year of ~4.7 million.

Manganese Bronze Holdings plc, 1 Love Lane, London EC2V 7HJ, UK; tel: +44(0) 71-606-0088; fax: + 44(0) 71-606-4057.

Commercial vehicles could use a sintered friction m a t e r i a l for t h e i r b r a k e pads. The r e s e a r c h a n d d e v e l o p m e n t centre of t h e T&N G r o u p in t h e UK h a s p r o d u c e d a sintered material b a s e d on a c o p p e r m a t r i x t h a t could m e e t t h e growing perform a n c e r e q u i r e m e n t s of vehicle braking. The material was developed following a project to m a k e b r a k e p a d s for high speed trains. Wheel a n d disk d i a m e t e r s are getting smaller, a n d smaller b r a k e p a d s will have to cope with higher h e a t densities during braking. The new materials do not have t h e detrimental properties of c o n v e n t i o n a l ones, s u c h as t h e reduction in coefficient of friction and increased wear at high t e m p e r a t u r e s , says t h e firm.

T&N plc, Bowden House, Asburton Road West, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1RA, UK; tel: + 4 4 - ( 0 ) 61-8720155; fax: +44-(0)61-8488303.

Disposable insert shows less resistance A disposable cutting tool claimed to have 20-30% less cutting resistance t h a n conv e n t i o n a l p r o d u c t s is b e i n g sold by Toshiba Tungaloy of Kawasaki, Japan. The P o s i c h i p S S B r e a k e r c a n t u r n m a t e r i a l s s u c h as m i l d steel, s t a i n l e s s steel, deep drawing steel a n d cold forging steel. The tool is available w i t h a n u m b e r of coatings, such as Cermet NS530, PVD coating T260 a n d CVD coating T823, to m a t c h t h e type of m a t e r i a l b e i n g t u r n e d . The t o o l s c o s t ¥ 7 0 0 to ¥ 2 3 0 0 each a n d sales of 50 000 p e r m o n t h are forecast by Toshiba.

Toshiba Tungaloy, 1-7, Tsukagoshi, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki 210, Japan; tel: + 81-44548-8704; fax: + 81-44-5488795. (Information supplied by COMLINE International Corp. COMLINE News Service copyright 1991.)

J a p a n e s e p r o d u c t i o n of rare e a r t h m a g n e t s in 1992 will increase b y 10% t o 9 5 0 tonnes, according to Roskill's Letter from Japan. In 1991 production of neodymium m a g n e t s , w h i c h a c c o u n t for some 60% of all rare e a r t h m a g n e t s , s h o u l d r e a c h 520 tonnes. Major a p p l i c a t i o n s are voice coil m o t o r s a n d m a g n e t i c resonance equipment. The m a i n area of growth lies in t h e s u b s t i t u t i o n of S m - C o m a g n e t s by Nd v e r s i o n s in personal stereos and other domestic electronic equipment. S u m i t o m o Special Metals, S h i n e t s u Chemicals, TDK a n d Hitachi Metals are anticipating t h e c h a n g e by reducing t h e i r o u t p u t of Sm-Co m a g n e t s a n d raising production of Nd-Fe-B, says Roskill.

Roskill Information Services Ltd, 2 Clapham Road, London SW9 0JA, UK, tel: +44-(0) 71-582-5155, fax: + 44- (0) 71-793-0008.

Spray dried powders give reliable coatings Spray dried a n d p l a s m a densifled powders have been developed by Sulzer Plasma Technik Inc of t h e USA for use as t h e r m a l b a r r i e r coatings (TBCs). Known as Amdry, t h e yttria zirconia t h e r m a l spray powders produce repeatable TBCs with reliable microstructares. They can be used in t h e c o m b u s t o r s of gas t u r b i n e s a n d on diesel e n g i n e valve h e a d s a n d cylinder heads. A m d r y 6610, 6 6 2 0 a n d 6630 are partially stabilized powders c o n t a i n i n g 8% yttria by weight. They can be deposited at s p r a y r a t e s of 90 g! m i n u t e a t a deposition efficiency of 75%. Amdry 6600 is a spherical spray dried p o w d e r containing 20% y t t r i a b y weight.

Sulzer Plasma Technik Inc, 1972 Mewer Drive, PO Box 84310, Troy, MI 48084, USA; tel: + 1-313-288-1200; fax: + 1-313-288-4162.