A new Ungerer stretch bend leveler is designed to improve the shape and flatness of precision alloy strip.

June 26, 2000 - Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE:CRS) has completed a two-year, $80 million dollar investment program that strengthens its position as the world's foremost producer of premium melted specialty alloy strip.

The investment paid for a new, specialty alloy strip finishing mill that Carpenter has just placed into full production. The new mill doubles the company's strip manufacturing capacity from approximately 5,500 to more than 10,500 tons per year. In terms of strip for essentially high-end products, this tonnage level is highly significant.

At the same time, Carpenter expects the new mill to offer improvements in product quality, the opportunity to produce more alloys and sizes, larger coils for more economical parts fabrication and shorter lead times - along with worldwide technical service.

The specialty alloy and engineered products producer has integrated a lineup of new, state-of-the-art equipment with existing facilities that it has upgraded and strategically repositioned. With completion of the new mill, Carpenter has capitalized fully on inhouse synergies that, in their full scope, are unique in the strip production industry.

Production Synergies

They start with Carpenter's world-class premium melting facilities. A $36 million dollar capital investment program, culminating in 1997, gave Carpenter the most advanced vacuum induction melting (VIM) facility in the world. More vacuum arc remelt furnaces (VAR) have been added, meanwhile, giving Carpenter the largest concentration of modern VAR furnaces in the world.

The synergies continue with the company's recently expanded forging capabilities. Earlier this year, Carpenter concluded the expenditure of another $42 million dollars on new forging equipment. The new press, along with existing presses, produces from Carpenter-poured ingots the improved-quality slabs used to make precision alloy strip.

Carpenter is convinced that its company synergies are key to production and performance of the products made from its specialty alloy strip. Already blended smoothly into its strip production operations is the company's recently acquired vacuum melting and cold finishing capacity at Carpenter Technology, Ltd., in Crawley, UK (formerly known as Telcon Metals).

"Unlike most other mills that produce precision strip," said Michael L. Shor, senior vice president, Specialty Alloys Operations, "we make our own alloys and control quality through every stage of production from melting to final rolling of the strip product. In addition, we have the technical expertise and service experience to provide the end-use properties required for specific applications."

Strip Sizes and Alloys

The new strip mill has been designed to process specialty alloy strip in thickness of 0.0005" to 0.265", and in widths ranging from ¼" to 15". It will roll a wide variety of specialty alloys including controlled-expansion, magnetic, resistance and high temperature alloys, as well as other specialty products such as stainless and maraging steels.

Noting that demand for precision strip, in an expanding number of alloys, has been escalating for some time, Shor reported that Carpenter could make precision strip from most of the more than 450 alloys in its current product capability range

A surprisingly wide variety of parts and components have been made from precision specialty alloy strip by means of stamping, coining, deep drawing, forming, bending and other forms of shaping and fabrication.

Applications have covered the gamut from golf club head inserts to jet aircraft generator laminations, from battery clips for wrist watches to theft detection tags, from modem transformers to aerospace fasteners, from medical implants to automotive parts. An increasing number of parts made from strip are for high technology applications that require the higher level of product purity and consistency that are now within the capability of the new strip mill.

With the new equipment and sophisticated new process controls in place, Carpenter expects to produce precision alloy strip with a superior surface quality, better shapes and improved flatness. It will employ the latest process engineering techniques and six-sigma methodologies to minimize variation, thus producing more uniform strip.

Major New Equipment

Six major new pieces of equipment bring the latest technology to the new Carpenter alloy strip mill. Each has engineering and design features that benefit the specialty alloy strip user.

The new Frohling 20-high cold rolling reversing strip mill gives Carpenter more productivity, while providing superior shape and flatness, closer tolerances and improved surface finishes. It has laser speed measuring, automatic gage control based on mass flow principle, and shape measurement with automatic feedback control.

The new Hill Acme wet strip grinder also enables the new mill to increase productivity, reduce costs, improve strip surface quality and increase capacity in an operation that previously had been a significant capacity constraint.

The new Ebner Bell annealing furnace has been designed to help the company increase strip heating capacity, anneal coils more economically and allow the mill to do more specialized heat treatment for specific customer requirements.

Three new Ebner vertical bright-strand annealing furnaces help Carpenter to improve the uniformity and surface quality of its precision alloy strip, as well as increase capacity. A new 125-ft. high building was built to house the vertical annealing lines, which allow strip to be heat treated to customer specifications without adversely affecting the strip's shape or surface condition.

The new Ungerer stretch bend leveler helps improve the shape and flatness of precision alloy strip less than 0.050" thick. A special shape roll constantly measures the shape of the strip as it is processed, and provides information for operator or direct computer control.

The new Frohling precision slitter slices wide finished strip into narrow widths. This equipment gives Carpenter precise slitting tolerances, improves edge quality and significantly expands slitting capacity.

For more information about Carpenter's strip mill, see the following related articles:

More about the New Equipment in Carpenter's $80 Million Strip Mill
Quality Expectations for Strip Parts
The Growing Universe of Applications for Precision Rolled Specialty Alloy Strip