Joseph Oat using automated welding facility to fabricate
massive Zr column
Leave it to the oldest continuously
operating fabricator in the United States to come up with the latest in welding
technology. The Joseph Oat Corporation, which was founded in 1788 as
"Coppersmith and Brasier," makers of evaporators and stills for the
sugar and rum industries, recently designed a state-of-the-art clean room and
automated welding system for fabricating reactive and refractory metals, such
as zirconium.
Martin Kaplan, Joseph Oat's CEO,
conceived and helped design the system himself. "I don't think there is
anyone in the world who has anything like it," he says. His company spent
roughly 2000 hours developing the remotely operated, fully automated system.
According to Kaplan, the automated process is three times as fast as
conventional welding. He contends, "We have proven that you can make
extremely large articles, without having 1,000 people working for you."
Kaplan backs up his words, pointing out
that his 185-person operation recently completed work on a heat exchanger and
is in the process of fabricating an extremely large column for an acetic acid
application in Millennium Petrochemicals' La Porte, Texas complex. The solid
Zircadyne® zirconium
unit is believed to be the largest ever fabricated. The 20,000ft2 clean
room, with its retractable roof and the state-of-the-art welding system, has
been instrumental in keeping the big project on schedule and within budget.
Millennium Petrochemicals
recently turned to Joseph Oat to produce the world's largest solid zirconium
column. Above, one section of the unit (left) and its sister Zr heat exchanger
(center) are shown in Joseph Oat's clean room and automated welding facility.
According to Ed Marinock, Joseph Oat's
Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the facility and equipment offer many
advantages that the company can pass on to its customers. "First of all,
it increases our production capability, which translates to time and cost
savings for our customers," Marinock says. "(Manual) welding is
probably the most tedious and labor intensive part of the entire
job. The actual fitting, cutting, and
other work represents a very small portion of the job." Part of the reason
the automated system is so much faster is that the weld completely penetrates
material, enabling the equipment to weld a shell, for example, from one side.
Marinock believes that operator fatigue is a factor, which slows the
fabrication process and potentially hurts quality.
"From a quality standpoint, there
is less chance for human error," he continues. "Welding is a
fatiguing process. If the welder is fatigued, it reflects in the quality of the
work he is doing. The machine can't get tired -it either runs or it
stops."
"From a safety standpoint, one of
the key features of the room is the oxygen monitoring system linked to an alarm
to ensure personal safety."
The retractable roof is a key feature
of the clean room set-up. Mammoth sections of columns and other equipment can
be easily moved by crane from other fabrication areas in the facility to the
clean room. The roof is then moved back into place, sealing the positive
pressure room.
"Many of our customers request
that their work be done in our totally segregated area with iron-free
air," Marinock says. "This was built around true clean-room
principles to have filtered, heated, and cooled air, which gives you a
controlled atmosphere to do your production, which translates into a better
quality product."
Joseph Oat will soon have another
opportunity to demonstrate the advantages offered by its clean room and
automated welder when it begins fabricating a second, smaller column for
Millennium Petrochemicals. If early results are any indication of success, this
won't be the last big Zr project that the company takes on.
For more information
Camden, New Jersey-based Joseph Oat
Corporation produces heat exchangers, pressure vessels, columns, reactors and
other equipment for the CPI, using stainless steels, titanium, and zirconium as
well as other materials. For more information on the company's capabilities,
call 609-541-2900 or visit it on the web at http:// www.josephoat.com. For
details on Wah Chang's corrosion resistant Ti and Zr alloys, call 541-967-6977.
The Joseph
Oat Corporation fabricated this solid zirconium light ends condenser (for
Millennium Petrochemicals) in its 20,000 ft2 climate-controlled
cleanroom.
Q&A: welding Zircadyne
® Zr
Wah Chang's Jack Tosdale and Rick
Sutherlin contributed the following Q&A on welding zirconium. Question:
What kind of equipment/facilities do I
need to weld zirconium?
Answer:
Fabricators most commonly weld
zirconium using the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) technique. GTAW welding
equipment can be set up and used in the manual or automatic welding of
zirconium. DC straight polarity is preferred for welding with a consumable
electrode, such as a zirconium wire, since it results in a more stable arc.
High frequency arc starting is desirable to reduce the possibility of contamination
by a non-consumable electrode. The power source must be equipped with a
magnetic contactor that permits the shielding gas to continue flowing after the
arc is broken. The use of special clean rooms is also becoming more common for
zirconium equipment fabrication. For more information on welding zirconium,
call 541-967-6977.
Corrosion problems?
How much is corrosion really costing
you? It all adds up:
• Replacement of the same troublesome
components, over and over.
• Unexpected downtime and lost productivity
while those frequent repairs are being made.
• Product degradation as corrosion
hurts the purity (and value) of what you produce.
Call Wah Chang at 888-926-4211 for
solutions. Ask for a copy of the company's recently published adver-torial on
corrosion control.
Organics Conference update
By popular demand, Wah Chang has added
an optional, fourth day to the upcoming International Conference on the Use of
Zirconium in Organic Environments. This optional portion of the meeting, a
classroom session on welding zirconium, will be held September 11, 1997 at Wah
Chang in Albany, Oregon. Space is limited for the welding seminar and is
available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information or to sign
up, call 541-967-6924.
Conference Information
The conference itself will bring
together chemical producers, equipment designers, and fabricators to address
all issues concerning the use of zirconium in organic environments. Although
the meetings focus on organics, inorganic chemicals will be covered as well
since they are present in many organic environments. To register, call
541-926-4211 extension 6280. (Note: space is filling, so call soon!)
Golf Scramble
The main portion of the organics
conference will still take place in Gleneden Beach, Oregon, September 8-10. Wah
Chang is planning a pre-show golf scramble and opening reception for September
7. For more information on these events, call 541-926-4211 extension 6280.
Wah Chang
recently added an optional welding session to its Organics Meeting
Production expert joins Service Center
Mike Angell, an expert in materials and
production management, recently joined Wah Chang as Service Center Manager.
Angell will report to Parry Walborn, who manages the company's CPI business
activities.
Angell last served as Production
Manager for Phoenix in Houston, Texas. He has 19 years' experience managing
materials production and warehousing.
Passport to Paradise: 1997
Nitric Acid Meeting
Wah Chang and 27 co-exhibitors recently
hosted luncheons and hospitality suites at the 1997 Nitric Acid Producers
Meeting in Biloxi, MS. Many called the meeting the best ever, noting the
interaction between attendees and supplier/exhibitors.
Wah Chang would like to thank its
co-hosts Allegheny Ludlum, Astro Cosmos, Babcock, Betz Dearborn, BSL, C&I
Engineering, Chemineer, CRI, DMC, Ellett Industries, Gore, H.C. Starck, Haynes,
Hickham Industries, ICF Kaiser, Joseph Oat, Kimre, KTI Fish, Kvaerner
Chemetics, Nooter, Ohmstede, Phoenix, Revak, Sabin Metal, SPF Corp. of America,
Tricor, and Weatherly and conference host Mississippi Chemical for making the
meeting memorable.
Photos courtesy of British Sulfer
Publishing
(Top) Wah
Chang's Rob Henson and Shannon Chenault toy with the crowd at the Nitric Acid
Producers Meeting before drawing for the grand prize. (Bottom) Larry R. Flynn
of PCS Nitrogen won a new set of sunglasses, a basket of beach accessories, and
a passport to paradise (a travel voucher good toward the trip of his choice).
We plan similar events for the Ammonium Nitrate Producers Meeting this fall!
Wah Chang installing new
vanadium production equipment at Albany site
Wah Chang has produced high quality
vanadium products for a number of years now. Soon, the company will be able to
produce the product line in an even more efficient and reliable manner. This
summer, Wah Chang will install new equipment that will be used exclusively to
produce vanadium products.
Sales' Bob Kinney estimates that the
equipment will be on-line and producing saleable vanadium products in the
September/October 1997 timeframe for 99.5% pure metal turnings and the November/December
timeframe for 99% pure powder and 99.6% pure mill products (flats and rounds).
It is Wah Chang's goal to supply substantial quantities of vanadium products to
the domestic and world markets.
The company has produced
16-in.-diameter vanadium ingots weighing up to 4,500 lb. Increased customer
demand, fueled by vanadium's many attractive properties, has driven Wah Chang
to produce these larger sizes and quantities of the metal. These unique
properties include:
•Relatively low density (6.1 gm/cc)
•Low neutron capture cross section
•Relatively high strength at elevated temperatures
•Good fabricability
•Low rate of neutron embrittlement
•Relative abundance
•Corrosion resistance
•Superconductivity
•Low-temperature ductility
Wah Chang
purifies vanadium using its electron beam melting equipment
A general
chemical composition for vanadium follows:
|
ELEMENT |
GUARANTEED (W/O) |
|
Vanadium |
99.6
minimum (by
difference) |
|
Hydrogen |
0.005
maximum |
|
Carbon |
0.02
maximum |
|
Nitrogen |
0.02
maximum |
|
Oxygen |
0.05
maximum |
|
Aluminum |
0.05
maximum |
|
Silicon |
0.20
maximum |
Applications
Applications for vanadium include the
manufacture of ternary alloys of V-Cr-Ti for use in fusion reactors for the
first wall and blanket structure; the manufacture of masteralloys; the
manufacture of liquid metal heat exchangers; and in manufacture of sputtering
targets.
Vanadium
alloys are used for the inner components of fusion devices
For more information or quotations on
vanadium products, contact Wah Chang's Customer Service Department by phone at
541-967-6977 or by fax at 541-967-6994.
OUTLOOK
Ralph Nauman...........President
Tom Cordier..............V.P., Marketing & Sales
Doug Brenizer...........CPI Zr Sales Manager
Gary Kneisel.............Nb, Ti, V
Sales Manager
Bill Buckley...............Marketing Manager
Kirk Richardson........Editor
OUTLOOK is published quarterly by Wah Chang
(Albany Oregon office). The newsletter contains reformation on reactive and
refractory metals, including hafnium, niobium, titanium, vanadium, and
zirconium, as well as chemicals. The properties listed herein are average
values based on laboratory and field test data from a number of sources. They
are indicative only of the results obtained in such tests and should not be
considered as guaranteed maximums or minimums.