UPC-Marathon, a Nitrex company, installed an ExoFlex gas generator for Jomarca, a manufacturer of fasteners, bolts, nuts and fixing elements in Brazil. The generator will supply exothermic gas to a continuous wire annealing furnace, which is part of Jomarca’s efforts to meet market demand efficiently and sustainably for baling wire in the South American construction industry. The ExoFlex gas generator is the latest addition to Jomarca’s in-house heat-treating operations. The company now has the ability to produce exothermic gas on-demand with zero waste while also making more efficient use of electricity and gas feedstock.

Ipsen completed the installation of a vacuum furnace for Taiwan Hodaka Technology Co. Ltd., an aluminum extrusion supplier specializing in high-end aerospace aluminum alloys. The TurboTreater has a work zone size of 36 inches (914 mm) x 36 inches (914 mm) x 48 inches (1,219 mm) with a weight capacity of 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg) and a normal operating temperature up to 2400°F (1315°C). The furnace was designed with convection heating, which allows for more uniform processing of large cross-section parts and dense loads. It is also capable of quenching at up to 12-bar positive pressure in nitrogen.

Johnson Controls announced the launch of a program for recycling steel through a collaboration with Nucor Corp., the largest steel producer and recycler in North America. Over 70% of Johnson Controls’ steel purchases in the U.S. and 45% globally are manufactured from recycled scrap materials. The program with Nucor will recycle nearly 100% of that secondary scrap steel again, amounting to thousands of tons each year, at major Johnson Controls’ manufacturing sites in the U.S. Nucor will remelt the scrap steel using EAF technology, which generates approximately 75% less emissions than traditional blast-furnace manufacturing.

Victaulic, a manufacturer of mechanical pipe-joining and fire-protection solutions, acquired Horizon Metals Inc. of Nephi, Utah. Horizon Metals is an iron and steel foundry that offers heat-treatment, induction-melting and mechanical-testing services. The acquisition increases Victaulic’s capacity for large-diameter piping solutions. With this acquisition, Victaulic has added over 1.4 million square feet of foundry and manufacturing capacity in North America since 2011. The Easton, Pa.-based company now has four foundries located in the United States.

Aero Space Power, a European MRO facility, ordered a custom-made vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK. The furnace, which has a work area measuring 1,300 x 1,000 x 1,500 mm (51 x 39 x 59 inches), will be used for repair solutions for both complex aircraft engines and gas turbines for the energy industry at a facility in Hungary. It is designed to process work in the presence of two gases: argon (used for partial pressure) and nitrogen (used mainly in the cooling process). The furnace will be equipped with a dew-point sensor for each of the gases. It also includes a partial-pressure control system based on three gases (hydrogen, argon and nitrogen) to help prevent evaporation and sublimation of alloying elements from the load surface during the vacuum heat-treatment process.

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) has been developing a variety of initiatives over the past six months relating to sustainability and decarbonization in the industrial heating equipment industry. The first initiative was to develop a “Sustainability” area on the IHEA website that features the foundation of information the industry needs.

MetalX, an independent metals recycling business based in Indiana, and Manna Capital Partners announced plans to invest over $200 million in a new greenfield aluminum-rolling slab facility to be built in northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio or southern Michigan. The facility will be designed to produce 220 million pounds per year of ultra-low-carbon aluminum-rolling slab with a higher percentage of recycled content than is currently available. The product mix will be focused primarily on alloys for the automotive, beverage and packaging industries. The facility is expected to become fully operational in the first half of 2026 and will employ approximately 100 people.

Borusan Mannesmann acquired 100% of Berg Pipe, a leading manufacturer of large-diameter line pipe in the United States, for $162 million. Berg Pipe manufactures longitudinal seam-welded large-diameter pipes at its manufacturing facility in Panama City, Fla., and spiral seam-welded large-diameter pipes at its manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala. The company has a total manufacturing capacity of 550,000 tons per year. The acquisition strengthens Istanbul, Turkey-based Borusan Mannesmann’s position in the North American large-diameter pipe market.

Nucor placed orders with Sheffield Forgemasters for ultra-large steel rolls for its new plate rolling mill. Sheffield Forgemasters will deliver three rolls weighing 147 metric tons each to Nucor’s Brandenburg Mill near Louisville, Ky., an advanced steel plate mill with the ability to produce 1.2 million tons annually.

Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance, announced the phase out of coal-based steelmaking at its Whyalla plant in Australia with the signing of a supply contract for a 160-metric-ton low-carbon electric-arc furnace (EAF) from Danieli. The new furnace will lift steelmaking capacity at Whyalla from 1 million metric tons per year to over 1.5 million metric tons per year. The EAF will initially be fed by domestic steel scrap and other iron-bearing materials to deliver an expected 90% reduction in direct CO₂ emissions compared with traditional blast-furnace production.