High Performance Alloys

LME will list cobalt and molybdenum

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:54:00 PDT

LME will list cobalt and molybdenum: "The London Metal Exchange will list cobalt metal from ValeInco in Canada"

High Strength Stainless Steels

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:35:00 PDT

While some austenitic stainless steels require cold working to achieve higher yield strengths, such as 304 and 316 condition B (Cond. B) - NITRONIC grades have great strength in the annealed condition. NITRONIC 60 and 50 have around 50 to 60 KSI yield strength - about twice that of annealed 304 & 316 SS.

While 304 and 316 are subject to transforming Austenite into Ferrite through cold working, NITRONIC 60 and 50 remain Austenitic. What this means is that through cold working, 304 and 316 can transform from non-magnetic or slightly magnetic, to slightly to moderately magnetic. Many applications this is not a hindrance, but there are applications where the magnetism can present problems.

Important to note - Austenitic grades are known for their crystalline structure, which is face centered cubic (FCC). FCC structures are a close pack grouping of elements, which is favored for corrosion resistance. Martensitic and Ferritic grades are known to contain body centered cubic (BCC) structures. BCC structures are most notably used for their strength, but generally will lack the corrosion resistance offered by a FCC structure.

While we offer to produce larger sizes of Condition B 304 and 316 (generally over 1.5" Dia), as well as strain hardened level 2 strengths - our primary concentration is supplying NITRONIC 60 & 50. We supply these grades in strengths Level 1 through Level 5, insizes from small rod to as large as 4" Diameter. Usage varies from drill collars to bushings and fasteners. Shafts, spindles and solid rod rigging. Small and large quantities are welcome - we may already have the size you need.

For more information on NITRONIC 60, see our overview on N60, or see the hisgh strength properties on the N60HS page.

For more information on NITRONIC 50, see our overview on N50, or see the hisgh strength properties on the N50HS page.

Forging stainless, nickel and cobalt grades of superalloys

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:40:00 PDT

Open die forgings have been produced in our Tipton operations in NITRONIC 50, NITRONIC 60, C-276, INCONEL 718, HAYNES 625, HASTELLOY B, Cobalt 6B and many more grades. Upsets, flats, rectangular and round bars. From small pieces to bars up to 12 feet long. Stainless ingot of N50 / XM-19 and Duplex 255 arriving any day.

See our forging page for more information.

Plate and Sheet Stocklist

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:40:00 PDT

Plate and Sheet stock available, see list of items here.
This means more inventory availability for alloys NITRONICs 30 / 50 / 60, MONEL 400, INCONEL 601 and 625, 718 and HX sheet & plate. This in addition to our $4M inventory of bar sheet and plate - which adds up to a lot of stock in Nickel and Cobalt products.

Call today for more details : 800-472-5569,
or internationally +1-765-945-8230
Visit our site

OCTG prices continue to decline

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:16:00 PDT

OCTG prices continue to decline: "Prices of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) are continuing to decline because..."

Bar Stocklist Available

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:28:00 PDT

Bar stock available, see list of items here.
This means more inventory availability for alloys MONEL 400, R405 and K500. And more INCONEL 625, HX and 718 bar. This in addition to our $4M inventory of bar sheet and plate - which adds up to a lot of stock in Nickel and Cobalt products.

Call today for more details : 800-472-5569,
or internationally +1-765-945-8230
Visit our site

European cobalt prices climb against supply worries

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:02:00 PDT

European cobalt prices climb against supply worries

NITRONIC 60 Wear Resistance

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:19:00 PDT

The wear resistance of the alloy comes from the composition, rather than hardness. Hardness is normally a good rule of thumb, but is not near perfect for predicting wear resistance. Take MONEL K-500 for example - Not a great wear material, but can develop good hardness.

There are applications where the hardness should be similar to harder than the material mated with for optimum wear resistance, and determining replacement items.

Our booklet available for download @ http://www.hpalloy.com/alloys/brochures/Nitronic60book.pdf shows various couplings of Nitronic 60 vs itself, as well as many other wear materials against themselves and other dissimilar couplings. .

Depot stock list available

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:52:00 PDT

Depot bar stock available, see list of items here. New grades include A286 in the annealed form, AMS 5731 is being offered from 0.875" Diameter and up.
This means more inventory availability for alloys MONEL 400, R405 and K500. And more INCONEL 625, HX and 718 bar. This in addition to our $4M inventory of bar sheet and plate adds up to a lot of stock in Nickel and Cobalt products.

Call today for more details : 800-472-5569,
or internationally +1-765-945-8230
Visit our site

Facebook page added

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:06:00 PDT

Includes videos of forging ingot on our press forge, and bar on our radial forge. High Performance Alloys Facebook

New furnace installed

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:04:00 PDT

An electric furnace with operating limits of 1100F to 2300F has been delivered. Heat treating of parts and short bars will be available in this 48x72 furnace. Like our other heat treating operations, it will be held in compliance with AMS 2750, a common aerospace specification required for critical applications.
Will located nearest to our open die forging operation, to reduce temperature loss from furnace to die. Electric operation allows a more suitable atmosphere for heating reactive metals, such as Titanium and Molybdenum products.

New Inventory Items / Searchable product list

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:15:00 PDT

New items arriving all the time. Here is a recent list of received items. Only need a cut? No problem, give us a call or email and we will answer your needs. Don't forget to use our online catalog search, allows you to create custom cut, and custom forged items for quotation.

NITRONIC 60 supply

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:17:00 PDT

NITRONIC 60 bar supply will continue, even though supply is being throttled. Some sizes will probably be in higher demand through the next several months, in particular bars under 5" Diameter. Inventory is quite good now though. We stock from 0.25" thru 12" Diameter bars in annealed condition.

Short supply will not be an issue for our LMA M7060 markets. Plenty of stock available, the slowdown earlier in the year allowed us to project through the year and production was in full force February through May. Stock is available from 0.5" thru 4" Diameters Grades A,B, C, D, and E, and flat product 3/16" Grade F.

repeal of the "Last-In First-Out" (LIFO) accounting method beginning in 2012.

highperformancerust@gmail.com (Russ3rd) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:24:00 PDT

BACKGROUND The President's Budget proposes repeal of the "Last-In First-Out" (LIFO) accounting method beginning in 2012, and requiring companies with LIFO reserves to pay taxes on those reserves within 7 years. We manufacturers need to educate Members of Congress on the negative effects of repeal on manufacturers such as forgers. The common message has been one of "we need the money", i.e., the issue isn't one of whether they agree with the use of LIFO, it is simply one of needing additional revenues to pay for programs (such as healthcare reform), and LIFO repeal represents additional revenues.

REQUESTED ACTION
The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are currently preparing legislation that could include LIFO repeal and they need to hear from manufacturers who oppose repeal of LIFO. Communicating with these Committees' members now could help prevent LIFO repeal from making it into legislation on which the full House and Senate would have to vote.

PLEASE CONSIDER SENDING THE SAMPLE LETTER BELOW (EDITED FOR YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES) TO YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS THAT SITS ON THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE AND/OR THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE. Companies should also consider sending the draft letter to your Member of Congress as well if this issue is of importance to you.

Address and fax numbers for Members of Congress can be found at http://x.jtrk71.net/y.z?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.congress.org&e=185&j=235523999&t=h.

SAMPLE LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE AND THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE RE:
LIFO REPEAL

The Honorable (Representative or Senator’s Full Name)
United States Senate (or House of Representatives)
[Senate or House Office Building Address]

Dear Senator/Representative [LAST NAME]:

On behalf of [company name], I am writing to express my strong opposition to the repeal of the "Last-In First-Out" (LIFO) accounting method.

(INSERT: Description of individual company, i.e., where located, what type of business, how many employees, how long in business, family-owned and run, etc).

LIFO has been an established and recognized accounting method in the U.S. since the 1930's and is utilized by a broad cross-section of industries; particularly industries such as forging that are subject to fluctuations in raw materials costs. In those instances, LIFO is an accurate and appropriate means of evaluating inventory costs. Repeal of this long-established method of accounting would severely disadvantage basic American manufacturers at a time when the U.S. economy desperately needs the good jobs they provide.

LIFO “reserves” do not represent a pot of money sitting on deposit. Rather, they are a reflection of the cost of replacing inventories. If LIFO were repealed, [my company] would be required to pay $XXXXX in new taxes retroactively. The additional tax we would owe represents [insert company specific information as to percentage in terms of annual earnings, net worth, etc.], at a time when my company is already experiencing [insert any company specific information regarding economic downturn, such as loss of revenue, layoffs, etc.] Repeal of LIFO will impose profound economic harm on my company and others that rely on it to accurately reflect their income. That economic harm would be certain to result in job losses and reduced capital investment.

I urge you to oppose LIFO repeal in any form.

Sincerely,

Boeing has again delayed the first test flight of its long-awaited 787 jetliner

highperformancerust@gmail.com (Russ3rd) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:55:00 PDT

Wash. (AP) — Boeing said Tuesday (June 23, 2009) it has again delayed the first test flight of its long-awaited 787 jetliner, citing a need to reinforce part of the aircraft.

The flight initially had been planned for late 2007, but production problems and a labor strike have prompted several delays. Boeing (BA) said it will not announce the new schedule for the first test flight and deliveries for several weeks. The company said it identified a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft during recent tests on the first of the airplanes. The 787 production team will continue performing tests such as low-speed taxiing, Boeing said. Work also will continue on five other test planes and other 787s in the production system, it said.

The 787 is Boeing's first new aircraft since the 777, which was introduced more than a decade ago. The new plane is built for fuel efficiency with lightweight carbon composite parts. Scott Carson, president and chief executive of Boeing's commercial airplane division, said experts had identified potential solutions to the reinforcement problem, and that such modifications were not uncommon in the development of new airplanes.
"Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement," he said in a statement.

Sketch of an F-35

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:21:00 PDT

Sketch is drawn by Seth Kirchner
Rendition with logo to be used on our 25th
anniversary company shirts.
Sorry for the poor quality shown here, the actual
image is about 5mb, too large for normal
web transmission.

Nickel on the rise

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:01:00 PDT

Nickel prices have been drifting up. Prices on metals will be rising as the surcharges catch up with the 3 month average. The last low point was just before April 2009, which means we are just seeing the surcharges creeping up. If it holds at about $8/lb, the surcharge won't settle out until about mid/late August. See the recent graph. Where does the 8 dollars a pound come from? It seems to be a comfortable number for mines, producers and consumers. The last 5 years shows a steady pattern (excluding the painful spike we just got through that ended about November 2008), if you go back further than 5 years it is more evident.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you are going to need materials in the next 2-3 months, it would be wise to start your stock purchases soon - before the surcharges rise too much. If you are expecting materials to arrive in the next 2-3 months, I would be expecting the costs to be going up if you bought with RMS (Raw Material Surcharge) at time of shipment.

Would you like a firm fixed price? Well, it depends on when it is going to arrive. Again, look at the graphs, and note the LME stock available. At the time of this writing, the stock is rising in 30 days. In normal supply & demand, this would indicate the index price should go lower at some point. When will it go lower again? Well, you guess is as good as mine.

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:28:00 PDT

Are YOU LinkedIn?

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Jeff

Accept Jeff Kirchner's invite:
https://www.linkedin.com/e/isd/637539860/vJmFkNc4/

Thomasnet Ad image

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:17:00 PDT

New catalog showing off our products. Has great search and compare feature for materials, and size availability based on application need. Compares strengths, physical properties, and specifications.

Depot bar program begins

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:25:00 PDT

Today a new program is taking place, allowing us to offer more depth and grades to customers.
New grades include A286 in the annealed form, AMS 5731 is being offered from 0.875" Diameter and up.
More inventory availability for alloys MONEL 400, R405 and K500. And more INCONEL 625, HX and 718 bar. This in addition to our $4M inventory of bar sheet and plate adds up to a lot of stock in Nickel and Cobalt products.

Call today for more details : 800-472-5569,
or internationally +1-765-945-8230
Visit our site

JSF F35 Quotations

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:50:00 PDT

Quotations are finished and delivered. If there are any straggling inquiries, they will not take as long to complete.

JSF F-35 Bidding for parts has begun

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Kirchner) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:00:00 PDT

Now in the midst of preparing quotations for the bidding of 6 years of parts for the Lightning II. Good luck to all our customers supporting Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE and Northrop Grumman.