INDUSTRY

Alcoa goals to Double Plant’s Ti Forging ability

Alcoa Titanium & Engineered merchandise, a subsidiary of Alcoa Inc. (IW500/50) plans to expand production at its Martinsville, VA, titanium forging operation, with an $eight.fifty nine-million investment to be able to include a brand new billet grinding line, and two new forging furnaces. The undertaking is scheduled to be finished before the end of this 12 months, and reportedly will double the plant’s forging potential, according to one Alcoa legit, allowing it to assist various aerospace zone deliver packages.

The Martinsville plant is a number of the operations obtained with the aid of Alcoa in its $1.five-billion takeover of RTI global in 2015. It produces quite a number titanium billets, blooms, slabs, rounds, and rectangle products, and titanium forgings. it is a few of the severa operations contributing to Alcoa’s build-up of aerospace components and structures within the past three years.

RTI completed a $one hundred thirty five-million growth there in 2012, adding forging, grinding, and warm-rolling talents, and setting up a potential of approximately 14 million pounds/year of titanium merchandise. in keeping with Daniel Breda, the contractor that done the challenge at that point, the set up protected a 50-MN open-die forging press, ingot heating furnaces, manipulators, and related system. Danieli Breda additionally supplied a press manipulate system that permits for fully automatic, semi-automatic, and guide operation.