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A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 3 0 0.5 to 3 vol% per step. The company is now processing a wide variety of titani- um forms for titanium producers, from large forged slab, bloom, and billet to small cross section reroll stock, thin al- loy sheet, and coiled wire. As producers have become more experienced with the new conditioning technology, they have learned how the improved materi- al yield positively impacts their bottom line. Development has continued as the business has grown, and addition- al applications beyond conditioning have been demonstrated. One exam- ple involves careful material removal. The key process benefit of being able to remove precise amounts of surface material electrochemically allows the production of thin gauge, full size (36 x 96 in. and larger) titanium alloy sheets from 0.010 to 0.016 in. thick, which has not been possible with other methods. The patented electrochemical pro- cess developed by MetCon reported- ly improves ingot to finished product yield by 10% to more than 20% and rep- resents the largest cost reduction break- through for titanium in over a quarter century. In addition, the process offers greatly accelerated throughput and is environmentally friendly, providing ad- ditional production cost and safety ben- efits. ~AM&P For more information: Kurt Faller, president and CEO, MetCon LLC, 1817- B Pennsylvania Ave., Monaca, PA 15061, 724.888.2172, kfaller@metconllc.net , metcon.net. CONDITIONING PROCESS SAVES TIME AND COSTS In contrast to grinding or machining, the MetCon electrochemical process takes place with the material submerged in electrolyte in a large tank. The materi- al is subjected to a range of electrical currents and voltages that remove the alpha case and open the cooling cracks rounding and blunting the crack tips. The elec- trochemical process is inherently much faster than traditional mechanical grind- ing or machining. Because the piece is submerged, this process has the advantage of conditioning all surfaces simultaneously. In addition, multiple pieces (as many as the tank can hold) can be treated at one time. Current tanks accommodate full heat quantities (conditioning an entire heat at one time is a breakthrough) and there are no technical restrictions to scaling the tank sizes larger. Material is ready for the next forming step five to 50 times faster than with traditional conditioning methods. Further, for operations that rely on pickling to reveal defects after grinding, the MetCon process eliminates the need for that step, cumulatively shaving weeks off the traditional processing time.