California
Souderton, Eastern PA
Hermitage, Western PA

California

Underway is a third Solar Atmospheres plant in Southern California. The target date to open for vacuum heat treating services is early 2009. The Inland Empire, east of Los Angeles is the target area and an established 50,000 square foot building is being investigated for purchase. This plant location will allow easy access to the counties of Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino & San Diego.

A major stepping stone to plant start-up has been accomplished with the hiring of Derek Dennis as the President of Solar Atmospheres of California. Corporate President Roger Jones stated, “Derek comes to Solar with a wealth of heat treating and management experience, primarily from the aircraft and petrochemical business as former Director of Operations for Valley Metals and Manufacturing Manager for Jet Products (Senior Aerospace) both of San Diego, California. He also served in the US Marine Corps as an Aerial Navigator and Crew Chief."

According to William R. Jones, CEO,“Derek was carefully selected to head the new company after reviewing numerous applicants.” His strong points are his life long ties to California, managerial experience, and knowledge of the metals business.

Derek’s first assignment will to negotiate for the plant site. According to Bob Hill, Solar’s President of Western Pennsylvania operations, who did advance marketing research for the project: “Our aim is to install large, high tech furnaces and provide high quality operations not currently available on the West Coast.”

A budget of up to $10 million is projected to establish the plant. Aerospace, titanium and super alloys are the targeted markets for Solar’s unique furnace capabilities. Among the initial furnace applications will be a 24-foot furnace, 2 bar quench, with load capacities of 75,000 lbs. Several smaller vacuum furnaces will be in place when the doors open. Solar’s unique large furnace capabilities in Pennsylvania have serviced a number of West Coast manufacturers so a customer base has been established. States that will be directly serviced by Solar California are California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

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Souderton, Eastern PA

Solar Atmospheres’ Eastern PA plant is the corporate headquarters of the country’s largest source for vacuum heat treating and brazing services. Solar’s 25 years of growth is due to continuous investment in furnace processing and technology. The result—unique capabilities, consistent quality and responsive service for the Metal Processing Advantage.

Unique Capabilities

The Souderton, PA, plants have over 20 vacuum furnaces ranging from lab size to 12 feet long (up to 36 feet at Solar West). Solar’s capabilities allow us to meet customers’ demanding delivery schedules. Serving over 18 metalworking industries, Solar’s experience is unparalleled for vacuum heat treating and brazing services, and indeed, is unique.

Consistent Quality

A highly trained and experienced staff monitors key process indicators in accordance with AS9100:2004. The result is continuous processing improvements – a core Solar objective. In addition, numerous aerospace prime approvals, such as Lockheed Martin and Rolls Royce, are held.

Responsive Service

A designated customer service representative supports Solar’s sales engineers to ensure a personal response to your RFQs and processing questions. To go the extra mile, Solar’s Technology Center, staffed by scientists, metallurgists and project engineers, is available to answer metallurgical questions for any challenges.

Vacuum Heat Treating

Solar Atmospheres vacuum heat treating services provide minimal distortion and bright, clean parts. Part thermocouples for precise temperature processing and controlled pressure quenching with various inert gases contributes to minimizing distortion. Computer controls ensure process repeatability. Services include:

Vacuum Brazing

Having brazed components for 25 years, Solar has proven experience with one of the strongest bonding methods for metal assemblies. As a batch process, vacuum brazing joins components without flux, eliminating post-process cleaning. Vacuum brazing joins small and large components (up to 12 feet in Souderton). Design consultation is offered. Solar will quickly respond to your needs, whether your requirement is one assembly or thousands.

Vacuum CarburizingS

The benefits include case depth uniformity and bright clean parts. Parts are quenched in high pressure gas, not oil, which greatly minimizes distortion.

Vacuum Nitriding

Nitriding capabilities at Solar have expanded to include vacuum gas nitriding as well as ion or plasma nitriding. Vacuum gas nitriding gives the surface quality of traditional processing, but with greatly improved turnaround. This is possible because the vacuum environment enables rapid and uniform product heatup followed by internal gas cooling.

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Hermitage, Western PA

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA is the center of large furnace vacuum thermal processing. Solar’s 25 years of growth is significantly due to an investment in large furnace technology and processing. The result—unique capabilities, consistent quality and responsive service for the Metal Processing Advantage.

Unique Capabilities

The Hermitage, PA, plant is the home of the world’s largest vacuum furnaces. processing work of loads up to 150,000 lbs., Solar operates a new 36-foot long furnance and three 24-foot furnaces. This gives you unparalleled production capability. For smaller parts and loads, other furnaces range from lab sized up to 12 feet long. Solar’s capabilities allow us to meet customers’ demanding delivery schedules. Serving over 18 metalworking industries, Solar’s experience is unmateched for vacuum heat treating and brazing services, and indeed, is unique.

Consistent Quality

A highly trained and experienced staff monitors key process indicators in accordance with AS9100:2004. The result is continuous processing improvements – a core Solar objective. In addition, numerous aerospace prime approvals, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are held.

Responsive Service

A designated customer service representative supports Solar’s sales engineers to ensure a personal response to your RFQs and processing questions. To go the extra mile, Solar’s Technology Center (at Solar’s Corporate location in Eastern, PA), staffed by scientists, metallurgists and project engineers, is available to answer metallurgical questions for out-of-the-ordinary and cutting edge processing challenges.

Vacuum Heat Treating

Vacuum Heat Treating services offer precise temperature processing with part thermocouples for minimal distortion. Bright, clean finishes result from vacuum heat treating. Services include:

Vacuum Brazing

Vacuum brazing is a batch process that joins metal parts, without flux, for one of the strongest bonds (hermetically sealed) possible. Vacuum brazing results in bright, clean assemblies.

Vacuum Carburizing

Vacuum carburize for optimum case hardening to extend part wear life. The benefits are case depth uniformity, minimal distortion and bright, clean parts. Vacuum carburizing prevents microstructure surface intergranular oxidation (IGO) and decarburization for improved case integrity.

Furnace Capabilities

Note: Part sizes and weights can exceed the dimensions and capability given based on placement and configuration in the furnace. Please contact a Solar sales engineer to determine if your parts can be processed.

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