Products and Applications
Zircadyne® Zirconium
From beach sand comes Wah Chang's first product, zirconium.
Wah Chang produces its family of trademarked Zircadyne® alloys
in ingots, forgings, fittings, plate, sheet, strip, foil, bar,
rod, wire, pipe, tubing and powders.
The unique properties of Zircadyne® Zirconium make it beneficial
in a variety of applications and industries. Nuclear-grade
zirconium has been a Wah Chang staple since the 1950s when
the company was established as a supplier for the U.S. Navy's
nuclear propulsion program. Valued for its mechanical, chemical
and physical attributes, zirconium components are a key to
the safe, efficient function of nuclear reactors, both in
military vessels and commercial power generation.
Fusion and fission
In the early 1990s a longtime Wah Chang customer and
well-known supplier to the nuclear power industry, asked
Wah Chang if it could improve its tubeshell product. Wah
Chang's answer: the two companies would exchange personnel
and jointly develop a superior product. This fusion of
knowledge and effort led to a better tubeshell, which the
customer now uses to produce longer-lasting nuclear fuel
tubing for fission reactors.
No silver lining
The chemical processing industry turns to Zircadyne®
Zirconium for processing equipment that can withstand
highly corrosive environments, including most organic and
mineral acids, strong alkalis, and some molten salts. In
some applications, the unique corrosion resistance of
Zircadyne® material can extend the useful life of
equipment beyond that of the remainder of the plant.
Chemical processing engineers use Zircadyne® material for
making heat exchangers, condensers, columns, pumps, piping
systems, reactor vessels and valves, as well as in other
applications where corrosion means costly maintenance.
In the mid-1980s an internationally known chemical
processor came to Wah Chang with a perplexing problem: Its
silver-lined pipe, used in the production of glycolic (or
hydroxyacetic) acid, experienced blow-outs due to interior
corrosion; when the silver lining failed, the acid ate
rapidly through the carbon steel pipe. To avoid ruptures
in the system, the company replaced the pipe every few
years.
Zircadyne® alloy, known for its resistance to
corrosion from a wide variety of acids, was tested in the
most severe section of the process. Six thousand hours
later, the silver was corroding at a rate of 20 mils per
year, but the zirconium was corroding at less than 2 mils
per year. Said one plant engineer: "We're fully
committed to using zirconium for our piping system."
Titanium
First used by Wah Chang in 1972 as an alloying agent in
superconducting materials, titanium has become one of Wah
Chang's principal products, valued for its high
strength-to-weight ratio, heat resistance and ductility in
forming complex shapes.
Wah Chang produces a variety of titanium products,
including high-purity bar stock and tube, pipe, sheet,
plate and powder in a range of grades and alloys (such as
Ti-45Nb). Wah Chang's titanium alloys, trademarked TiadyneTM,
have many unique properties that make them beneficial in a
variety of applications and industries.
To answer the need for specialized tubing in aerospace,
Wah Chang produces Titanium-3Aluminum-2.5Vanadium, which
combines light weight and excellent cold formability, a
characteristic that enables the tube to be bent into
complex shapes for installation.
Wah Chang has helped to develop a family of shape
memory metals from nickel-titanium alloys that actually
"remember" their original shape and return to
it, even when severely deformed.
Aircraft makers use shape memory couplings to join the
ends of hydraulic tubing. In addition, Ni-Ti alloys are
used in medicine for stents that support collapsed blood
vessels by expanding to their original tube-like shape
when warmed to body temperature, and for the catheter
(wire) that carefully maneuvers stents and other implants
into place. Ni-Ti alloys are also used for eyeglass frames
and cell phone antenna wires.
Wah Chang produces ultra-high-purity titanium for
sputtering targets, which are used in the production of
smaller, faster computer chips; dependable TiadyneTM
3515 for aircraft exhaust nozzles, where temperatures can
exceed 1,000°F; titanium powders for coating artificial
hip implants to promote better adhesion to bone; and many
other alloys for a variety of applications. On the lighter
side of life, titanium alloys are used in a variety of
recreational equipment, including bicycle frames, and golf
club shafts and club heads.
Mining for a solution
In the early 1990s a gold ore processing company was in
search of a new material for a critical and particularly
troublesome vent line that carries highly oxygenated,
corrosive vapors and minute particles. The existing system
corroded rapidly and had to be replaced yearly, resulting
in costly shutdowns. Out of ideas, the company turned to
Wah Chang.
After testing several Wah Chang titanium alloys, one
proved to be especially corrosion- and burn-resistant.
Said the facility's maintenance engineer: "The
pipeline has fixed all of our problems. It's head and
shoulders above everything else, performance-wise. We
installed it, and I've walked away from it."
The sky's the limit
Teaming with a well-known aircraft manufacturer, Wah Chang
developed the manufacturing process for Alloy C (also
called Ti-1270) for more heat- and burn-resistant exhaust
nozzles in military aircraft engines, enabling them to
supercruise (that is, cruise at speeds in excess of Mach 1
without the aid of an afterburner). Alloy C exhibited very
attractive high-temperature and creep properties -- in
fact, its creep strength proved greater at elevated
temperatures than that of the strongest commercial alloys,
such as Ti6-2-4-2. After years of refinement, Alloy C was
successfully flight-tested in 1990.
Today, Wah Chang markets Alloy C for aerospace
applications such as turbine engines, pneumatic ducts and
nozzles, where high strength-to-weight ratio, increased
burn ratio, and corrosion resistance can be critical
design factors. The intense effort to create Alloy C
reflects the commitment Wah Chang makes to satisfy the
needs of its customers.
Niobium
Since the early 1960s, Wah Chang has been one of the
world's leading producers of niobium and its alloys in the
form of sheet, foil, rod, wire and tubing. Niobium is
valued for its strength at extremely high temperatures and
its ability to superconduct, or pass electricity with
minimal resistance, at very low temperatures.
The U.S. space program used Wah Chang's niobium alloy
C-103 in the engine flange of the Apollo spacecraft, which
had to withstand temperatures in excess of 1,100°C (the
alloy is now used in applications up to 1,316°C). In 1969
niobium from Wah Chang went to the moon on Apollo 11's
lunar lander. Since that historic journey, Wah Chang has
developed new generations of aerospace niobium alloys for
turbine engines, pneumatic ducts, nozzles and other
components that require high strength-to-weight ratios and
burn/corrosion resistance.
Wah Chang's niobium alloys, cooled to within a few
degrees of absolute zero (-459°F), remain among the most
practical low-temperature superconducting materials
currently in use. In medical diagnostics, niobium-titanium
alloys are at the heart of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
technology, which scans the soft tissues of the human
body. Wah Chang's niobium-tantalum and niobium-titanium
alloys, used in fusion reactors and superconducting
magnetic energy storage systems (SMES), also play an
important role in meeting the world's energy needs.
Bridging the gap
Many of the nation's deteriorating bridges are being
cathodically protected using platinized niobium anode wire
produced by Wah Chang and its customers. Cathodic
protection halts the spread of corrosion in bridge decks
when an external current is applied to the reinforcing
steel to counteract the corrosion current.
Cathodic wire producers and bridge repair contractors
have chosen Wah Chang's niobium for its excellent
corrosion resistance and tolerance to very high breakdown
voltages. With the potential cost of bridge replacement
running into hundreds of billions of dollars, Wah Chang
has helped to provide an alternative that will save
taxpayers untold sums of money.
Hafnium, vanadium and other metals
Hafnium has been produced by Wah Chang since the late
1950s for nuclear applications, like its sister metal,
zirconium -- but for exactly the opposite purpose: Whereas
zirconium allows thermal neutrons to pass freely, hafnium
absorbs them, making it ideal for use as control rods in
fission reactors.
Wah Chang produces hafnium in plate, strip, sheet,
foil, rod, wire and tube form, and uses it as an alloying
agent in other metals. Small quantities of hafnium added
to nickel-base superalloys create aerospace metals of
exceptional strength, ductility and resistance to heat and
oxidation. Hafnium-based alloys, which readily form a
hard, smooth, adherent oxide surface, are also well-suited
for use as surgical implants. In addition, hafnium wire is
used worldwide as tip material in air arc cutting torches.
Vanadium, used primarily as an alloying agent, offers
light weight, strength at high temperatures, excellent
fabricability and low-temperature ductility, and corrosion
resistance. Aerospace metals alloyed with vanadium are
used for hydraulic tubing and other components in military
aircraft.
Wah Chang began producing commercial quantities of
vanadium in the 1960s for use as a structural metal in
breeder reactors. Today, a vanadium-chromium alloy is
being developed for the inner components of fusion
reactors. The refractory metal is available in powder,
plate, sheet, foil, billet, rod and wire forms.
In addition to its core family of metals, Wah Chang is
constantly experimenting with other promising materials,
such as tungsten (the first product of the original Wah
Chang after the turn of the century), molybdenum, tantalum
and palladium. And, Wah Chang and a nearby state
university are working together on a unique family of
isotropic solid compounds that contract rather than expand
when heated.
Chemicals
Drying agents for paints and personal-care products ...
the starting materials for fiber optic cable ... hardening
compounds and moisture barriers ... these are but a few of
the everyday uses for zirconium and hafnium chemicals from
Wah Chang.
Used in the production of metallic zirconium since
1956, Wah Chang chemicals have found a host of
applications today, from antiperspirants to imitation
diamonds. More important, new uses are being developed
every day, making chemical products one of the
fastest-growing arms of the company.
In the 1960s Wah Chang began producing chemical
products on a bench scale in its research and development
labs. The company widened its commitment to chemicals in
1988 by installing a zirconium chemicals pilot plant, and
has since continued to increase its production capability.
One of Wah Chang's most versatile chemicals is
zirconium basic carbonate (ZBC), an active ingredient in
antiperspirants and paints to promote drying. Another
product, zirconium basic sulfate (ZBS), is used in paper
coatings utilized in commercial food packaging to retain
moisture. ZBS is also employed in medical products, the
preparation of antiperspirants and the coating of paint
pigments.
Hafnium oxide from Wah Chang is used in the electronics
industry and as a coating for optical components. Hafnium
nitride coatings extend the life of steel-cutting tools,
and hafnium chemicals produced by Wah Chang have even been
used in application of decorative coatings to aluminum
cans.
Quality chemicals year after year
Wah Chang chemicals are produced in varying grades of
purity -- but in consistently high quality that has earned
the company accolades and awards from a rapidly growing
list of satisfied customers. For example, a major
manufacturer of personal care products presented Wah Chang
with its vendor award for outstanding quality and service
performance five years in a row.
Teamwork and technology ahead of
their time.
"Partnering," "total quality
management," "statistical process control"
... long before these concepts became fashionable
buzzwords of industry, they were in full force at Wah
Chang. Its ISO 9002 certification of quality assurance is
rooted in the naval nuclear quality-control specifications
that the company has followed for decades.
Wah Chang is backed by the worldwide Allegheny
Technologies Incorporated family of aerospace and
electronics, consumer, industrial, and metals companies.
This alliance assures customers the support of a company
with a strong, established presence in the global market.
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