Castolin Eutectic is a worldwide leader of application solutions in maintenance, repair and wear protection. European Brazing Business Unit Manager Arantxa Núñez has been with Castolin Eutectic for nine years and joined Modern Pumping Today to discuss the company’s latest developments in brazing. For more information, visit www.castolin.com.
MPT: What are the advantages of the Castolin Eutectic XuperPhos brazing alloy range?
Arantxa Núñez: The main advantage of the new XuperPhos range is that we avoid the problem of boiling during the heating process. And this way, we prevent leaks from appearing in the joints. We have metallographics showing that after the brazing process with a standard product, we can find pinholes in the joint, whereas when using XuperPhos, no leaks occur. For a traditional brazing product, when production is finished, even if the leak test doesn’t initially reveal any defects, as soon as the machine is running then the leaks appear, normally one or two months later, sometimes longer. So that means the customer must send a technician to repair these leaks. Consequently, he has to invest too much money to repair this machine, whereas with XuperPhos, he has to pay more for the product, but avoids this problem in the future. It’s a reliable long-term product.
MPT: What industries can the XuperPhos brazing range be used in?
Arantxa Núñez: The main industry for this type of alloy is the air-conditioning industry—companies that manufacture big air-conditioning machines for buildings or supermarkets, also for the cooling industry. We address not only manufacturers who make refrigerators, but also big cooling rooms or systems for supermarkets, those that also manufacture cooling systems for bars or restaurants. These types of producers are the targets for XuperPhos brazing range.
MPT: Do you already have XuperPhos in tests with your customers?
Arantxa Núñez: Now we are testing in Poland in a big, well-known air-conditioning company, and we are having good results. The customer ran the first tests with 5 kilograms of XuperPhos, and now, they ordered 30 kilograms more, because they are really happy. Moreover, one of the advantages when employing XuperPhos is that you can control the fluidity of the alloy. That means you can add the exact necessary quantity of alloy in the joint. You are not going to spend more money on adding more product than is required. This is another way to save money: if you can control the fluidity and how to apply the alloy, it is easy to control the entire process and you use less product.
MPT: Where does Castolin Eutectic see the future of brazing?
Arantxa Núñez: Currently, we are working on three different projects. Maybe the most important, if we can find the solution, is to develop a new alloy that diminishes the quantity of silver used in the silver rods, giving us the same kind of characteristics as having the initial quantity of silver. We are investigating using indium, gallium, and some strange new metals. Working on that is not easy, because metallurgy is not piece of cake, but we are making great progress. Nowadays in the R & D department in France, we are working on developing a new special paste, very specific to one application, according to a request from a customer. We are on the way and obtained already good results, but we are still working together with the customer to fine-tune this paste. As always, we are constantly aiming to improve our existing fluxes, because they are the most important product for us. And we keep on developing new environmentally friendly alloys, because the world is changing and the norms are evolving as well for some chemical compounds, which is why we seek to improve and create more green fluxes.◆ ____________________________________________
MODERN PUMPING TODAY, August 2015
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