State of the Art Technology Might Create More Jobs…

Patented Technology Creates New Markets for High Strength Stainless Steel Tubing

Coming out of the Navy with no experience in heat treating, Mr. Edward McCrink started his career as a salesman for a thermal processing company in Chicago, IL. Within a couple of years, McCrink left his employer to start his own heat treating company in 1953 and grew the company to become one of the largest thermal processor in the United States.

Since successfully selling the Hi-Temp, Inc. plants in the 1970’s, he has continuously pursued his vision of utilizing commonly available martensitic stainless steels to reduce weight and increase strength in components and structures. While retired and on the golf course, McCrink kept reflecting back on his metallurgic background and wondered why companies were not making golf shafts, bicycle frames, wheelchairs, and oil and gas pipes with this type of stainless steel. The reason, nobody could find a solution to welding this material into tubing or pipes as the weld seam becomes very brittle and breaks.

Working with a team of engineers and metallurgists, McCrink developed a way to take flat sheets of martensitic stainless steel and transform them into tubes. “Rolling the sheet to create the tube was never the hard part, welding a seam in martensitic steel so the tube became one, homogenous structure was always the issue” said Douglas Gore, vice-president of sales and business development. After years of engineering and testing, McCrink found a method to prevent the inherent cracking and weakness when a martensitic stainless steel tube is high-speed seam welded.

The resulting stainless tube is light and strong, twice as strong as titanium and three to five times stronger than other stainless steel alloys. It is not nearly as expensive to produce as a seamless tube when compared to other stainless steel alloys or other metals, including titanium.

"McCrink is 89 years old and still comes to work everyday. Putter shafts have been developed and are going through rigorous testing. It looks like Mr. McCrink will soon have a putter shaft manufactured with his technology to play on the golf course," says Gore.

Already proven by KVA STAINLESS in other industries, patented KVA STAINLESS martensitic stainless structural tubing can now be integrated into high performance bicycle frames to reduce weight, increase strength and stiffness, at a significant cost savings over competitive materials. KVA STAINLESS controlled atmosphere thermal processing ensures consistent, high-quality tubing, which is all made in the USA.

KVA STAINLESS has just released for sale to the public their own line of high-strength stainless steel bicycle tubing for road bikes.

With high interest from a wide variety of industries, our company is growing and looks forward to the future, says Gore.

KVA STAINLESS technology can benefit any market segment where component weight, strength and corrosion resistance are critical issues, providing a superior alternative to conventional materials. Ideal applications include:

• Automotive components and structures
• Aviation components and structures
• Gas and oil production pipelines
• Petrochemical and process piping
• Agricultural equipment
• Earth-moving equipment
• Train/rail cars and equipment
• Heat-exchangers
• Medical devices and wheelchairs
• Action sporting goods – golf, baseball, bicycles

For more information, contact Douglas Gore, vice-president of sales, KVA STAINLESS, 124 S. Market Place, Suite 200 Escondido, Ca 92029, 760-489-5821 dgore(at)kvastainless(dot)com http://www.kvastainless.com

KVA Stainless is a breakthrough 21st century stainless steel technology company that has invented an innovative stainless steel processing technology that creates stronger, lighter stainless steel tubing, pipes, and stamped components or parts.

KVA STAINLESS
124 S. Market Place
Escondido, CA 92029

This release was published on openPR.