November 2024 Volume 6

MATERIALS

Defense: Booming

“Looking out to 2030, the evolution of EVs will have an impact on SBQ demand, but not too much due to the slow consumer accep tance. From the forgers’ perspective, they will just make a different part,” commented one executive. Energy: Weakening Weakness in the oil and gas sector can be seen in the North American drill rig count. Energy company Baker Hughes reported a total of 805 rigs in operation in the U.S., Canada and the Gulf of Mexico in mid-October, down 10 rigs from the same time last year. Drilling in the U.S. has declined significantly this year, to 586 rigs from 622 in 2023, a loss of 36 rigs. “Oil extraction is amazing in that they can pump so much more with fewer rigs,” noted one steel mill exec. “Oil and gas has been flat for the last couple of years and we don’t see any brightness there, unless something happens out of the Middle East.” Distributors: Hesitating Industry data shows orders from distributors are flat as service centers postpone purchases in the face of uncertain demand and pricing. “With demand so weak and mill lead times so short, distributors don’t have to stock up. So we are just getting spot buy orders,” said one producer. “All year long we have said distribution is going to come back, but it just hasn’t.”

Aerospace and defense is one of the few growth markets for SBQ—a byproduct of the strife in Ukraine and the Middle East. Metallus (formerly Timken) received $100 million from the federal and state governments this year for equipment to expand its production of bar used in such munitions applications as howitzer barrels and missile bodies. Similar government grants have subsidized investments at other companies for the production of beryllium and various hard to-find alloys. “The U.S. government is trying to make targeted investments to ensure America has defense capabilities for now and into the future,”

Frisa’s Mexico Mill to Start Hot Commissioning Soon Forging and steel producer Frisa Steel expects to begin delivering new products from its expanded bar mill in Monterrey, Mexico, in the first half of next year. Frisa has invested $250 million in equipment for a new breakdown mill, continuous mill, finishing and heat treatment line, which will enable the company to produce hot rolled as well as forged bar in a wider range of sizes, said Antonio Alvarez, Frisa Steel’s vice presi dent of business development and executive vice president of Frisa USA. “This state-of-the-art facility will enable us to produce special bar quality in diameters ranging from 3-1/2 to 16 inches. With an installed capacity of over 350,000 tons per year, our plant is set to establish a strong market presence,” Alvarez said. The breakdown mill, which can handle ingots or billets up to 39 inches, is in place. The new finishing line should be running in the first quarter of 2025. The continuous mill will be commissioned in the second quarter, the company said.

Frisa’s 50-ton electric arc furnace has a rated capacity of 350,000 tons per year and has been producing high-quality ingots of carbon, alloy, tool and stainless steels since 2016. The new equipment includes a second ladle furnace, a second vacuum degasser and a second ingot bay. The market for hot-rolled SBQ is much bigger than the market for forged bar. Forging, generally used to produce large bar, is more time-consuming and less effi cient. Rolling, typically used for smaller bar, is a more cost-effective process that yields a product with superior dimensional consis tency. Frisa’s new equipment and expanded size range will give it access to both market segments, Alvarez said. “Customers had been asking us to supply them with smaller bar, but that’s very ineffi cient for a forging operation. So we had been entertaining the idea of adding a rolling mill for a long time. We finally pulled the trigger in 2022,” he said. Frisa has the layout prepared to add a second EAF if the market demands it, he said. “We have the infrastructure, the building, the space to keep adding. Right now we have a

solid base to start with.” Like other suppliers in the market, Frisa said its orders declined substantially in 2024 compared with last year. Customers are living off their inventories rather than placing new orders in an uncertain envi ronment. Yet pointing to such factors as the surge in manufacturers reshoring to North America and the pending resolution of a contentious presidential election in the U.S., Alvarez is optimistic about 2025. He predicts that by the first or second quarter next year customers will run low on mate rial and resume ordering with a new sense of urgency. “Just this last month we have seen a little rebound. So I think we have touched the bottom already,” he said. Frisa is a family-owned company founded in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1971. It has a long history of supplying high-quality seamless rolled rings and open-die forgings to the oil and gas market. In the last couple of decades, it has diversified into aerospace, power generation, wind turbines, construction, mining and industrial machinery. Today it operates five facilities, four in Mexico and one in the U.S.

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2024 24